Made in the years between 1953 and 1960, Random Memories Reel Two is a compilation of events and a surreal film experiment made by Halifax Cine Club member Ted Warburton. As one of the intertitles refers to a failed film made in order to be showed at the Cine Club, it seems likely that Random Memories Reel Two was made for personal consumption, acting as a filmic equivalent to a photo album. Halifax Cine Club, founded in 1937, is one of the biggest and longest-lived Cine Clubs in Yorkshire,...

Made in the years between 1953 and 1960, Random Memories Reel Two is a compilation of events and a surreal film experiment made by Halifax Cine Club member Ted Warburton. As one of the intertitles refers to a failed film made in order to be showed at the Cine Club, it seems likely that Random Memories Reel Two was made for personal consumption, acting as a filmic equivalent to a photo album.

Halifax Cine Club, founded in 1937, is one of the biggest and longest-lived Cine Clubs in Yorkshire, borne out of a joint desire to show, watch, and discuss one another's films; the club has produced a variety of types of film throughout its existence. The Club was a result of a meeting organised via a notice placed in the Halifax Courier and Guardian on the 6th March, 1938 inviting people interested in making films to a meeting in the Green Room of the Thespians, on George Street. Behind the Cine Club was John Ward, the manager of a chemist in Southgate. As the chemist sold cameras, film and projectors and had a well-stocked library of 9.5mm feature film for hire, this became a focal point for the amateur filmmaker community in Halifax.

Cine clubs provided a place for enthusiastic amateur film makers to collaborate and develop their own film making skills as a collective. Clubs or societies around film have had an important part in influencing the wider cultural landscape. From the times the Bloomsbury Group would meet to discuss the latest cinema releases, to the late-night, early 90s BBC film slot 'Moviedrome', where Alex Cox introduced cult or classic films such as the ever divisive Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville, or the Japanese master Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo, communal appreciation of film is an integral part of the history of British film.

Elizabeth II ascended to the throne of the United Kingdom and its colonial territories on the 6th February 1952, following the death of George VI, her father. Hers would be the first televised coronation and one of the first major world events televised in its entirety. The coronation was also filmed in 3D, which was highly experimental for the time; the 3D footage was never shown in cinemas as the popularity of the coronation saw a huge rise in television ownership and drop in cinema visitation. It was shown for the first time on Channel 4 in 2009. Three million people lined the route through which the procession marched, containing numerous heads of states and members of other royal families, and twenty million people crowded around television sets.

Celebrating her 90th birthday in 2016, Elizabeth II is currently the oldest reigning monarch, Britain's longest-lived, and the longest ever regnant queen in known world history. Despite some controversies scattered throughout her reign, she still enjoys broad popular support. Republicanism as a political movement has continually failed to gain any traction, and the recent births of Prince George and Princess Charlotte have seen surges of patriotism and royalist feeling.

The period between 1953 and 1960 saw several changes of Prime Minister, and several major world events that had some effect on Britain. In 1953, Winston Churchill was still Prime Minister; having suffered several strokes and two heart attacks, he was beginning to perceive a certain slowing of his own mental capabilities that would contribute to his decision to retire in 1955. He was succeeded by Anthony Eden, generally considered to be one of the least successful Prime Ministers of the 20th century. Presiding over the Suez Crisis, a foreign policy disaster that many point towards as the moment that Britain was undeniably relegated to the lower leagues in terms of global political influence, Eden left office in 1957. Perception of Eden has somewhat softened; some point towards a number of now-controversial amphetamines Eden was prescribed for health complaints that may have caused his irrational behaviour. Following Eden, Harold Macmillan ascended to the premiership; Macmillan's reputation is stronger today than that of Eden's, and he is often remembered for presiding over a period of prosperity for many British people.

Shortly after the end of Random Memories Reel Two, his government would be rocked by the Vassall and Profumo scandals, events that would chip away at public confidence in Macmillan and his government. After a bout of illness, the man once known as 'Supermac' resigned and the little-remembered Alec Douglas-Home took his place in office. Stiff in appearance and manner and having had the misfortune of being born an aristocrat, Douglas-Home compared badly to the salt-of-the-earth Harold Wilson. The Douglas-Home name is perhaps now best remembered for the play 'The Reluctant Debutante', written by Alec's brother William, and later adapted into the 2003 Colin Firth-vehicle rom-com 'What A Girl Wants', also starring controversial ex-child star Amanda Bynes. Harold Wilson won the following 1964 election, and would stay in office until 1970.

Britain's canal system has a particularly long history. First appearing in the Isles during the Roman occupation as a method of irrigation and ease of transport between rivers, it was not until the industrial revolution that the need for a modern, comprehensive canal system would occur. Materials and goods had to be transported quicker and in more bulk than the patchy road system allowed carriages to. Railways eventually took over as the most efficient method of transport for industrial goods, and much of the canal system fell into disrepair; something of a renaissance has occurred, however, and canals are now primarily used for recreation.

The last part of 'Random Memories Reel Two', a playful segment in which Warburton reverses film so as to give the impression of reversing time, and the shot of a chocolate egg being opened to reveal two live chicks, is a fairly surreal moment in a film which contains so many straight, sober shots of industrial landscapes. While it would be presumptive to retroactively declare that this was intentional on Warburton's part, the dreamy fugue-state of the short is not a million miles away from some of the work of arch-Surrealist and Salvador Dali collaborator Luis Buñuel. While Buñuel's work was often revolutionary in intention and violent in implementation, both it and the final short of 'Random Memories Reel Two' seem to be rooted in a similar dazed state.

Further Reading:

moviedrome

Unseen colour 3D film of Queen's Coronation to be broadcast for first time