Another World (1948) | BFI National Archive

Take a tour through St Ives’ labyrinthine cobbled streets, with names like 'Love Lane', 'Fish St' or 'Teetotal St', and encounter an array of colourful characters along the way. From well-weathered fishermen to artists, including Leonard Fuller, who appears with a group of students in tow from his St. Ives School of Painting, to George Bradshaw who founded the St Ives' Society of Artists. And, as the narrator points out, "there are cats everywhere" - no doubt due to the endless scraps of fish at their disposal.
This video is part of the Orphan Works collection. When the rights-holder for a film cannot be found, that film is classified as an Orphan Work. Find out more about Orphan Works: ec.europa.eu/internal_market/c.... This is in line with the EU Orphan Works Directive of 2012. The results of our search for the rights holder of this film can be found in the EU Orphan Works Database: euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en...
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[@susanross1651]

I’m a child of the 50’s, but I do remember life still being like this. Now in my 70’s I cry at what Britain has become, & I’m so happy that my grandparents haven’t lived to see it.

[@harryproud9679]

Me To.1947. Brixton Lad. Safe For Kids, no Muggings No Stabbings No Shootings.Loverly Honest People. Now Our Country’s A 💩Hole. A N Island Others Come To Exploit,Use And Abuse. Taking Over. Causing Trouble .Sad Sad Sad.😪.

[@JRattheranch]

So I'm not the only one feeling as you describe! 👌👍

[@jimmeltonbradley1497]

Oh yes, all that scarlet fever, diptheria, TB and polio so many young people of the 1950s suffered from. And the smog we endured too, if we lived in an industrial northern city. What a wonderful time to be alive! If you survived it. There's nothing more nonsensical than those who see our past through rose-tinted glasses. I was born in 1951 and, whilst I loved this film, seem to have a firmer grasp of reality than you do.

[@JRattheranch]

@@jimmeltonbradley1497 Sadly you were born into such circumstances! I also remember them well! Fortunately for me, my mother died in a helicopter over Manchester and I grew up in West Wales! Therefore I'm qualified to sympathise with the correspondent but I have to admit that city life conditions, back then, were pretty dire!

[@perkinscrane]

A nice little film. The comments though take some believing. I was born in the early fifties. Britain especially the countryside of those days suffered many problems not least chronic poverty. I’m afraid that nostalgia is crowding out sensible thinking.

[@charlesliddell502]

My heart breaks for the Britain that we have lost.

[@AleRon72]

I grew up in that world. And, despite all the naysayers here, I loved it and truly miss it.

[@mothratemporalradio517]

I wish i could visit old Cornwall! I imagine it as magical. I have Celtic blood, having Welsh ancestry, and i feel as though the captivating land is full of ancient spirit that speaks directly to me. My parents left Britain and i have always been in Australia. And while Australia is my home and has beautiful features, essentially i do not feel that same connection with land. There is a poem in Brythonic on KZbin called Pais Dinogad in a Brythonic tongue and again, when i listen to it, it's like something falls into place. Land is part of it, language is part of it. There is a historic Cornish connection with Australia as many miners came over. How i wish i could have mingled more directly with the descendants of the Celts in all their beautiful diversity. I don't think I'm romanticising, i think it's a loss in my life that it's unlikely i will have any real opportunity to recover due to my circumstances, and this saddens me. Because that connection i feel when i feel it is like a jigsaw puzzle piece slotted in place suddenly showing the full picture.

[@mothratemporalradio517]

AleRon, can you tell me some stories?

[@sarac.3259]

@@mothratemporalradio517 I can see what you are saying. I love where I live (London) but it doesn't really feel like home, and when I visit Wales I feel at home for lots of reasons connected to my childhood and my parents having spent a lot of time there. Would reading more about Cornwall through literature help? When I last visited Cornwall, I read A L Rowse's "A Cornish Childhood". He was born in 1903 near St Austell. I really enjoyed it.

[@mothratemporalradio517]

@@sarac.3259 Appreciate this lovely message Sara! Are there any places in Wales you feel especially connected with? Thankyou for the lovely idea for the turn of the century book! In another thread on a different video, i have just been speaking with a Cornish gent of 80 whose 19th century ancestor was a wrecker and, it turned out, was sent as a convict to Australia, where i am. This got various cogs in my head whirring, as i hadn't put two and two together that Cornish smugglers could become Australian convicts. These cogs were last turning when i was living in a 19th century workers cottage in abysmal condition. Horrible experience, but really made me constantly think about the 19th century in quite productive ways creatively. Smuggling is another cross-section of Cornwall which can hardly fail to intrigue me due to its connections with somewhat Gothic drama in literature and so forth - i should probably blame this partly on reading Daphne du Maurier's _Jamaica Inn_ as a child. When i was living in the 19th century cottage, i ended up doing a lot of research which included ship journeys from the UK to Australia, and saw that Cornish miners were being lured to the new colony with advertisements for ship journeys and work to reshape one's future. Arguably under various pretences, as the ship journeys were apparently horrible and full of the likes of child morbidity, and the reality of life in early colonial Australia was far rougher than the advertisements made out. At this time i read a diary from about the 1860s of one person who had come over from the UK to Australia on a ship. Quite unforgettable stuff, the writer's child was found dead in the ship's lavatory en route. Child mortality on ship journeys (or indeed in general) was not that unusual at the time, but this diary has been quite unforgettable for me as a reader. After speaking to the Cornish gent who i believe has now settled in the US, i did some research and have now found a smuggler's diary! Unfortunately i don't have the library membership to access the resource as i write. However, i am hoping that for the more idyllic aspects of non-gentrified Cornwall, i might be able to find the book you have referred to in the public domain and available online! It's lovely to value Celtic heritage in all its unique complexity. I have also just been reading about the Welsh princes from around 600 - 1450 AD - i had no idea that the Tudors were descended from the Welsh on the paternal side. I was also a bit shocked to discover the Welsh princes sometimes had means of bumping each other off in rivalry which did not exclude nicking off to Ireland and coming back with an army of Norse mercenaries! I still haven't fully figured out how and why Norse mercenaries were in Ireland at the time. I think of history like a jigsaw puzzle in which i am constantly fitting pieces together. It does appear that perhaps around the same time, part of Scotland was occupied by the Vikings. Wikipedia rabbitholes of this nature can be fun but exhausting and disorienting due to the abundance of hyperlinks. So i would greatly welcome a linear autobiography, and thank you very much for the recommendation! I hope all that makes sense, and that you are having a good one.

