The East Anglian Film Archive, the first and largest Regional Film Archive in England, was established in 1976. Since 1984, EAFA has been owned and operated by the University of East Anglia, Norwich (UEA), to support research and work to preserve our moving image heritage. More than 250 hours are freely available online as examples of the wide range of film which attracts interest the world over.
This film is part of Free
Party Strife
Party hats and finger food, funny faces, and a snowball fight; the Lane-Scrutton families enjoy a Christmas get-together and a giggle in this 1951 home movie.
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Overview
For the Lane-Scrutton family the staple of a successful Christmas party is a quality finger buffet. There follows funny faces for the camera, Nanny first. And if the festive season allows for snow then a snow-ball fight adds to the family “Party ‘Strife’”! The filmmakers, brothers-in-law Sidney Lane and Cecil Scrutton feature last in the line-up of ‘funny faces’.
In an age before television, the hobby of home movie-making would fill in those vacant hours for brothers-in-law Sidney Lane and Cecil Scrutton. Throughout the years they captured a number of family events – away days, play days and parties – even employing a set of free-standing floodlights to ensure indoor scenes at their Norwich homes were adequately captured. They bought their 9.5mm cine camera in 1951, so this film must have been their first Christmas recording. Not only capturing, but also screening these home movies would become an integral part of the family’s winter schedule, accompanied by a bought Charlie Chaplin film short for added entertainment.
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