Summary: An impression of London's West End in wartime.
Description: 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.
Production Details: British Council (Production sponsor)
Everyman (Production company)
Massingham, Richard (Production individual)
Wallace, Lewis Grant (Production individual)
Strasser, Alex (Production individual)
Strasser, Sessu (Production individual)
de Rochefort, Henry (Production individual)
Massingham, Richard (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations:
Keywords:
Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W
Sound format: Sound
Soundtrack language: English
Title language: English
Technical Details: Format: 35mm
Number of items/reels/tapes: 1
Footage: 848 ft; Running time: 9 mins