[@sarac.3259]

@@mothratemporalradio517 This is all so fascinating - so much more to history than what we read in books. Incredibly sad to think of children ill and dying on a long voyage. Was talking about the word "voyage" to a child at school the other day and explaining how journeys were long and arduous years ago. Hard to imagine but diaries as you describe bring these things to life. Mainly south Wales - the Gower peninsular - and the Rhondda valley. Many happy holidays spent there. It often rained but we never minded.

[@nickrichards3841]

Brilliant film. Makes me yearn for the good old days when everything wasn’t about technology. Grew up in Cornwall and it’s great to see some of my old haunts as I remember them as a kid.

[@nickrichards3841]

@daviddragonetti5025 yes I think you’re somewhat missing my point 😆

[@philchurch927]

We are told over and over how life has improved, I cannot see it!

[@uksurfer2505]

So true. We have for fitted our ability to live independently from the system and now the system wants it’s souls- Satan is reaping.

[@alancrabb]

In 50 years time, those brought up in this decade will look back on it as a 'golden age'. It's called 'the Jane Austen effect'. The reality of life in 1940's for almost all British people was nothing like this.

[@distantthunder12ck55]

Phil Church - They mean in terms of GDP and materialism. It depends how you measure quality of life and what is important to you. Personally I know what I value most and I think we've regressed substantially in many ways.

[@alancrabb]

@@distantthunder12ck55 : "They mean in terms of GDP and materialism..." Such generalisations can be misleading. Factor in poor health care (this is pre-NHS), crippling class and regional inequalities, bad housing, little or no education and grinding poverty. Quality of life was a concept beyond the reach of common folk : for many life was short, painful and unfair. For folks such as those depicted in this film, yes life could be very pleasant : however even at that date they were a privileged few.

[@distantthunder12ck55]

@@alancrabb All things are relative to the times. People don't miss what they don't have or know. It therefore bears no relevance to over all happiness/health of a people. People were happier with less in times gone by. It's not about the "Jane Austin effect" but rather about reality. Most kids these days are filled with insecurity, on various antidepressants and medication. Suicide rates in males are through the roof, way up for females too. Life is fast paced, greed, vanity, superficiality are rife, values have changed massively, communities are divided, people are atomised.

[@Bob-Horse]

Wish I could go back to living in that time. My father was about to start his national service in the Army this year, he was 18 years of age, and I’m glad to say still with us.

[@robertreynolds323]

Born in 1948 I remember those long summer days 😢

[@xXxHollzxXx]

My grandmother can be seen at 16:16 and throughout the film. I never met her so this is wonderful to watch.

[@maureennewman905]

how wonderful for you.

[@jean_mollycutpurse_winchester]

Wow! That must be wonderful for you.

[@Chris-mv5zc]

That’s awesome!

[@norrinradd3549]

Are you still living locally, or have you had to move out, to a cheaper area, because I don’t know many locals, that still have the sea views that they grew up with.?.?.?.?.?.

[@doubtingthomas736]

"This little lass, Joan" ?

[@user-wq1cf7ms5r]

My mum remembers these times and cries at the way this country has gone

[@peacockpaula4723]

Although I am young I feel and crave for those pure times...strange and the narration make me cry as it is so touching and loving; beautiful diction heals the soul. Beautiful video bless you all involved, wonderful people👏🙂🙏.

[@peacockpaula4723]

@daviddragonetti5025 ...it is hard to explain...Is something spiritual...🙏🙂

[@tonyrobinson5597]

I was born in 1948 my parents worked to put food on our table and a roof over our head it was a hard life , but we appreciated what we had

[@bobwishart8780]

So very true!

[@tonyrobinson5597]

@daviddragonetti5025 in 1948 there were no handouts no technology at all not now days many people can claim you had to work and work hard or you got nothing no such things as food banks and the wages were disgusting and you had to work many more hours than today in the winter it was freezing no heating nothing that’s why the people today are spoiled rotten same as my kids and grandchildren we were a tuff generation.

