VJ DAY AND HISTORIC SCENES IN LONDON [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: VJ DAY AND HISTORIC SCENES IN LONDON [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: MGH 5105
  • Other titles: AMATEUR FILM BY CAPTAIN CARL ALBRECHT [Alternative Title]
  • Summary: Edited, colour, amateur film with titles shot by Captain Carl Albrecht of the US Signal Corps Army Pictorial Service recording historic sites and contemporary wartime scenes (including VJ Day celebrations) in London, 1945.
  • Description: Opening title "ENGLAND 1945 Some observations of life in Greater London at the close of World War II". "LONDON TOWN" View through a dark archway showing a car parked in Grosvenor Cottages. Shot from a high vantage point looking down on a variety of virtually deserted streets. Back view of Sylvia Albrecht walking along a street of small terraces houses - continuation of the same scene with Mrs Albrecht walking towards the camera and pausing to look at one of the houses. Red London buses in a shopping street (probably King's Road, Chelsea). Series of very brief street scenes. A lone cyclist proceeding along a wide street past a few trees which have white painted lines around their trunks to make them visible during the blackout. Mrs Albrecht looking up at a church tower and a view of the side of the church (probably St Mary Abbot's, Kensington). Mrs Albrecht walking along another residential street. Shot of Westminster Abbey and the corner of Parliament Square. Wide street (probably Fleet Street). Two red London buses moving around Parliament Square. Brief shot of the National Gallery. High angle shot looking down on Piccadilly Circus. Lower angle shot of Piccadilly Circus concentrating on traffic around the protective hoarding covering the statue of Eros. Further shots from various positions of Piccadilly Circus. Hoardings: "Churchill - Vote National!" "The Way to the Stars" (released 16 June 1945). Shot of Admiralty Arch from The Mall, with a rear view of a policeman on horseback riding towards the Arch. Views along The Mall. Mrs Albrecht, accompanied by her husband, the cameraman Captain Carl Albrecht, sit down on a park bench and have a conversation for the camera which is described in a series of captions "That's the London I know - the mews in which I live, Chelsea, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, Haymarket, Piccadilly Circus - The Mall" "Yes, this is London - but only a 'glimpse' so to speak" "There's so much to see! Where do I begin?" "Well - that's a large order - but let's start travelling" title "Utilities Transport modes Public Services" brief views of the following - Battersea Power Station with a steam railway locomotive passing by, a railway train in a station, a London Underground District line train bound for Upminster pulling in to an open-air Tube station, London Taxis, No 19 red London bus, red pillar box (with white blackout paint) and a public telephone box. title "Department Stores, Hostelries, News Publishers" brief exterior views of the following - Harrods, Peter Jones, Barkers and Selfridges department stores, The Dorchester hotel, Cumberland Hotel with a view along Oxford Street, Fleet Street with the Daily Telegraph, Daily Express and Reuters buildings title "ALONG THE RIVER THAMES" various brief shots of riverside cranes and dock warehouses, a river tug, long shot of Battersea Power Station, several views of the river and a sightseeing boat Albercorn London passing under a bridge and proceeding along the river. Sylvia and Carl Albrecht and an unidentified man and women onboard a Motor Torpedo Boat MTB 678 which is moored alongside a Fairmile "B" Type Motor Launch ML 912 . Panning shot from the MTB. Sylvia Albrecht and the unidentified woman sitting wearing Royal Navy caps. Sylvia Albrecht, still wearing the cap, pretending to manoeuvre the MTB. The unidentified man and woman on the bridge posing and joking for the camera. Sylvia and the unidentified woman disembarking from the MTB assisted by a sailor and a RNVR Sub-Lieutenant. Shot of the ladies in the rowing boat taken from the MTB and from another rowing boat. The two ladies disembarking from the rowing boat and walking up stone steps. RRS Discovery moored on The Embankment. High angle shot looking down at a passing sightseeing boat. title "THEATERS AND CINEMAS" exterior views of the Garrick Theatre, Charing Cross Road (advertising "Madame Louise" by Vernon Sylvaine), Prince of Wales Theatre, Coventry Street (advertising "Strike It" starring Sid Field), the London Coliseum (advertising "The Night and the Music" starring Vic Oliver), the Hippodrome and the Odeon cinema, Leicester Square (advertising "I'll be seeing you" starring Ginger Rogers and Joseph Cotton). title "MEMORIALS AND PUBLIC GARDENS" brief views of Trafalgar Square, the statues in Waterloo Place at the end of Lower Regent Street, (central large monument "Memorial to the Crimea" with a statue of Florence Nightingale to the left), Hyde Park Corner Screen, Ten Trinity Gardens at Tower Hill, Royal Air Force Memorial on Victoria Embankment, Cleopatra's Needle on Victoria Embankment, Marble Arch, The Albert Memorial with a shot of Sylvia Albrecht standing by the sculpture representing "The Continents -Europe", Sylvia Albrecht posing by an ornamental pond and walking in a walled garden, probably Kensington Gardens. title "Royal Procession to the annual opening of PARLIMENT (sic Parliament).... it always rains!". Dark