This film is part of Free
Mining Review 19th Year No. 11
Coal touched all our lives, as this issue of the cinemagazine demonstrates with items on a miner's wife turned mayor, a Coal Board chess team and more.
Overview
The monthly cinemagazine for the coal industry loved nothing more than upsetting expectations. Where conventional wisdom assumed most miners took to darts or pigeon fancying in their spare time, MR showed miners as amateur artists, ballet dancers or, as here, chess masters. Elsewhere in this edition are items on the new lady mayor of Castleford in Yorkshire (who just happens to be married to a miner); the computerisation of miner's pension payments and the merry-go-round trains running between colliery and power station.
Related
Enginemen Enginemen
Documentary 1959 17 mins
This poetic Free Cinema documentary, filmed near Manchester, reflects on the changing world of the engineman.
Severn Valley Railway Severn Valley Railway
News 1976 7 mins Location: Bridgnorth
Is Chris Tarrant up to shovelling a ton and a half of coal to keep the fire burning and the steam up between Bridgnorth and Bewdley?
Repairing Track After Mustard Gas Attack Repairing Track After Mustard Gas Attack
Industry sponsored film 1939 45 mins Silent Location: Northampton
With the horrific effects of gas warfare still fresh in the memory, rubberised men – like extras from a 1950s British sci fi movie – prepare for more, with 1940s attention to detail.
Railways - Derelict and Preserved Railways - Derelict and Preserved
Amateur film 1975 33 mins Silent Location: Rainhill
Come and see Rocket 150, and visit a selection of railway locations, past and preserved.
Snowdrift at Bleath Gill Snowdrift at Bleath Gill
Documentary 1955 10 mins Location: Bleathgill
Snowploughs are readied to rescue a snowbound train - in one of the most popular of all British Transport Films.
They Take the High Road They Take the High Road
Industry sponsored film 1960 24 mins
Telling the story of four British Road Services drivers who lived and worked together for two years.
Castleford Advert 4 Castleford Advert 4
1941 1 mins Silent Location: Castleford
Never mind that the country is at war with a powerful and vicious foe, that’s no reason to stop going to greyhound racing, with a bet on the side.
Castleford Advert 3 Castleford Advert 3
1939 0 mins Silent Location: Castleford
No attempt to sell an idyllic lifestyle here in these two cinema ads for local shops, just a simple warning on the irreplaceability of eyesight.
Castleford Advert 1 Castleford Advert 1
1939 0 mins Silent Location: Castleford
Adverts not to get punters to buy anything, but just to enjoy sports and preserve memories of seaside holidays, in “real” photographs.
Castleford Advert 2 Castleford Advert 2
1941 0 mins Silent Location: Castleford
Advertisements for tripe, cow heels, trotters and milk – those were the days! It was a time of food rationing, but going to the cinema wasn’t.
Annual Pram Race 1962 Annual Pram Race 1962
Amateur film 1962 20 mins Location: Castleford
‘Carry On Castleford’ – crowds take to the streets in fancy dress for the Annual Pram Race.
Wheel of Fortune Wheel of Fortune
Amateur film 1958 6 mins Location: Castleford
Rich man vs. Poor man - what goes around comes around in this unexpected gambling tale
China O'Brien: The Reunion China O'Brien: The Reunion
Documentary 2024 60 mins
Cynthia Rothrock, Richard Norton and Keith Cooke reunite three decades on from the groundbreaking martial arts classic.
Women in Action Panel Discussion Women in Action Panel Discussion
Inside Film 2024 28 mins
Action Xtreme - the UK's leading action film studio - hosts this panel discussion with four leading women in action cinema - Soo Cole, Jo Rolison, Jadey Duffield and Ioanna Karavela.
Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2024 24 mins
Daniel Kokotajlo talks to Nia Childs about Starve Acre, his folk horror about a couple digging deep into grief in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales.
Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2024 30 mins
Sky Peals director Moin Hussain and lead actor Faraz Ayub talk to Tomisin Adepeju about their magic realist drama.
Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell
Documentary 2024 42 mins
Documentary exploring the BFI National Archive’s role in rediscovering and remastering the early films of Michael Powell.
Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels
Short documentary 2024 12 mins
Bryony Dixon, curator of silent film at the BFI national archive, explores the origins of a series of comic travelogues, and Michael Powell's involvement in making them.