British Pathe

London.

L/S of a group of teenagers in leather jackets sitting round tables in a coffee bar, most of them are smoking. They are all looking at cards, C/U of a girl's face, the camera pans down to show her writing a card, she is holding a cigarette in the other hand. M/S of two boys, one of...

London.

L/S of a group of teenagers in leather jackets sitting round tables in a coffee bar, most of them are smoking. They are all looking at cards, C/U of a girl's face, the camera pans down to show her writing a card, she is holding a cigarette in the other hand. M/S of two boys, one of them is writing a card, the other puts a cigarette in his mouth. M/S of hands putting a card in an envelope and writing on it, other people round the table are looking at their cards, there is also a motorcycle helmet on the table. L/S of shelves full of boxes in a room, a man takes out one of the boxes and puts it on a desk, he sits down and opens it. The narrator tells us this is the Victoria and Albert Museum and this box contains Valentine's cards from 1861. C/U of the man's hands taking out a frilly box card with a picture in the middle. The narrator says the sentiments expressed in these cards are similar to those expressed by the modern generation. M/S of another patterned card, C/U of the card with hearts and flowers on it. C/U of a bank note from the 'Bank of Love'. C/U as he takes the lid off an elaborate round card. He then opens another card and pulls the middle up to make the shape of a cage, underneath is the picture of a mouse.

M/S of artist King Gridley sat at a drawing board. There is an angled lamp at one side and lots of paint pots to the side and front, C/U of King's hands as he paints red hearts on the paper. C/U of his face, C/U of his designs, in one heart are the words 'needing a Valentine?' He moves the paper and brings in another card design, this is a heart with three red roses in front of it. M/S of a printing press with Valentine's cards running off the end and being passed onto a conveyor belt in a factory in Edmonton. M/S of the cards on the belt, a person picks them up at the end and puts them in another machine which sorts them. M/S of the cards on the belt, they run towards a glitter machine. C/U of the glitter pouring from the machine onto the cards. M/S of the cards coming out at the end. Various shots of a woman sticking and gluing material to a card, she folds it over and puts it on the pile. M/S as a boy picks out a huge card in the shop with red flowers on it and a necklace and earrings attached to a red heart.