British Pathe

Associated British-Pathe Four Minutes From Piccadilly. c 1954

High Angle shot of Piccadilly Circus in London. Eros can be seen and traffic passes round the junction.
A Pathe sound recording van comes around the junction and is followed as it passes up Shaftesbury Avenue. The van draws up...

Associated British-Pathe Four Minutes From Piccadilly. c 1954

High Angle shot of Piccadilly Circus in London. Eros can be seen and traffic passes round the junction.
A Pathe sound recording van comes around the junction and is followed as it passes up Shaftesbury Avenue. The van draws up in Wardour Street outside the Associated British-Pathe office (No 103 Wardour Street). Another smaller Pathe van is also parked outside. C/U Pathe plaque on the wall (The sign reads Associated British Pathe Ltd.). The camera pans up the outside of the building to show the windows at the front.

Inside the Pathe studio sets are being put together. A tree is being put into position. A carpenter walks into the studio. C/U the carpenter nailing down a set of wooden steps to the floor. The fake tree is fixed to the floor. A camera dolly is moved into position. Behind it a large light is being moved. A film camera is lifted out of its box and fixed into the dolly. Electricians in lighting storeroom. Lights are stored on shelves (they are described as being "pups"). One of the men is examining one of the lights, while another walks over to speak on the telephone. Lighting technician fixes arch light in position. Camera assistant loads magazine of film into camera on set. The stage is being set to look like a domestic interior. C/U of the film being threaded through the camera and the camera door being closed. (The camera has a sign on the side saying "Newall"). C/U camera lens being set. C/U camera assistant looking through view finder or eyepiece.

Director and assistant stand at a table on the studio set looking over some papers. The set is dressed with a dining table, chairs, and comfortable seats. High Angle shot as three men in suits walk onto set. They duck under a light as the pass it. These men are the sponsors of the film being made. They meet with the director. The silhouette of a camera passes in the foreground.

High angle shot as the director and assistant show the sponsors of the film around the set. L/S of the unlit set. A lighting technician standing by an arch light. He turns the light to put light on the set. L/S the lit set. The camera follows a man as he carries a chair across the set. This is an interesting shot as he walks through the domestic interior and then into a garden set all in one small space. A man is lying on a garden bench with a handkerchief over his face.

A technician fixes a microphone to a boom. Sound recordist puts on headphones and adjusts machinery. (Voice over notes that Pathe have "R.C.A. (RCA) Sound" which has speeded up production and cut costs. View from sound recording booth through window onto set. Sound recordist gives thumbs up gesture. Camera operator by sound camera. Director and crew members by camera in studio. The cameraman closes the top of the camera. C/U Neon light "Rehearsal" changes to "Silence". Clapper board closed. Camera moves on tracks towards the viewer.

C/U glasses of beer on tray. They are carried over to a table. The set is made for a continental cafe scene. An actor dressed as a solicitor shakes hands with a man sat at the table on the set.

Camera pulls back through old attic set used in "Scrapbook for 1933".

Sequence from "Heights of Danger". Interior of untidy office, young boy and man wearing overalls. Exterior shot of car at BP (British Petroleum) petrol pump. Woman wearing apron walks into room followed by young boy and girl they talk with man in overall who is drinking from a cup. The woman walks outside. She returns with a smartly dressed man who shakes hands with the man in overalls. They are left alone to talk. The two children stand outside in the corridor.

Sequence from "Heights of Danger". The children climb up on a small step ladder to spy on their father talking to the smartly dressed man. The smart man leaves his card, picks up his hat and walks out. Scene changes to interior of office in France. Two men walk into office and talk to man behind desk. They speak in French. Two rally cars speed past the camera and send up a spray of water from a puddle. Travelling matt sequence showing people in MG car. The car appears to be moving, the back projection is then removed to show the car against a black background. The back projection is then put back in.

Sequence of David Niven advertising ABC Cinema vouchers. Shot of Donald Peers leaning against piano. Camera tilts up the legs of a model to finish on her face. She is wearing a polka dot bikini. Anna Neagle practices a short dance routine with choreographer. High angle shot of Felix Mendelssohn dance sequence set on Hawaiian beach. Girls in grass skirts dance to music. C/U dancers face, she wears a flower behind her ear. High angle shot of dance sequence.

Clement Attlee seated in arm chair on set, he says "I ask you to help us to continue the work of recovery so well begun." Winston Churchill seat in arm chair, he says "Not even the weakest shall be allowed to fall." Lord Brabason talking. James Laver and Veronica Hurst sitting in easy chairs talking. Lord Brabason laughs. Norman Woolan standing by fireplace talking. (This is a clip from another Pathe film "Here's To The Memory"). Pathe cockerel in studio. The set is dressed as a barn yard. From sound booth we see the Cockerel as the sound tape is running. C/U the cockerel. The End.

Note: Paperwork includes shotlist and script.