[@harryproud9679]

I’m One Year Older. Know exactly How You, And I And Those Who Were Bourn Then, And In The 50s 60s. From Mid 60s Things Stated To Go Down Hill. Mr Enoch Powell Knew The Score .And Ignored . It’s The 4th Generation Of Certain People That Started Real Violence.As Well As Certain Cultures ,.Now There’s No Better Times For This our Country. We Are The Minority Now. The Ones That Have To Tolerate Our Own Bourn And Breed Living In This Destroyed Once Great Loverly Safe Happy Country. Over Run, Overcrowded ,Unclean Streets.Unhygienic Food Restaurants ,Take Aways, With Different Washing Standards. Khan Going To Build Hundreds Of New Homes For His Kind To be Closer To The Mosque s. What About Our Street Living People, Ex Service PT S D Disorder Yes Messed Up Heads. Sleeping In The Fk Streets. But Plenty Of Money For Those That Arrive On Our Shores In Boats. Fed Watered, Housed. Protected.Given Electric Transport, Mobile Phones , ECT.Fk ALl For Our Own, 🥲🇬🇧The British Bourn And Breed.The Flag We Are Supposed To Be Proud Off. No Not Now. It Means Free Everything For Free Loaders, Fk All For Us. That’s A FACT. The TRUTH.🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬I’m Still Paying FK Tax. On The Pension I Paid Into. For Working From 15 Years Old .In The Building Trade, As A Professional Fire Fighter. Retired.And Still Do Repairs For People That Need My Help. Not A Free Penny From This Country. Never. I’m 76 Years Old. My Three Children Do Not Have A Council Home, Not An Association Home. . Had To Pay Big Rents, And Big Mortgages.Nothing Free For Them.🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

[@DavidDragonetti]

@@harryproud9679 kzbin.info/www/bejne/jX7IgYGQbMyZnLs

[@tonyrobinson5597]

@@harryproud9679 Harry god bless you and your lovely family

[@MarckKnitwear]

What a lovely film, oh what a lovely country this was back then........one day many will weep for what we lost!!!!

[@lemming9984]

I already do!

[@MarckKnitwear]

@@lemming9984 me too! It brings tears to my eyes when I watch old film footage. It’s terrible what they are doing to this country and others! Many are asleep and know no better than what they have or have not!

[@goodvibes5220]

Hardly

[@prehistoricpleb]

I miss the 80’s a time I recall, as I was born in 75.

[@louisep5178]

St Ives hasn't changed that much it is still stunning

[@Teenibash1969]

Modern life has taken this bliss away. I wish for life to be like that again.

[@risenshine2783]

Taken most of nature away our space our wildlife our peace away from work...now housing estate after housing estate

[@ramjet8778]

You are spot on...a truly special time without the ghastly materialistic, commercialism and politically correct times we have now....have you read the beautiful books by Derek Tangye...he lived in Lamorna and wrote all about the area....such evocative writing.

[@risenshine2783]

@@ramjet8778 yes and i admit i am one if the car using house dwellers too its not just everyone else its us all too many of us mostly blind to any other reality

[@risenshine2783]

@the End is Nigh do you think the Isle of Man is ok to live then? thats a possibility but havent been there since I was z kid

[@debbietaylor9750]

@@risenshine2783 yes the Isle of Man still has a slow pace, and many local artists. Michael Starkey, Llyod-Davis , Frank Compton. Though l holiday in St Ives still, but live on the island.

[@flosscake8705]

The narrator's voice is lovely.

[@thomasreed49]

It is we would probably have to put up with a black man narrating unprofessionally today.

[@divaden47]

Apart from his pronunciation of Pil-chard!

[@rapido2963]

Everything seemed straightforward in those days. I listen to the news and read in the paper of some event, disaster or war and think surely things can’t get any worse? Sure enough - they do!

[@karenstudley2311]

Marvellous old footage.

[@user-mh2mi1uu8k]

I loathe this world now and long for the past..

[@georgepointer1127]

Ha the past were boys got caned everyday for wanting to learn .

[@kingofkroon]

@@georgepointer1127 Never did me any harm.

[@kingofkroon]

Whakko!!

[@keithe15]

What a lovely find, life was not easy then but we were all British then, it’s all long gone now…..

[@anneroy4560]

We do have an excess of incomers here these days ... they wish to here but appear to have no desire to be of here ...

[@AestheticOfTheImage]

It's totally outrageous that this video is interrupted by an ad after just just a few seconds

[@veldawells2839]

Wonderful history of St Ives, countryside, coastal industry, culture and its people. Quaint chocolate box village, just like Clovelly in Devon I visited as a child in 1970s. Both have now lost their beauty due to tourism. The street and shop names are unique and make me smile. How the language and delivery has changed today when presenting. Every leisure activity people dressed very smart. Today, we seem to be more relaxed and less concerned about our dress code. Beautiful documentary in a small corner of our British Isles. Loved it!

[@johnduffin3361]

facinating look at old Cornwall

[@oddities-whatnot]

This is what KZbin was created for. Interesting and delightful videos. Not attention seeking fake looking work-shy trollops trying on swimwear or dropping things off high bridges.

[@chrisrebar2381]

Although I understand the sentiments of your comment and agree that it would have been nice if it were true, I am afraid you are totally wrong - ytube was created from exactly the same nefarious mold as fbook, instagram, etc.

[@therealrobertbirchall]

I love your prose. 'attention seeking fake looking work-shy trollops trying on swim ware'.

[@TheOrientalNightFish]

I agree with you on the insipid whorish bimbo millenials trying on swimwear or 'reacting' to any old random pop video or something... Sadly KZbin facilitates that kind of shite, and was always meant to.

[@kernowarty]

Wow! I never knew this film existed. Actual footage of Lamorna Birch, John Park, Leonard Fuller, Borlase Smart, Stanhope Forbes. Amazing!!!

[@chasleask8533]

I think I saw Fimbert Twinge at 14:51

[@joansavage1857]

How wonderful, sheer magic! Thank you....

[@christophertupper8811]

£65 for that beautiful Stanley Spencer oil painting !! I want to weep and time travel back and buy 2 ...beautiful film even with the bombastic violins,

[@kerrymould1698]

Workers only paid 1£aweek

[@None-zc5vg]

Those painters were well-off people unlike the picturesque locals who had to scrabble unromantically for a living.

