Subscribe today using voucher code SUMMER22 for an extended free trial

This film is part of Free

Video Player is loading.

Current Time 0:00

Duration 0:00

Loaded: 0%

Stream Type LIVE

Remaining Time 0:00

Title of error

See Help

Sir John Laing Missionary Films Delhi & The North

Grand buildings and missionary work come together in the 1947 Indian tour of construction magnate John W. Laing.

Amateur film 1947 18 mins Silent

Overview

The structures of North India fascinate construction magnate and missionary John W. Laing, including the large scale astronomy instruments of Jantar Mantar, founded in 1723. Today, Jantar Mantar lies at a traffic hub and is the meeting point for New Delhi protests. Laing captures missionary life: church services, a school for poor children with a white female teacher, and a doctor tending to the sick.

The Indians John Laing captures are equally interested – not in him – but in the technology he is using, particularly the camera and the car. It is likely this footage was shot in early 1947, before Independence and Partition. Preti Taneja

Featuring

John William Laing

Genres

Amateur film

Country

Great Britain

Language

No Dialogue with English subtitles

Subjects

Watch for free

Temples of India Temples of India

Travelogue 1938 10 mins

Technicolor temple tour shot by the great Jack Cardiff

Watch for free

Sarnath, Benares & Santal Tribes Sarnath, Benares & Santal Tribes

Documentary 1934 27 mins Silent

Film of the Santhal tribe of North East India featuring Sarnath and Benares (Varanasi) in Uttar Pradesh.

Watch for free

Taj Mahal, Local Indian Scenes and a cruise to Port Said: Colonel Alexander Personal Film 5 Taj Mahal, Local Indian Scenes and a cruise to Port Said: Colonel Alexander Personal Film 5

Amateur film 1944 8 mins Silent

Luscious colour photography of the Taj Mahal and a Mediterranean cruise to Port Said

Watch for free

Gwalior Gwalior

Interest film 1922 0 mins Silent

The Prince of Wales and the Maharajah of Gwalior ride an elephant in a grand procession

Watch for free

Street Scenes in India: Colonel Alexander Personal Film 1 Street Scenes in India: Colonel Alexander Personal Film 1

Amateur film 1935 9 mins Silent

From the arrival of a new viceroy to street markets, this amateur film captures the diversity of life in colonial India

Watch for free

Khalapur Carpets Khalapur Carpets

Promotional 1932 12 mins Silent

Indian carpets make their way to Montreal in this promotional film

Watch for free

Layla - Exclusive Q&A Layla - Exclusive Q&A

Short interview 2025 27 mins

Writer, director and performer Amrou Al-Kadhi talks to Rico Johnson-Sinclair about their debut feature.

Watch for free

All We Imagine As Light - Exclusive Q&A All We Imagine As Light - Exclusive Q&A

Short interview 2025 28 mins

Payal Kapadia discusses her Cannes prize-winning and Bafta-nominated drama with Ashanti Omkar.

Watch for free

Khichdi Khichdi

Animation & Artists Moving Image 2023 16 mins

The interwoven stories of four best friends who reunite in the UK, thirty-five years after training together as nurses during their teens in Ferozepur, Punjab.