Britain in Industrial Decline, 1970's. Archive film 95566

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• published: 18 Apr 2016
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A textile mill in the Midlands. A close up and then a wider shot as the camera draws back. It's steam powered and built in 1870. A montage of several working parts of the mill. An elderly woman with glasses and short permed hair makes her way through the midst of the machinery. Another woman, even older, grey hair and thick glasses sits working at the machine. A woman leave s the factory with her large tan hand bag. She wears a floral print dress and moves hastily to the door. A man works on a circuit board, followed by a shot of a blueprint of the design he is working on. Three men in white overalls are sitting while working on similar projects. A factory chimney spews smoke. A close up of the "Stop" button on some part of industrial machinery which dissolves into a shot of cables hanging lifeless in a derelict building. A montage of shots shows several decrepit buildings of factories around Britain. A slow pan of leaflets of the NHS for "Free dental treatment and glasses. Reduced charges." It is dated April 1975. Other leaflets read "Free milk & Vitamins", "Free prescriptions and "Family income supplement". A close up of a woman's hard, filling in a form and ticking boxes. The title of the form is "For Official Use". The welfare state A doctor is talking to a patient. Another, younger doctor talks to a nurse. Tower bridge is shot at sunset with the river glowing orange /gold in the sun. Silhouettes of people passing in front of this scene. Office workers in suits walk by. Close up of a sign that reads "CRAC" and underneath, " Coningham Road Advice Centre" advising people to "Come in for help and advice if you have a problem you can't solve". A young woman explains to an elderly man in a hat what forms he needs to claim his benefits. He nods in resignation and looks slightly embarrassed by his predicament. In the midst of her explanation, he nods as she goes through a seemingly endless list. Shots of the necessary forms punctuate his face nodding. Close up of Malcolm Muggeridge's face as he talks about the expectancy of the British people for state sponsored home, education and health care. A shot of the interviewer's back as he faces Muggeridge dissolves into another close up of Muggeridge's face. Slow pan of British landscape. The shot starts at a lake and pans around to include a few lakeside houses and kids running towards the water. Elderly people in traditional white bowling outfits play bowls. A montage at a seaside resort. A man walks along a crowded beach, others sit in deckchairs as a seagull swoops past. An elderly woman sleeps, an elderly man licks an ice cream, another elderly man in a hat dozes, as does another. People of all ages sit in deckchairs watching the passing parade. A tram runs past in the background. IN the foreground young an d old woman pose in deckchairs. A man, possibly a butler, polishes a silver tea pot. More tea pots await their turn on the table in front of him. A very elaborate, ornate bed post is the background to a housekeeper bringing in fresh flowers to a bedside table. An elderly woman watches a store assistant place item in a shop window. A close up of young people's faces and the wonder down a high street. A return to the shot of the old man sleeping in deckchair. His head rolls back and this wakes him up. A Concorde takes off straight into the camera. A side view of the plane taking off and then another from above, then from behind as the landing wheels drop, finally one of the Concorde landing. A motorbike is being driven at high speed. The camera's view is through the handlebars, giving us a view of the road flying past and the instrumentation from the riders perspective. There are several shots of the rider form different angles. A man in a nasty chocolate brown suit with a cream tie explains how to start a British motorcycle. He is in a motor cycle dealership. He jumps on the kick start mechanism four times before it starts. He then goes to the Japanese bike and simply turn a key. It roars to life. A montage of shots shows row upon row of British made cars waiting to be sold. A shot of the "Chrysler" assembly plant in Ryton with low level factory in the background. A close up of a newspaper article "Mr Wilson to meet Chrysler chief on British group's crisis". The sub headline reads " No closure without talks" with a chart showing the downtrend of the company's market share. British Leyland factory in the foreground is followed by a montage of car emblems: "Jaguar", Morris Oxford", " Triumph", "MG BGT" , "Austin" , "Rover" and "Wolsely". A shot of a Leyland truck dissolves back to the picture of the Leyland factory with hundreds of cars outside. A shot of a steel plant show various scenes of a steel plant in operation. The next shot is of a piece of paper detailing the government's shareholding in several industries. A slow motion shot of a North Sea oil rig dissolves into workers on the rig at work.