Earliest Film Footage?

[mrmajester]

I'm surprised there is not more film footage of the old murder sites, before they were ripped down, aside from the James Mason documentary, is there anything else?

Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee was filmed so how come there appears to be, hardly any footage? Was it down to cost, or just not practical? I would love to see those sites, as they were, in a moving image.

[Mike Covell]

Would you dare take a camera around back in the day?

[Phil Carter]

Hello Mike,

'Ere gov, know what I mean, bit dodgy, eh? Someone'll arf' inch the stuff, tea leaves my ol' china, tea leaves....hahaha

Knowing how large the equipment was in those days, it would have caused quite a stir in Dorset Street to see that contraption I would have thought. Nice thought though mrmajester.

best wishes

Phil

[The Grave Maurice]

There's some truth in the tea leaf statement. As recently as the early 1970s, the concierge at a London hotel advised me not to take my camera to the East End since I was very likely to be relieved of it. Of course, it wasn't one of today's slip-in-your-shirt-pocket jobs. It was a honking great Minolta 35mm that must have weighed a kilo-and-a-half and stood out in a crowd. That's why I don't have any photos of my first couple of trips to Whitechapel.