PICCADILLY ROUNDABOUT

This film is held by the Imperial War Museum (ID: MGH 4428).

Synopsis

An impression of London's West End in wartime.

A soldier in a Far East posting explains to his mate the special significance of Piccadilly to a Londoner. The film cuts to the Underground and people making their way up the escalators out into the open. The streets running off the Circus are shown as they are today and briefly as they were in old illustrations, while the soldier-narrator describes the particular character of each. The traffic (much lighter in wartime) and people around the Circus are shown along with the restaurants, cinemas, theatres and the manifestations of a city at war - shelters, emergency water supplies, women on war work, uniforms, military vehicles. The bright lights from the pre-war era are contrasted with a montage of the wartime blackout emergency signs (particularly the dimly lit "open" and "entrance" signs of shops and restaurants). At the end of the day the people buy their underground tickets to take the train home.

 

Titles

  • PICCADILLY ROUNDABOUT
 

Technical Data

Year:
1945
Running Time:
9 minutes
Film Gauge (Format):
35mm
Colour:
B&W
Sound:
Sound
Footage:
848 ft
 

Production Credits

Production Countries:
GB
Sponsor
British Council
assistant director
Strasser, Sessu
photography
Strasser, Alex
producer
Massingham, Richard
producer
Wallace, Lewis Grant
Production company
Everyman
script
de Rochefort, Henry
script
Massingham, Richard