The British Film Institute on YouTube

June 21, 2009 3:51 AM

The British Film Institute on YouTube.How we used to live and more [via].
posted by feelinglistless (7 comments total)

Thanks for the heads up, looks like plenty of interesting/curious viewing here.

And Our Wonderful Wounded is totally the name of my next band.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:33 AM on June 21

I can just imagine the gasps that must've filled the cinema in 1930 at the 3:02 point of this one.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:59 AM on June 21

Easier on the royal eye than Our Ghastly Wounded
posted by IndigoJones at 8:01 AM on June 21

I love this channel. Not long ago I shared a link to Tea Making Tips, a guide to making what must have been a fairly awful cup of tea, although not by the standards of the time. "Thet's a fellacy." (Why didn't you switch to coffee, British people of the 1940s -- it can't taste any more like jet fuel than what you make in those giant urns, and it's twice as strong!)
posted by Countess Elena at 8:57 AM on June 21

Smith's Santa Claus is no fake. It was culled from one of the world's greatest cinematic resources, the British Film Institute National Archive. The short film's debut on YouTube is part of the archive's campaign to create a broader picture of film history in this country, and to preserve not just the greatest cinematic art or examples of innovation but a wide reflection of British life since it first began to appear on screen.

Just to be clear, this isn't preservation, because I doubt anyone interested in archiving media would turn to YouTube. And now we can have a fun compare and contrast game: British life then vs. Internet Commentary now. Take for example, this charming comment from TheRadioactiveNegro: EVERYONE IN THIS MOVIE IS DEAD. Or how about this bit of colloquial commentary from EccentricEther: lmfao xD / Sounds good.

Regardless, it's nice to see more preservation societies sharing their material online. Thanks for this, feelinglistless.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:32 AM on June 21

British life then vs. Internet Commentary now

Check out the commentary for We Are The Lambeth Boys (dialogue from which is sampled in Morrissey's "Spring-Heeled Jim", which is why I looked for it): three pages of mostly variations of "the dirty immigrants have ruined London".
posted by DecemberBoy at 10:00 AM on June 21

Wow. Fascinating. Footage of WWI soldiers relaxing in a park in London? Footage of India from 1901? I wish some of these were longer films, but wow. Great post. Thanks!
posted by hippybear at 10:14 AM on June 21