I HAVE just spent a very entertaining couple of hours at the Cornerhouse in Manchester watching a collection of films by Mitchell & Kenyon covering Manchester and Salford.
The clips offered a snapshot of life in the early 1900s and providing the background to each series of films was Mitchell & Kenyon Collection curator, Vanessa Toulmin.
Alongside each film was a selection of music from RNCM students, performed by fellow students, who joined Neil Brand on the piano.
When the films were first produced they were purely a way to get people into cinemas so they could see themselves on the screen, Mitchell & Kenyon were not thinking of the "greater good" when recording Whit Walks and processions.
So they generated a mass of film of which only a small percentage exists today, but also failed to keep extensive notes of locations or who appeared in the films, time was still money back in those days.
And it is because of that, much work has been done today to try and find the stories behind the films, and yet there are still many clips where even nailing down a location is difficult.
At the end of the show there was a brief question and answer session where I asked Vanessa Toulmin, if it was possible to see any of the films online and if not were there any plans in the future to do so?
To my surprise she said no, with one of the reasons given being that viewers would miss on the cinematic feel of the film.
This may be the case, but at the same time are not the researchers missing out on a legion of fans who could help add so much more to the films?
Placing the clips that little is known about online, even on YouTube, could lead to a wealth of information that finally places the pictures to a location, and possibly reveals some details of those being filmed.
It is interesting to think that Mitchell & Kenyon spent their time filming crowd scenes, while today the internet can draw on the "wisdom of crowds" to reveal hidden stories.
Good point Craig. The films were shown on BBC last year, so why not the Internet?
Posted by: Sheelagh Caygill | March 06, 2007 at 08:27
Hi Sheelagh
It is a touch frustrating that not even a selection of such a great resource is available online.
Very backward thinking.
All the best, Craig
Posted by: Craig McGinty | March 06, 2007 at 12:41
I don't suppose the BBC episodes could appear on their YouTube account?
Posted by: Denise | March 06, 2007 at 12:42