Although little is known about the production and exhibition of this film, there are strong indications within the film that this was a professional production intended for local exhibition to potential donors. First, in its structure and editing, A Pageant of Empire offers a chronological account of an Empire Day, opening with Britannia and Raleigh’s entrance to the stage and ending with their departure. It was filmed by more than one cameraman – a cameraman is seen in shot at one point – and presents the action from a variety of different angles. This may suggest that the Southern Railway Servants’ Orphanage commissioned a professional company to make the film, while the lengthy shots of the individual audience members suggests that this was intended for local display, to show, in part, to those featured within the film. The film would therefore serve as part of a donor drive at a period of development at the orphanage. The children are very publicly on display, both to the audience at the parade and those viewing on film, as the film illustrates their discipline and development, while presenting them, not within the orphanage – which is not shown – but at a ‘fun’ outdoor event.

Jim English argued that a consideration of Empire Day ‘provides a useful index to chart the gradual fragmentation and decline of imperial consciousness between the wars’. Yet did the pageantry and representation of Empire shift in accordance with these changing public attitudes towards the Empire, and towards the day itself? A simple comparison with the 1909 film Preston’s Empire Day suggests only subtle shifts in the display. In both pageants, scouts and guides parade as representatives of the different countries, while flags are prominent on the stage (the Union Jack is displayed on Britannia’s shield in A Pageant of Empire). Once more the pageant takes the form of a military procession, as the groups march to and from the stage and line up in order. The militaristic elements are less clearly marked in A Pageant of Empire, and certainly the camera places less emphasis on the children’s bodies. Also, the children do not carry patriotic slogans on banners, such as ‘Erin Go Bragh’, yet this may merely reflect the larger scale and ambition of the 1909 event.

The countries themselves are again represented by traditional signifiers of national identity, indicating the perception and representation of the colonies within the popular imagination. In A Pageant of Empire children appear in blackface to represent Central Africa and the West Indies, with the Africans presented in a leopard skin outfit, while the West Indians wear baggy striped clothing. The display in 1933 also now uses food to represent the countries, while the colonies – subservient to Britannia and seated at her throne – deliver food to Britain. This indicates an increasing emphasis on imperial co-operation in the production of food and goods. The Empire Marketing Board was established in 1926, to a large extent to develop and market foods produced within the Empire. Empire Marketing Board films, such as One Family (1930), emphasise imperial co-operation in trade and food production, while these ideas were embraced within Empire Day during the previous year, with the launch of the ‘Empire Meals on Empire Day’ campaign.

Tom Rice (August 2008)