shots of crowds in the rain outside of Buckingham Palace, the Queen Victoria Memorial looking toward the gates of Buckingham Palace as a procession of horse-drawn closed carriages enter the Palace. Further dark shots of the crowds standing in the rain, including one person with a newspaper over their head as protection against the weather. Shots of a contingent of cavalry followed by horse-drawn open carriages leaving Buckingham Palace passing the waving crowds and proceeding along The Mall. title "Governmental and Municipal Buildings Church and Historic Edifaces (sic Edifices) " - brief shots Hyde Park Corner Screen and Apsley House, no 9 Cartlon House Terrace as seen from The Mall, St Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London, Shell Mex House, Somerset House, the Royal Albert Hall, St James's Palace, Westminster Abbey, Victoria and Albert Museum, Waterloo Bridge, Central Hall Westminster, Waterloo Bridge, Albert Bridge, Tower Bridge, traffic driving over Tower Bridge, County Hall and the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Bridge and Big Ben. title "OLD WINDSOR The Town & Castle Country Residence of the Royal Family" various long shots of Windsor Castle from Windsor Great Park, exterior of St George's Chapel, the Round Tower, various views of the Castle, high angle views looking down on the town, various views of the town, including Sylvia Albrecht posing on Windsor bridge and schoolboys from Eton College. title "PETTICOAT LANE" (different style of title) high angle view looking down on Bishopsgate and the crowded street market in Petticoat Lane. Dark shots showing people in Petticoat Lane and looking at goods for sale from the various stalls. Brighter shots showing clothes stalls, a seafood stall, a large crowd watching a street vendor showing a coat for sale, more clothes for sale, a family group posing for a cameraman and more high angle shots of the crowded street market. A brief shot of a flame and smoke followed by the title "BOMB DAMAGE", a large corner building with boarded and broken windows, the metal infrastructure of a block of flats (?) left exposed by bomb damage, shots of damage to houses and ornamental masonry, a church spire, probably St Mary Le Bow in Cheapside, rising over bomb damaged buildings, various shots of a badly bomb damaged church and a shot of a small red headed boy playing with a pile of bricks in a bomb site. the title "VJ-DAY" superimposed over several British newspapers. Large crowds in Piccadilly Circus walking around the protective hoarding covering the statue of Eros and past a cinema advertising "Blood on the Sun" starring James Cagney. High angle shot looking down on the crowds in Piccadilly Circus with large poster advertising "Mrs Skeffington" starring Bette Davis. Shots from within the crowd showing people moving away from a small disturbance on the ground, probably a fire-cracker. The crowds including a shot of serviceman taking a photograph from his vantage point on the base of a lamp post. Member of the RAF kicking a fire-cracker across the ground and a serviceman on his hands and knees crawling on the ground (looking for something?). Crowds in Piccadilly Circus passing by the entrance to the Criterion Theatre, the crowd includes three Asian men. View from Piccadilly Circus looking towards the Duke of York's Column, Waterloo Place, Carlton House Terrace. Crowds around Piccadilly Circus including two members of the RAF and two women posing for a photographer. A small group of British servicemen and women marching carrying a large Union Flag. A car, overladen with passengers, drives along Piccadilly towards the camera. An Otter Light Reconnaissance Car almost totally covered with passengers, drives along Piccadilly towards the camera. close-up shots of a wooden window box full of pansies. Sylvia Albrecht and her sister Sibyl seated on a blanket outside the front step of 6 Grosvenor Cottages drinking tea in the sunshine. They are joined by Capt Carl Albrecht. Shots of the three of them chatting. Close-up shots of Mrs Albrecht. Brief dark interior shots of the house. Water coming out of a drain pipe. Dark shots of a small paved garden. Interior shot of a telephone by a window. Brief shot of a roof and chimneys. End title "Fin A Graham-Albrecht production" superimposed over a shot of Sylvia Albrecht walking away from the camera.
  • Alternative Title: AMATEUR FILM BY CAPTAIN CARL ALBRECHT [Alternative Title]
  • Colour: Colour
  • Digitised: No
  • Object_Number: MGH 5105
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: NON-IWM
  • Featured Period:
  • Production Date: 1945
  • Production Country: United States of America
  • Production Details: Graham-Albrecht (Production company) Albrecht, Carl (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords:
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: Colour Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: English
  • Technical Details: Format: 16mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 1310 ft; Running time: 36 mins
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    MGH 5105

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    MGH 6421 (SCENES IN LONDON, INCLUDING VJ DAY AND WREATH LAYING AT THE ARC DE TRIOMPHE, PARIS [Allocated Title]) Documents.11845 (Private Papers of Captain C Albrecht) Documents.16398 (Private Papers of J Graham) ACQ1/DOC/A/0167 (System.Xml.XmlElement)
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