[@titan-worldsoldestcat8657]

Stunning time capsule of a gentler time - my father like andrew somerset was 18 as well and on his national service and loved this era of his life - they lacked some of the things some crave now and tbh i wish like a lot of my fellow commenters have said to have this time back with simple honest needs and less modern clutter - plus plenty of those lovely cats!!!

[@mothratemporalradio517]

Well said. All of that, with cats! Wait - username checks out :v perhaps you are a keyboard cat who wishes to have lived in Cornwall with the others!!

[@titan-worldsoldestcat8657]

@@mothratemporalradio517 i do live in Cornwall - and was as you will see if you look at my videos an elderly cat who had a few tales to tell in my 30+ years on the planet ;)

[@mothratemporalradio517]

@@titan-worldsoldestcat8657 haa! How can i resist such an invitation? May i ask whereabouts in Cornwall you live? I confess i am jealous :v

[@titan-worldsoldestcat8657]

@@mothratemporalradio517 Sunny Helston ( well it was very much so today ;) ) so close enough to greenery and the sea in any direction -be it The lizard or Penzance etc

[@stephencorrall]

A wonderful glimpse of Cornwall in days gone by. Growing up in Penzance and Newlyn and working in St Ives, I consider it my home. Wonderful to see the mighty Stanhope Forbes at work, and I am rather ashamed to say that for all these years I had thought that Lamorna Birch was a woman!!

[@stellayates4227]

Perhaps they should show such films to school children today - would they think it was another planet?

[@mabel8179]

They'd be asking where their smartphones are lol.

[@birdsaloud7590]

Fisherfolk, artists and cats. How lovely.

[@mothratemporalradio517]

Wonderful, although naturally an edited version of life. I am enjoying the comments section here. 🐟🐙🐱

[@robertstark8527]

I was born in 1948 found it very interesting but makes me feel ancient. It’s a totally different world now.

[@billbord3205]

Same here!

[@Laura55sere]

And here!

[@jimwalker5412]

Same here, just think we had a whole life time of the NHS to look forward to.

[@mothratemporalradio517]

I am much younger and while i don't wish to be maudlin in over the top nostalgia, i think technological acceleration and globalisation have been somewhat disastrous and in some ways ruinous for culture. I don't think i would have enjoyed the 50s however. But the late 40s and the late 60s look more appealing than 2021. Then again, what doesn't? I just feel a sense of loss. And the kids make me feel aeons old these days. Everyone wanting to be an "influencer", yet even they are nostalgic for the wholesome. I've seen them fall over themselves when much older folk produce kindly KZbin content. I feel like we are currently living in some weird times.

[@remotefaith]

@@mothratemporalradio517 My great grandfather was lobotomized for depression suffered after losing his wife to a premature death. The good old days!

[@barryfender2024]

Wages not high,expectations not high,contentment with what you had,high!Quality of life high,strikes me,the more you have, the more you want,the more unhappy you become.The world today is not a happy one.We need to get back to basics.☹️😢Chrissy

[@anythingbootneck]

The madness of the world in 2021, I hate what this world has become. Sadly, this beautiful film captures a world long gone.

[@anythingbootneck]

@Russ Cooke Fact!👍🏻

[@jeangander8967]

Oh how I agree. I wish I could go back

[@Senna-xi1gr]

The only advice I can give you to be a little more happy is don’t watch any news channels especially the BBC. I have been doing this for 2 years now & I am happy in my own life.

[@joanthomas6337]

I get very nostalgic watching these movies. As a child, we had no worries the world seemed bright and safe and the future looked full of promise. Now, we’re not safe in our own homes, and what the WEF and their Transhumanist agenda has in mind for us is Black and evil

[@BradleyUK58]

Absolutely.

[@andrewharman6861]

The good old days , So many comments from those who feel how sad it is we have lost this bliss and say how they hate what the world has become and I can understand this being an old man However they,we,all played our part in the gradual pull towards where we are today 70 years later.We all had families made babies purchased plastic bags drove cars cooked on and warmed our homes with Nuclear fusion and so are all part of this ever expanding Human race that inevitably very gradually is over flowing evolving full circle back into the sea. The 50s 60s 70s as I recall was far from heavenly bliss with the majority of people from working class families working in factories that were often very unhealthy toxic with little health and safety measures in place or down the mines in service skinning fish and scrubbing steps. Those who were lucky spent one week a year at Clacton Ramsgate Brighton or Blackpool while dad probably kept working. Life in fact was grey rather than black and white grim rather than great. Being aware of who we are and trying to make some improvement no matter how small is a good place to start The only real difference was back then there was a lot less of us

[@davidhoult4108]

I don’t think anybody used nuclear fusion !

[@andrewharman6861]

@@davidhoult4108 Did I say Fusion Sorry getting ahead of myself that was meant to be Fission thank you for the we’ll needed communication I stand corrected wishin It was fusion though oh how better things may be and you, the only one to notice my utterly stupid mistake are no fool hope you can now save the planet or something good like that 🆗

[@stephenfelstead9802]

Lovely old film I’m an artist living in Penzance

[@stellayates4227]

That sounds like a nice life - enjoy the coming summer

[@ivandinsmore6217]

Notice how clean everything was then. No litter, no graffiti no tattoos or piercings on people.

[@garypautard1069]

You forgot the obesity and the drab sports clothes and baseball hats worn back to front and the loud bass music coming from cars and trying to find a telephone operator who speaks your language when you ask for advice and you are then given a website.

[@kimkeen8924]

It’s now 2024 and you cannot recognise this once great land .The whole world has changed and not for the better ,If only we could turn back time learn from our mistakes and rectify them for modernity.

[@maggieadams8600]

Traffic has definitely made the whole world ugly. Technology has, it's odd that people think it's the solution to all of our problems, when it looks like it is the problem.

