London’s Screen Archives enables Londoners see their past come alive on film. Managed by Film London, we are a unique network of historic film collections that cares for, collects and screens heritage film across the city. Together we preserve London’s rich film heritage from feature films to home movies, public information films, newsreels, and records of the capital’s many different industries.
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Davis Family Films: Diana's Communion And Snow Scenes, London (1963)
Iced fountains at Trafalgar and a steeplejack up Nelson’s Column are among the highlights of this fascinating, eclectic home movie from 1963.
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Overview
Taken from the Davis Family Films archive, this film begins with footage of a neon-lit Piccadilly Circus and Hippodrome before cutting abruptly to a London church for a Holy Communion. It’s a typically eclectic, rapidly cut Davis film, and also includes excellent scenes from a London estate, a suburban high street and several great shots of central London in the snow.
The films were inherited by the man who moved into the Davis family’s old home in Haringey. This one shows a family communion, with smiling girls and suited boys outside a church. There are also great shots of a suburban street – note the period scooter – and shots from the Davis’s then home on a London estate. The family are filmed on the balcony and inside, and there are also shots of the neighbouring school. There’s also footage from Trafalgar Square, filmed from up highshowing the fountains iced over and pigeons pecking the snow. Further snowy scenes from East London follow, before we see grainy footage of steeplejacks climbing Nelson’s Column. Bruce Castle Museum
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