Information
- BFI identifier21591
- Date1947-08 (Release)
- Production countryUnited Kingdom
- Production company
- SynopsisINTEREST. Modern design for everyday objects with an overview of the development of design from Georgian to modern times. (Synopsis) R.1 Credits and titles (56). While some manufacturers hope that people will continue to accept shoddy goods, others try to produce well-finished articles that represent value for money. CU sign for `JUNK' in junk shop; views of people looking at junk shops, window shopping (91). Examples of good desgin - chinaware, table place settings, clock, china figure (122). Scenes in a china factory; a glass design studio (150). Glass-makers still show a quality of craftsmanship and design lacking in too many other industries; a glass designer at work in a studio; the glass blower at work making a jug; checking the quality of the glassware produced; shelves of the completed glassware (200). Mass production can lead to sacrificing beauty for utility - scenes of machinery in a canning factory (230); printing a floral pattern on cotton (252). Examples of utility ware (which the commentary praises)- table settings and furniture (273). Some of the furniture is directly related to the designs of the Georgian period: Exterior and intervior views of Georgian house (300), when the styles of architecture and interior decoration and the patterns used were the envy of the Western world. Pattern book of Georgian china (322). Plaque of Josiah Wedgwood and of John Flaxman (329). Examples of Wedgwood pottery (343). Plaster ceiling and fireplace, furniture exemplifying the work of Adam and Chippendale; examples of glassware and silver (397). This elegance of design gave way to the ornate flamboyance of the Victorian era. At this time too, mechanical invention heralded an age of increasing mass production. A water-driven factory showing pistons and action inside the factory - the machinery is largely wooden and it is unclear what is being produced (442). A technological revolution brought the bicycle, the motor car and the balloon. Sentiment and sentimentality produced strong men and dependent women. Photographs of cyclists, motor car and Victorian prints (525). It was an age of decoration, examples of embroidery, decorations made from shells; interior of Victorian sitting room (550). Victorian design symbolised by the Albert Memorial (572) and St Pancras Station (588); both of which are criticised for their design. But beautiful design was confined to the arts themselves. People forgot that most museum exhibits, for all their beauty, were originally functional objects for everyday use. Royal Society of Arts buildings (597); CU address (600). Museum interior, visitor looks at artefacts, attendant watches (608). Statue of William Gladstone (622). Portrait of William Morris who rebelled against Victorian design and revived old industries such as hand-printing wallpaper; seen in production (688). Eighteen years later, the newly formed Design and Industries Association took as its slogan "Fitness for a Purpose". (712) One member of the Association was Frank Pick of London Transport, who had overall responsibility for redesigning the London Underground Railways. Fade in and out of photograph of Pick over images of London Underground map (717-722). HAS Piccadilly Circus in the 1902s (?) (730). CU London Underground sign at night (740). Comparison of stations (underground and overground) before and after the alterations; dark gloomy stations (760); sign for Swiss Cottage station (766). Ext signs (771). Ext Arnos Grove station (778). Ext and int of Chiswick station (787). Tour of a typical station showing how well designed the stations are, ticket machines; escalators, platforms, signage, train arrives (no people present, view seen as though traveller were walking about the station) (880). In other directions too, the old has been replaced by the new. Horse-drawn, open-topped buses have given way to modern designs. Archive footage (1890s) of horse-drawn buses turning into Edgeware Road, Marble Arch in background (890). Int and ext of examples of horse-drawn buses, all stationary (928). TS Routemaster double decker bus (No 30 to Roehampton) on road (957). Car design, example of modern car pulls away to reveal 1890s model (968). The Rocket steam locomotive (?) (971). Model (?) of a sailing ship (975). Archive footage (1920s) of a biplane (982). Archive footage (1890s) horse-drawn fire engine leaving fire station (991). Examples of telephones showing development of its desgin (1004). Modern fire brigade (1011). Queen Elizabeth liner (1018). Modern four-engine propeller airliner (GAGRX) (1027). The Golden Arrow train pulling out of a station and carriages passing (1048); service on board the train (1056). The Devon Belle train travelling (1066). Archive footage of a 1905 cricket match (1078). A present-day match showing how little some things have changed (1089). Woman playing tennis c.1890s (1102). A modern women playing tennis (1108). Women in bathing costumes at an outdoor pool and on diving board (1136). Families splashing about on a beach in the 1890s (1145). A bathing beauty pageant c1920s (1155). Examples of irons showing how little design has changed (1174). Int (very dark views) of a woman cooking on a kitchen range (1197). Household items have mostly been designed by men - the flat-iron has changed very slowly as the designers did not have to use it themselves. Houses are changing too. In the poorer areas, the change has been slow - the rich can always afford modernity - but modern design and mass production ensures that good, inexpensive items are readily available, to suit today's needs. A modern-day house - a woman in evening attire opens mirrored wardrobes (1214). A back to back kitchen and bathroom; the good design elements are shown (1255). The kitchen/bathrooms being mass produced on an assembly line for incorporation into pre-fabricated houses (1265). Women using the kitchen in the home (1289). Ext pre-fabricated houses (1299). Women in kitchen prepares, then serves tea to husband in dining room; relaxing in the sitting room; putting the child to bed (1386). There is an increasing public awareness of the need for "fitness for a purpose" - exhibitions, film shows and books try to satisfy the growing demands. Sign `To the Exhibition' (1390). Exhibition rooms - a bathroom and kitchen (1408). A bookshop with books on design (1414). Further exhibition rooms (1438). women paiting onto china; examples of good and bad design mainly bad including china dogs, badly produced china and rows of china figures of women standing with their hands on hips in bathing costumes (1490). The public must learn to discriminate between the good and the bad of modern design. Large companies are better able to take action than individuals. BOAC has a design committee which discusses in detail even such items as the material for uniforms, or the plastics for cafeteria cups. The committee seen at a meeting discussing plans (1555). The results are simplicity and practicality without the loss of attractive shapes; examples of tea services, glasses, furniture etc (1600). Plane ready for take off, passengers board, take seats, take off, passengers served, examples of accommodation shown on the plane (1723). Instruction at school to help children recognise good design and first class workmanship will ensure that standards do not deteriorate in the future; children in modern school seen at design classes and running out to school playgrounds (1811). A design studio (1881) The End (1910ft). (Shotlist)
- Work historyDocumentary short.
- Genre
- Subject
- Credits
Title
Home and Beauty (Original)
This Modern Age No. 11 (Alternative)
Category
Non Fiction (Short film)- This Modern Age
Series Work - 768453
United Kingdom - Film - Non Fiction
- +Home and Beauty
Work - 21591 - 1947-08 (Release)
United Kingdom - Film - Non Fiction
- +Home and Beauty
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