[@pakistanidalek]

How do you think they filmed this clip? It was modern technology back then.....

[@antiserjanus8016]

@@pakistanidalek He could be talking about the deliberately coded apps made to make kids addicted to phones. The printing press, film, radio, LPs and TV are technology but ones I would say made people connect emotionally, spiritually.

[@pakistanidalek]

@@antiserjanus8016 And there was people just like you back in the black and white days who thought the printing press, film, radio. LPs and TV were the devil's work

[@mabel8179]

@@antiserjanus8016 Oh yes I agree! Radio broadcasts of fantastic jazz bands, radio serials, films, records to listen to on gramophones, magazines that taught you how to build radio sets and make furniture for the home etc. All worthwhile. Constantly scrolling photos on a smartphone of posing "influencers" on social media and looking at clips of inane" twerkers" is hardly comparable is it!

[@freebornjohn6876]

I do agree about traffic. When the covid lockdown first began, I cycled to work each day never seeing a car on the road. It was bliss.

[@porkscratchings5428]

I’d rather live back then with no modern technology and respect and safety I knew as a kid.

[@pakistanidalek]

And yet here you are on the internet using modern technology to make your illogical comment.

[@antiserjanus8016]

@@pakistanidalek It's no illogical to want a better society and if the Net is the only way for him to express that, it makes sense. As for technology, deliberately addicative apps, killer robots for war and AI to do every working and middle class job - it depends on your definition of technology is. I love technology for being able to restore great movies, TV and radio shows.

[@pakistanidalek]

@@antiserjanus8016 So what 'modern technology' would you have quite happily lived without back then?

[@mabel8179]

@@pakistanidalek Mobile phones I could happily see be binned.

[@pakistanidalek]

@@mabel8179 KZbin?

[@geoffreylaverne7859]

World population up at least 4 x over- struggles everywhere, keep going😊

[@louisep5178]

Amazing film and narrator's voice and music. People dressed up in those days. Shirt and tie and hat and smart dresses and shoes. I miss St Ives so much - can't wait to visit again after the pandemic eases. My parents went their on their honeymoon in 1955 around this time 👌🙏👍

[@franceskronenwett3539]

An amazing film which shows St. Ives as it used to be before the start of mass tourism.

[@mothratemporalradio517]

Did the Victorians not have a fancy for St Ive's? Sounds fascinating as a place.. i appreciate that tourism while providing potential for income can absolutely ruin the atmosphere for which a place attained renown in the first instance.

[@David-uf8ex]

How lovely, sadly st ives has been ruined by Londoners and rich property owners snapping everything up , its a bit of a holiday hell now and all the locals have been pushed out its way to expensive

[@lemming9984]

Yes, I visited once - about 5 years ago. We only stayed an hour. Unbelievably over-crowded, and this was mid-week, off-season.

[@mothratemporalradio517]

Gentrification is a terrible thing in my experience. So sad. As well as overpopulation. Note we would all be bodies ourselves. I've had little option to travel, but if i had total freedom of movement, i might try and consciously spare places i've never seen out of respect. While sad, in an overpopulated world, without such restraint, there is little solution. I know that if i went to Venice, i'd be part of a problem.

[@mothratemporalradio517]

As well, when locals are displaced, it can be argued a town loses all character. No place is buildings alone and when they become like that, it's culturally hollow and you can tell.

[@mothratemporalradio517]

@@lemming9984 thank you for that info. I've always wanted to visit Cornwall and have not been able to do so in any event. I can be more circumspect if i know the place i want to visit cannot really be recovered, if that makes sense. I feel bad for those who grew up connected to the area now displaced. Terrible feeling.

[@sarac.3259]

Haven't visited for 20 years or so - was lovely then - and now I am limited to school hols, I wouldn't. Have always liked the idea of a little place by the sea (for holidays) but I feel it's wrong on the industrial scale you see in some places, where locals are priced out, so I couldn't. A village should only be a small percentage holiday lets. Many places need tourism but they need permanent, year-round inhabitants too.

[@Firebrand55]

Brings back memories. I lived in St. Ives then, aged 8....a virtual playground for all children; no harbour railings, few cars, no phones. mostly gas lighting, no TV, no money...but all the carefree freedom in the world. The wooden raft at Porthminster Beach was a delight, demolished later by slow-thinking Council pen-pushers. The fishermen of St. Ives were legend; if one or two gave you a nod, it was your birthday all over. At 33.55 you'll see a fisherman pacing up and down, an age-hold habit of the fishermen of St. Ives....mostly done in the many lean times between catches. At 14.08...Dan Paynter; in 1953 was awarded the Queens Commendation for Bravery for his part in the saving of HMS Wave, grounded at the harbour. Check out the rare images of Borlase Smart, major painter and friend of St. Ives. Simply, a paradise.

[@johneaton25]

FREEDOM is the word Firebrand55 👍 Kids today want what they want starting with a mobile phone 🤔

[@None-zc5vg]

Some of the painters filmed here must have had money. Bruckner's 9th and Brahms' 'Haydn Variations' in the theme music.

[@mothratemporalradio517]

Did you continue to grow up there? What sort of place was it for a teen and/or a young adult?

[@Firebrand55]

@@mothratemporalradio517 I left at 15 to join the RAF. Teens hadn't been invented at that time...they were in 1952 when King George VI died; the 3 week mourning period shut everthing down, as per C19 today. So, young people across the Nation turned to Radio Luxemburg 208 and the American Forces Network in Germany, all broadcasting great pop normal. From that time the term 'teenager' was used, coinciding as it did with the rise of Elvis Presely and Bill Haley and his Comets. By the way, HMS Wave, ( see above ), was commanded by Capt. Robert Everett; any connection?

