Promotional film made for Pye Telecommunications.
Documentary begins with sequence showing colleges of the University of Cambridge. Good views of college buildings and courtyards with students wandering through the grounds. Kings College and King's College Chapel. Christopher Marlowe is mentioned in the commentary as a former student at Corpus Christi college. C/U of his gravestone. Emmanuel College is shown, John Harvard took his degree here and part of the college was designed by Sir Christopher Wren. Various shots of the college architecture. Cloisters of Queen's College are shown, clock tower and sundial. One of the most greatest Renaissance Humanists attended the college - Desiderius Erasmus. Visitors are shown around the college courtyards. The Great Court of Trinity is shown - personalities connected with Trinity are mentioned on the soundtrack: Bacon, Newton, Byron, Thackeray, Tennyson, Walsingham, Walpole and Rupert Brooke. Panning shot and C/Us of the courtyard buildings. St John's College is shown and famous students are mentioned: Wordsworth, John Colenso - the English Bishop of Natal and the astronomers Sir John Herschel and John Gooch Adams.
The Cavendish Laboratory is then featured. Baron Rutherford worked here unlocking the secrets of the atom. Its name commemorates the eighteenth century scientist Henry Cavendish, himself a Cambridge man, who anticipated the work of Faraday, Ohm and others on electricity. Various shots of the exterior of the Laboratory and various men in white coats. C/Us of laboratory machinery inside the building. Scientists at work. Joseph Black is another scientist mentioned by the narrator.
C/U of an elderly man standing in front of a bookshelf consulting a book. It is George Trevelyan, former Master of Trinity and now a famous historian. Field Marshal Smuts and the Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Tedder were both honoured by being the University's Chancellor at various times.
Various shots of ceremonies involving the two Chancellors and the crowds which gather to see them including guests having tea on one of the college lawns. Dr Albert Schweitzer is awarded an honorary doctorate.
Various shots of Pye factories and buildings, television transmitter mast, Pye lorry etc. Radio taxis. C/U of taxi stopping in front of the camera. Driver gets out and opens the door for his passengers. Man pays the taxi driver. C/U of driver being paid. He climbs back into the car and there is a C/U of him operating the "radio telephone" inside his cab. He holds up microphone to speak to the control room before he sets off. C/U of the controls for the unit. C/U of the aerial on top of the cab. Camera pans down to show sign over a garage. Interior of garage - control centre for the radio cabs.
THE FOLLOWING SECTION IS NOT IN THE SHORTER VERSION OF THIS DOCUMENTARY
L/S of group of young schoolboys sitting at desks watching a television set in the classroom. M/S of the boys concentrating on their lesson. C/U of the television set. Two Eastern women sit and prepare a meal. They put rice and other food into a large banana leaf. Shots of what is seen on the screen are intercut with shots of the boys who are watching the TV.
Industrial television is a Pye speciality. We see a Pye industrial television camera being demonstrated. Man stands beside the camera operating the remote control unit. C/Us of the remote control and the camera. Dust proof camera housing is shown. Monitor unit seen in C/U. 14 inch and 9 inch and 5 inch monitors are shown. Closed Circuit TV screens.
C/U of the sign above Canadian Pacific building. C/U of a camera mounted beside a window which is filming the scene below - fountains in Trafalgar Square. C/U of the control box which affects the lens. Zooming technique of this camera is described. M/S of a man sitting in front of a monitor. Panning shot of the square.
Teaching Hospital. L/S of group of doctors and nurses grouped around a patient in an operating theatre. C/U of man operating the closed circuit television. C/U of the camera. C/U of scene on the television screen. Body being cut open (yeuch!) M/S of group of doctors watching the closed circuit television. C/U of the camera then of the operation
L/S of man approaching a freight train in a modern railway marshalling yard. Man approaches a small hut. Camera pans from L/S of a building at the railway yard, up to show closed circuit television camera. The yard supervisor can see what is going on in other parts of the yard. Various shots of men in the control box operating switches and monitors. C/U of camera moving inside a waterproof housing. High angle L/S of the yard. Lots of trains and railway tracks.
Steel works - various shots of machinery moving. Tracks slot into place. Narrator tells us that they have to be in perfect alignment before the truck can move forward into the furnace. C/U of the man operating the controls for the tracks. C/U of his hand on the controls. M/S of the truck moving towards the camera. C/U of the camera in a dust proof camera which records when the tracks are in alignment (this does the job previously done by another worker). Various shots of workers, machinery and the picture on the monitor.
"Television was born in the service of entertainment" states the narrator. Shot of a train pulling out of a station, people look out of the windows at the camera. C/U of a sign which reads: "Broadcast in Progress". M/S of group of men filming a ventriloquist act on the train. Various shots of the monitor, the act and the passengers on the train enjoying the entertainment: "This is a British Railways excursion train with its own TV programme for its passengers, the first in the world. C/U of a boy leaning out of a train window with a camera. C/U of the monitor showing what he is filming. The view from the train.
M/S of man climbing into a helicopter which is fitted with an industrial camera unit. This is an experiment for the benefit of foreign air attaches. They watch the monitors in the comfort of a Cambridge hotel. Aerial shot from the helicopter then view of what would be seen on the monitor. Narrator talks of the benefits of this system for crowd control at big sporting events and for sorting out traffic jams. Panning shot of the air attaches watching the screens. Helicopter lands. The visitors are given a chance to inspect the equipment. Various shots of the men beside the helicopter and C/U of the camera equipment. The camera unit is lifted out of the helicopter.
Section featuring underwater television. Lake Constance in Switzerland is the location. Closed circuit television is used to assist a salvage operation - a sunken Dakota aircraft is located and brought the the surface with the help of Pye equipment. C/Us of men operating the television equipment and of the picture on the TV monitor. Various shots of men working on the operation.
M/S of TV outside broadcast unit lorry. It is bound for Russia from Cambridge. C/U of the side of the lorry which has Russian lettering on the side.
C/U of the mobile generator trailer being attached to the back of the lorry. M/S of Pye lorries leaving the factory. The Russian van is driven off. Narrator states: "There are not many places in the world where Cambridge brains and Cambridge initiative have not left there mark." and uses a quote from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales "Gladly would he learn and gladly teach." The Russian van moves through a Cambridge street.
Traffic problems of Cambridge are discussed. Lots of people cycle past the camera on a busy road. M/S of large number of bikes lined up. M/S of another area of parked bicycles. "...the bicycle is the natural means of getting about" to avoid traffic congestion.
Various shots of the Cambridge rowing team. C/Us of one of the rowers. Various shots of the college crews practising on the River Cam. Shots of the great Oxford Cambridge boat race on the Thames. Various views of the teams rowing and of spectators. Nice shot of people punting in Cambridge. Moving shots from a punt. Glamorous woman lazing in a punt being propelled by a boyfriend. High angle shot of punts moving along the river.
Note: documentation file exists - commentary, shot list etc. See other version which has much less footage of telecommunications nature, more of student activity.
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