Peter Baylis

The City of London

A day-in-the-life of the Square Mile.

Transport

An argument for nationalisation under the 1948 Transport Act, not just of railways but of roads and waterways as well.

Cricket

Through the pattern of this film a ‘Test’ at Lord’s runs like a thread and a broadcast commentary on the match is imposed on the background of cricket as a game, a craft, an interest of a people, a piece of history. The craftsmen are shown who make the ball and the bat–that ‘fourth straight stick’ with which the batsmen defend ‘the other three’. The craftsmen are shown who play the game, from W. G. Grace in the ‘nets’ to D. G. Bradman and Denis Compton in the thread of the ‘Test’. The history of the game is epitomized in the Long Room shots at Lord’s and from there the camera moves to the village green; to the London side- street where the urchins play on a ‘bumping pitch’; to South Africa, and India, where in the ‘blinding light’ there is often ‘an hour to play and the last man in.

Scrapbook for 1933

A BAFTA nominated documentary reviewing news, sporting and royal events from 1933.