[@mothratemporalradio517]

@@Firebrand55 thank you for your reply in which you jogged my memory about the invention of the teenager! I am not aware of any personal connection between my ancestry and that of Captain Robert Everett of the HMS Wave, but am intrigued! He is not the first Everett of renown that has been drawn to my attention - i'm now curious to discover more about him.

[@notnotnotavailable]

I remember the 1950s. There were good things and bad things. One good thing was the NHS, which started by tackling a huge backlog of illness amongst people who hadn't been able to afford treatment. Another good thing was that large numbers of council houses were built, but that was because many people had been displaced by the wartime bombing of inner-city areas. They were cheaply built, and I remember my house as being very cold - single glazing, thin doors, only two coal fires which were supplemented by risky paraffin heaters. Coal was used everywhere, buildings were blackened by soot, and a stink of toxic coal fumes hung over populated areas in the morning.

[@xyzzyx3377]

What an awful world we live in now. I feel sad for my children and grandchildren.

[@Teddietonbear23]

What beautiful music and video ❤️❤️

[@trondog8503]

We certainly did make this glorious England another world.

[@stephenbaker7079]

Maybe, but we were hardy and didn't complain. Things greatly improved after the war with excellent council houses and slum clearance.

[@None-zc5vg]

The council houses built before and just after the war were honestly-built, but things went downhill in the '60s with the increasing use of non-council labour and [often high-rise] 'system building' (see 'Bison') that had disastrous planning- and architectural consequences when hundreds of thousands of dwellings in one city alone had to be replaced after 20-odd years, leaving local authorities with massive, irrecoverable funding bills. The post-war British 'slum-clearance' programme (matching what was done in the U.S.) often created soulless 'new slums for old', destroying communities and businesses to free-up valuable inner-city land for lucrative 'development'

[@krisdee1355]

.. socialist brutalist iron curtain housing for an 'all the same' anti social future. And anti social distancing today. Planned over centuries in the shadowy world of finance & power.

[@mothratemporalradio517]

@@None-zc5vg interesting analysis. What is your hometown?

[@mothratemporalradio517]

@@krisdee1355 mm - not sure i agree with this rhetoric

[@jillmcaleese6514]

My uncle, a gamekeeper, used to wear those plus-fours

[@trojanhorse5363]

Well done BFI 🏆🏆🏆🏆

[@tallandhandsome29]

Back in the day, only a 68 piece orchestra would suffice for light incidental music.

[@tuna1388]

🤣🤣😂

[@politecat4236]

Lol 69

[@hollytreelodge]

In 2024 there's so much division, violence and public immodesty and indecency that's it's not hard to think kindly of the era of this film, even with it's own hardships. I'd happily go back to the 1950s rose tinted glasses or not!

[@treesm4479]

​@daviddragonetti5025Difference.. people cared about and helped one another. There was a sense of community. People weren't glued to screens. Real food existed and was grown locally. The rivers were clean, there were fish in them. Birds and rabbits were abundant and cattle roamed the fields. Big business hadn't yet poisoned and plundered everything.. only, as big business does, to then blame the people for the carnage and wreckage they cause. People recycled naturally. Plastic and chemicals, toxins and poisons of all kinds were limited. People looked out for one another. Of course, propaganda and manipulation by the few has always been a thorn in the side of humanity, but huge conglomerates had not yet taken over every aspect of society. Social engineering was not in full swing. Children could play outside and were not taught gender bending. Parents were not made to feel inadequate for not entertaining them all day long. Kids made their own entertainment, could run for miles, climb trees, were fit and healthy. Parenting was not undermined by the state. Adults were made of strong stuff. People ate fat and were not overweight. Food was cooked from scratch. Women and families had yet to fall foul to the downside of feminism, and social engineering. 'Latch key kids' was still in the future.. though all the blueprints for the destruction of the nuclear family and community were already in place, unbeknown to its future prey. Comedy was funny. The sky was blue, no small craft drawing criss cross lines, blotting out the sun. The air was clean and heavenly. Houses didn't look like they could be blown away by a strong gust of wind. The architects had yet to demolish communities and replace them with concrete jungles/future ghettos. Mass immigration had not really begun. People felt part of something greater, not isolated, alone and unsupported. I could go on. But even 40 yrs ago a fair bit of that remained. Things were not perfect of course, far from it. But there was a sense of pride. Many changes have since been wrought upon us.. society sped up, info overload, the increased sense of isolation, broken communities, corporate control of every aspect of our lives, being over surveilled and treated like criminals... the manufacturing base shipped off to sweatshops abroad and housing became solely for profit. Kids back then could still grow up, get married and find a place to live. There weren't mattresses and tents on the high st. Drug culture hadn't ravaged our youth. Small businesses thrived. ... We lived under the nuke lie, not the threat of AI. Now and then we are taken back down that road.. when we spend time in a country village, find some quiet roads and tranquillity, when someone smiles at us and conquers the anxiety and tension most of us now live inside of.

[@treesm4479]

​@daviddragonetti5025 Difference.. people cared about and helped one another. There was a sense of community. People weren't glued to screens. Real food existed and was grown locally. The rivers were clean, there were fish in them. Birds and rabbits were abundant and cattle roamed the fields. Big business hadn't yet poisoned and plundered everything..

[@treesm4479]

​@daviddragonetti5025People recycled naturally. Plastic and chemicals, toxins and poisons of all kinds were limited. People looked out for one another.

[@treesm4479]

​@daviddragonetti5025Of course, propaganda and manipulation by the few has always been a thorn in the side of humanity, but huge conglomerates had not yet taken over every aspect of society. Social engineering was not in full swing.

