Feb
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Submitted by webmaster on Fri, 02/12/2010 - 02:28
Springtime in an English Village (1944)
Posted by BFIfilms
January 09, 2009
Video Description:
Unseen for years due to the fragility of the materials, 'Springtime in an English Village' offers an extraordinary and unexpected snapshot of rural life in wartime. After a fairly predictable opening - farmers ploughing fields, cute baby animals gambolling - it finally gets down to business. The film is about that most ancient of English traditions: the selection and crowning of the Queen of the May. But what is so surprising is that 60 years ago the village of Stanion in Northamptonshire chose to honour a young black girl - apparently the daughter of an African merchant seaman who had been evacuated there during the War.
It's hard to know quite how literally to take the proceedings. The film was made by the Colonial Film Unit for the purpose of screening throughout Britain's African and Caribbean colonies - to demonstrate 'typical' life in the UK - at a time when the government needed to recruit the support of men and women from across the Empire. Later, in the immediate post-War period, such films not only acted to reinforce imperial solidarity, but formed part of a propaganda campaign to attract cheap labour to the UK. (Robin Baker, with thanks to Tom Rice for additional research)"
Contact
Email: jambalayah17@yahoo.com
Copyright © 2010-2011 Azizi Powell; All Rights Reserved
2 comments
Here's a comment that was posted on my facebook page by a woman from Great Britain:
"The opening tune in the film clip is a kids song and I have included a link to the song here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cT0Ykumkm0&feature=fvw
Interestingly we also had this song in Ireland when I was a kid, but we sang it as "Boys & girls", etc.. and not the other way around ! Probably it was 'cos we were female !! Villages in the UK still choose "May Queens" and their "Attendants" and also "Carnival Queens". All a bit "twee" IMHO !! "
-Anne...2/12/2010
Click http://cocojams.com/content/childrens-rhymes-cheers to find the words to the children's game "The Big Ships Sails On The Alley Alley Oh" . The skipping, weaving under arms movement of that game is briefly seen beginning at 2:02 of this video.
Selected YouTube video viewer comments from
http://www.youtube.com/comment_servlet?all_comments&v=6QbHhm4620I&fromur...
Posted in 2009
hardrockerdave94 -I love old stuff like this.
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vanshma -BFI films should release a dvd of all these old films, serioulsy, think of how many old folks and world war II veterans would by that.
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equalityftw -not many left... unfortunatly
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brousseaua - when you say "identify the young star" do you mean the black girl? Haven't a clue though. I love old stuff like this too!
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impetrioconquest- She now lives in the U.S..
My mom is the 3rd from the front row with a bow in her hair. Mom said that none of them have seen this film yet. A story about it was just published in the Evening Telegraph with still photos. Hardly any photos of my mother are around of when she was a child - it is priceless to see this!!! [Posted in 2010]
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alexismyran - this is great, and the kids were cute. =)
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reluctantpaladin-Wonderful, as always with BFIfilms! I could (and have) spent hours watching the old films from this era and particularly the earlier films. I'm curious, though, why there isn't "live sound" with this. Was it common to have silent movies instead of "talkies" in 1944?
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ArtJWest - Recording good sound on location, even for feature films was a considerable undertaking at the time - one of the reasons why many "exterior" scenes in features were shot on sound stages. Apart from the massive sound equipment, a blimped camera had to be used as the smaller "mute" cameras made far too much noise. It wasn't really until the 1960s that recording sound on location for a documentary became relatively easy.
[Posted in 2010]
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jonnsuz- The year I was born ! Never know the war wa still raging would you .
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cocklesandmussels- Great! What's the music?
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Oglenthorne- It's called "Springtime in an English Village Theme"
[Posted in 2010]
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cocklesandmussels- Thanks. It includes a number of variations of pieces, for example one starts at 0:50, maybe a children's song or an English folk song. Any idea of the names of these?
[Posted in 2010]
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ingravegreen- Oranges and lemons. Such wonderful lasting images of time gone bye. Just to see happiness in those children's faces lit up my life.
[Posted in 2010]
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caltontongs73- very unusual to see a black face in those days,now especialy in london its unusual to see a white face!
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loveinacar- My understanding is that as the film was shot 1944 there was mass evacuations of the cities into the country. She was probably shown as an example of country and city life integration rather than a race issue.
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wishiwaswize - I wish there was sound or captions so we could know what is being said, other wise, I enjoy watching these old films!
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BFIfilms- This film was made by the Colonial Film Unit for screening across Britain's African colonies. As such, like a number of films made by the Unit, it was made without dialogue. Some films, however, would have been accompanied by live narration during the screening.
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DADRENO- It was just like that - I was there! Thanks!