[@treesm4479]

​​@daviddragonetti5025Children could play outside and were not taught g3ndr b3nding. Parents were not made to feel inadequate for not entertaining them all day long. Kids made their own entertainment, could run for miles, climb trees, were fit and healthy.

[@stevewhitehouse41]

Look at what politician's and lack of good leadership has done to our country mostly driven by greed.

[@georgepointer1127]

And other countries.

[@georgepointer1127]

And Henry 8 was such a kind generous man not at all greedy.

[@DavidDragonetti]

@@georgepointer1127 "other countries" That's very simplistic. For example post war Sweden, Switzerland etc was not like post war Britain.

[@BIH0711]

Anyone noticed Dunlop tyres advertisement on wall How simple is that 😌

[@idectification]

Something of value.

[@peterwimsey5904]

I'm glad I don't have to walk to the nearest hill to get my washing dry

[@MrClingclong]

Understandably people wanted to visit Devon and Cornwall to experience it for themselves. Unfortunately they helped kill the charm, with 2nd homes in coastal areas where no-one indigenous can afford anymore thanks to city workers with massive bonuses. People talk about stopping them buying up the properties, but look around, it's too late. As a lifelong resident of Cornwall I really have no idea why people want to visit now, it's absolutely ruined.

[@maureennewman905]

This is the year I was born

[@bobfisher1916]

Me too

[@jamesrogers5277]

Year after I was born. 40 years before my younger son was born. My mother’s mother was 60 that year. 48 is the usual number of buttons on an English concertina.

[@jacquelinetaylor8683]

This is an idealised version of life when the country had half the population it has now and things weren't so crowded by people and cars. But then we did have social and cultural cohesion which has now been fragmented.

[@leepowis5215]

Looks like paradise to me

[@Poliss95]

1948 looks like another world.

[@mabel8179]

It was.

[@None-zc5vg]

"This sceptered Isle..." has become a septic one for many of its inhabitants

[@mercomania]

No pictures of the outside lavvies and damp slums, just how jolly wonderful life was back then.

[@ruadhagainagaidheal9398]

You’re quite right. Only a handful ( literally) of people now live “ Down’long” in St Ives , and they have no close neighbours. There are many of those” quaint little cobbled streets” with nobody at all actually living there. As soon as they can , they take the money and move “Up’long” to a decent house with no crowds of visitors in summer and damp draughty rooms in winter. Fisher folk were poor, with the bulk of the profit from their labours going to the fish merchants , who of course had them over a barrel - accept the price offered or leave your fish to rot.

[@margotwenty6436]

I take the outside toilets any day compared to the over crowded country we have full of opinionated people who move in their words to the sticks

[@rickremco6275]

@@ruadhagainagaidheal9398 I was 4yrs old at this time - outside toilet, no bathroom, one cold-water tap in the kitchen. For some reason, none of that mattered - it was a lovely childhood.

[@rumblejungle5590]

Back then at least the country wasn't one big lavvy.

[@greasylimpet3323]

Nothing wrong with outside dunnies!

[@shirleyjordan5941]

Delightful film times have changed

[@juliemarshall7913]

Wow how beautiful.

[@mattred1200]

At 10.27 is mums house, the Norway sign is still same one!!

[@None-zc5vg]

Bruckner's 9th Symphony (the second movement) on the sound track.

[@colinlambert882]

Quite amazing to find it being used as background music to a 1948 British film, when Bruckner was almost unknown in the UK. Chosen ironically because the flute at 14:18 sounded similar to the call of a gull. There is a 1 minute quotation of a climax from the 1st movement at 32:00.

[@stephensmith5118]

What great footage of ye old St Ives ,when Cornwall was a far away remote country with a way of life which hadn't changed for centuries .No pvc ,botch or over development, no greedy Londoners and holiday home owners ,what a lovely time to look back on shame we csnt go back to those post war simple ways of life in the 1940s .

[@spinynorman8217]

No uPVC.. you and i would get along famously! l hate the stuff it has destroyed most of our building stock visually and as 99% of the great British public are visually illiterate and the planning system is toothless we are unfortunately stuck with it (unless you live in a posh area of course) We could have a good moan together though.

[@stephensmith5118]

@@spinynorman8217 I like the way you describe it as ' visually illiterate. .certainly true. 😂

[@BavonWW]

03:01 He's wearing plus-fours, "sh*t catchers" to us young tearaways. My father often wore them on his country walks. I wanted to wear them when I grew up. I had a pair made but life became too hectic.

[@rayg4360]

Those cats. lovely colours> I see that they chose The Maidens

[@martyfeldman3269]

This could be Peter Sellers narrating, doing one of his posh BBC voices.

[@ronholfly]

I was 12 years old, it was a different world than today's madhouse.

[@insertnamehere5146]

i do agree but let's not forget not everything was scented roses in those days. education was class driven and society in general was very overtly class conscious. finally good people died of illnesses that a course of anti-biotics would cure in a week now. everything has to be weighed up. on balance as someone born in the early 1960s, i prefer 2024 over the late 50s/60s

[@lablackzed]

Love this brings a lot of good memories back to me as a nipper in the 50s todays world is a sick place. 😠

[@ceinwenowen8525]

Imagine he’s dressed that well just for painting ..nowadays people can’t even be bothered to get decent shoes to walk around just wearing slippers even if they are driving

[@corriemcnab730]

We lived at Maidenhead when I was three, used to see Stanley Spencer pushing his art equipment around in a pram..... This would have been around 1959.

[@stephenfelstead9802]

Also worked as a fisherman

[@sshms414]

Bit different now sadly

[@notnotnotavailable]

I was born in the year this film was made, and coincidentally the NHS started operation. Rural poverty is so quaint and picturesque, isn't it? And everybody was so happy and knew their place, didn't they? No, of course it wasn't like that. If you are getting all nostalgic, it's not that you are remembering the state of the country when you were an infant and couldn't understand what was happening around you. You are simply remembering the feeling of being a child and being cared for, before you had the cares of being an adult. Enough of this 'what has become of the country' nonsense.

[@davidwright8432]

One 'everyday' sight in cities of those times, surely missing in St. Ives, is the bomb site. This is a town untouched physically by the war - tho I'm sure there were families there who lost members to the war. This is an idyllic glance; that it's filmed in black and white adds somehow to the charm and verisimilitude.

[@kathrynboniface3455]

My mother did not have a winter coat and she had no idea how to get one because of rationing.

[@mothratemporalradio517]

Was the rationing continued after the war? This is 1948. Still sounds incredibly rough.

[@marythompson4319]

Move to the country and live in peace and harmony with wildlife and nature. The cities are absolutely NUTS!!

[@patrickwilliams7078]

Yeah but all the ppl from the cities have moved there now

[@michaelmiller641]

Here here to that last sentiment!!!!

[@stephensmith5118]

Great film. ,l treasure it ,what a lovely time it must have been in old St ives after the war when it was a working class fisherman's town and maybe a few tin miners lived thier too.All the optimism, the war over ,l heard the gas works was bombed during the war ,l would love to go back to those days ,l dint suppose much would be altered since the Victorian days except electricity ,no constant building work ,no pvc window and doors ,many panelled doors are now gone ,why do they keep changing things ? The council should have stopped all the unsympathetic modernisations since the 90s but all they care about is money .God bless ye old st lves.and l way of life long gone .

[@alecjefferson6993]

Before well Before 🇬🇧

[@Jamie.k]

The connection to nature and natural surroundings is something that is taken away by todays modern towns and cities

[@bettyprice6316]

What has the government done to our country?

[@chasleask8533]

I remember when it was all grey . Not sure when colour came . Late fifties I think . It made painting much more complicated . I never got used to it

[@martinthomas4764]

Not a mention of Mr Alfred Wallis! Great film, thanks.

[@royfearn4345]

Not many are aware of Alfred Wallis, let alone the likes of Lamorna Birch.... time rolls on...

[@mothratemporalradio517]

@@royfearn4345 why not help educate people - after all, if people who know things don't pass them down, certainly they are forgotten.

[@mothratemporalradio517]

@@royfearn4345 therefore, may i ask, who is Alfred Wallis and who is Lamorna Birch? Neither name rings a bell, keeping in mind that i am from a different generation and while i have British heritage, i've spent my whole life in Australia.

[@chrisrebar2381]

Posted in 2017, only recommended to me today ..... And all these comments saying "Oh I wish I could go back to times like this". As someone else said: "outside toilets, poor housing", etc. - be very careful what you wish for!

[@billbord3205]

Central heating,never knew what it was!

[@thomaslane316]

putside toilets aren't that bad - keeps the stink out of the house.

[@philrudge6315]

Visit St Ives in the winter and it isn't that much changed. Strange, all the talk about art and not once do they mention the beautiful light that blesses St Ives.

[@harryproud9679]

Sad,We Are Now In SHIT.😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢No Trouble No Muggings No a Stabbings ,No Shootings. Our Country Was Clean And Safe. 🥰40Years Ago Our Country Started to Become What It Is Today. 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

[@harbourdogNL]

3:29 No doubt now owned by a Londoner and available as an AirBnb for a mere £225 a night.

[@grosvenorclub]

It sounds all very idyllic but 1948 was a very tough time for most . Very few jobs , rationing of food , housing a real problem with so many places destroyed in the war , families destroyed . Many men had been away for four years .

[@stellayates4227]

Very true but I think this shows an place that escaped the blitz and less of an impact of food rationing (apart from sugar I guess!).

[@user-xd9yo3le7o]

Very true. Multi generations had no choice but live together, in very cramped housing conditions, that hadn't changed much since the first war. If you go back to 1908 just under 600,000 qualified for a state pension today that numbers 12 million. People just didn't live long enough to retire.

[@krisdee1355]

They won't live to collect their pensions now either.

[@brigidsingleton1596]

Five years before I was born... When Britain was "another world" as the narrator proclaimed Fishing from a clean stream... A habit less enjoyed today What has happened to our countries Why has our pride been lost Each recent government has destroyed Plus they've refused to count the cost For the people who live here in Britain We seem not to care, or to know That as communities form Trust, and admiration ought grow But, sadly as time flew by Our daily lives have been changed The sense and sensibilities have all but gone awry The 'powers that be' care not How sad, or how bad it's become For how we are viewed lately Is seemingly a pre-arranged plot To 'gird the loins' of the rich The strong, the empowered ingrates Favouring accounts of each unpleasant bitch It's nought but a horrid estate. 🤔😐😟

[@Mounhas]

Imagining the comments I think I will ignore them and just watch the video.

[@user-fc5rn3gv5t]

No boats no knives no acid no shop looting, no terrorist supporters marching no locked doors needed always a helpful neighbour, no worries about walking alone at night , no tattooed thugs on patrol in uniform, then you had real uk police,

[@FILNAT2011]

Cats,ok you sold me

[@mus139]

The good old days.

[@johnmatthews8959]

Beware looking back through rose spectacles I was born in 1949 so I’ve had some experience there were some good things back then but I wouldn’t want to go back

[@angelicupstart1977]

This is well before the internet so how did it get on you tube ?

[@fandangofandango2022]

Great old Doco