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Posted in 2010:
avidutubewatcher- This is fantastic ... please put more on
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saharra22469-) IT's absolutely perfect and beautiful. Who needs voices. This is the way schools and children should be organized and taught today. That's what's wrong in our societies....no manners...no repect.
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tvfilmglamdirector - One word....Discipline.
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mic33george- just so charming!
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ruberyb45 - Unusual too see two black children in a village in 1940's England. I bet most of these kids were Evacuees
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tinkernator - This is wonderful. I really needed something to lighten my day up a bit, and this sure hit the spot.
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GlamGlamable -This must be a silly myth or a short-lived occurence, as the reason I found out about this was through an article in The Observer, which talks about the whereabouts of the May Queen and her family.
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smoochym - I agree, those festivals are primeval rituals...
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routeoz - nothing creepy about it. may day is a pre chrtistian festival that the xtians adopted [or adapted, lol]
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Azizip17 - Thanks for sharing this. I also was surprised to see the two Black girls in this film. It was interesting to me (as an African American) to see that they appeared to be accepted as just another classmate by their peers and by the adults. And one of the Black girls was "even" selected as the May Queen. Although since I read above that this film was made to show in Britain's African colonies, I'm wondering if the Black girl was chosen on purpose to be the queen. Still it's very interesting.
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mseyman- well hello. n how r u?? the two [english] african american girls are my aunts!!! born and raised in liverpool england!!! She wasn't picked as the mayfairy queen as an example. She was literally the mayfairy queen.
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Azizip17 - @mseyman, thanks for ur response which I'm just reading. My best wishes to u and ur aunts.
Re: "being picked as Mayqueen", you wrote that was the wrong term, but others voted for her, right? It seems from reading these comments that the children in that village in the mid 1940s had less problems with racism then some children in England nowadays. Same for the adults, since the adults then could have vetoed the Black girl being mayqueen but didn't.
Thanks again,
an African Am.sista
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Azizip17 -Oh. Re-reading this I understand you meant she (your aunt who is Black) wasn't picked as the Mayfairy queen for reasons having to do with her race, including the fact that (the summary notes that) this film was made to be shown in African nations.
I'm glad of that.
Best wishes!
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brancusi7 - I was told that during WWII when the first US soldiers were billeted in rural Wales they integrated quickly and comfortably. The local people assumed that all Americans were black. Then the white US soldiers arrived and beat up the black US soldiers for the disgraceful crime of dancing with white Welsh women.
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freacls- thats terrible their was black kids in our school they were one of the gang the 2 black girls hear are so cute and the girl that curtsayed what a sweetheart wonder where they are today
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englishman2000- a different time wonderful
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freacls - aww the baby duckies are so cute
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freacls - omg that little black girl who was curtsaying in the school yard and later crowned May queen is so adorable what a cutie she is
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holdingt -What a fantastic film!
Which village was it filmed in?
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trommie31 - i would like to know more about this for black history month..
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MsJoy15 - l am in this film , the fidgety one with a bow in her hair ,standing behind the black twin called Connie, , Stephanie the Mayqueen was my best friend at school , we were reunited 3 yrs ago by her daughter, lots of our memories have been published , and yes we all voted for her to be the Mayqueen, the school children still hold this festival in the village , its a wonderful place to live and l for one are thankfful to enjoy it
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kipps2 - An amazing film. Only 65 years ago, it seems further back in time.
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MsJoy15 - the village is Stanion in Northants,population in 1944 was 300 people, now 1000, but still confined to a small village , no shops now, used to be 5 and 2 pubs still going ..church , chapel & village hall , a very well run primary school,also a pre-school ,several clubs, so pretty much everything we need .l was born here,and l love living here
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highgatemini- Wht a marvelous film! And we would never have seen it if we hadn't met Stephanie (the May queen) in the grocery store while buying a can of treacle pudding. She looks very much the same 65 years later, and still has that charming smile.
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goldentigerclaw1- All hail the queen of the May !
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[Editor: The following comment is one of several that were angry about the presence of People of Color in Great Britain now]
rubysson57- @MsJoy15 and yes we all voted for her to be the Mayqueen, the school
Course you did. it was your need to prove your 'anti prejudice' that did it more than true judgement and merit. We get the same where Ilive. In most local carnivals now (west London) hardly anyone will choose a white may queen, even though it is often only too obvious why.
People like you are just plain depressing.
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MsJoy15 - Ruby in our"time" we didn t know what racism was !!!!!! different colour skin , so what
we were more astonished that the girls were scared of cows .. don t know where you are coming from .she was , and IS a great person , only people who ARE predudiced would think along those lines, she d , and hell she could be bright green , its people & personalities that matter. .,we were not allowed to call other races black !!!!!! maybe that answers all questions !!!