[TV] The Promised Land - A Film About Whitechapel

[caz]

A fascinating TV documentary of Whitechapel. Not sure if it has been shared before or even what year it was aired.

Many thanks for sharing, ero. Just watched this and found it very moving.

I had a lovely meal in Bloom's Restaurant one lunch hour in 1978, when I was working for a merchant bank near The Monument. I barely knew Whitechapel then, and had no knowledge of JtR, but just loved the atmosphere. I completely disagree with FISHY about the murders defining the area.

Wonderful to see a much younger Bill Fishman in action too. He gave a talk at the old Cloak & Dagger in the early 2000s and only died a few years ago, in his nineties. I note that he was born in London, the son of an immigrant tailor from Russia and his Ukrainian wife. I can't imagine what he'd have thought about the terrible events going on today.

Love,

Caz
X

[DJA]

Diana Dors,Sonia in the movie,was a close friend of the Kray brothers who grew up at 178 Vallance Road from 1938.

Watching the movie now.

[Mark J D]

... I love that website, I’ve got a bit of a thing for checking out movie and tv programs filming locations...

:-)

The Vallance Road bits in 'A Kid For Two Farthings' actually show the very house -- north of the railway arch -- where the Krays were growing up...

M.

[Yabs]

Reelstreets is a location-spotter site with a lot of good stills uploaded. There are several films there with actual East-End locations...

Reelstreets | Kid for Two Farthings, A

M.

Hi Mark.

I love that website, I’ve got a bit of a thing for checking out movie and tv programs filming locations.

[Iconoclast]

Reelstreets is a location-spotter site with a lot of good stills uploaded. There are several films there with actual East-End locations...

Reelstreets | Kid for Two Farthings, A

M.

That's another excellent spot, Mark. Some wonderful screenshots.

[Mark J D]

Some other footage in the east London area listed here along with the title in question if it’s of interest

https://beamoyes.com/2015/10/02/east...ilm-1955-2012/

Reelstreets is a location-spotter site with a lot of good stills uploaded. There are several films there with actual East-End locations...

Reelstreets | Kid for Two Farthings, A

M.

[Iconoclast]

Certainly was.

Thanks Dave - the human memory really is a strange thing ...

[DJA]

Looks like Mark and Yabs have identified the broadcast as March 22, 1980. Human memory is a strange thing - I saw the date and immediately thought 'The Jam, Going Underground'. Was it No. 1 that day, I wonder. Anyone know?

Cheers,

Ike

Certainly was.

[FISHY1118]

Perhaps the film maker wanted to show the true immigrant history into Whitechapel and its importance to numerous communities down the years.

Why should an area just be defined by murders?

I thought that would have been obvious ,it was only the most famous and first real serial killer the world had/ has ever known.

How could it not help but be defined by it ,.?

[erobitha]

I think what it does highlight, very succinctly, is just how important Whitechapel was to the Jewish community that lived there from the 1880s onwards. The Bengalis came into the area around the 1920s, but peak migration occurred in the 1970s. During that time the Jewish population dispersed to other areas of London, or even further afield.

Richard Jones has a good article on the history of Jewish migration into Whitechapel: https://www.jack-the-ripper.org/jewish-history.htm

I suspect back then, a fearful distrust of foreigners would have been rife in a small area that was pretty much equally Jewish as it was gentile at the time of Jack the Ripper. There seems to be no shred of evidence whatsoever that the murderer was in anyway Jewish, yet history leaves one believing that the killer most likely must have been Jewish based on the headlines and police focus.

Were the Jews an easy target?

[Iconoclast]

A fascinating TV documentary of Whitechapel. Not sure if it has been shared before or even what year it was aired.

Just finished watching it. Absolutely spellbinding. It was actually important that Jack the Spratt didn't get a mention. By focusing solely on the history of Whitechapel, you got an intimate sense of everything we think we know about the place and so much more. The dereliction, the poverty, the over-crowding were all still there by 1980 but the cultural weight had shifted from Jewish to Bengali. Mrs Thatcher hadn't quite had a chance to destroy the unions so it was interesting to see that they were thriving. As a piece of British history, this was inspiring. It rather nicely put Wor Jackie into his proper context - a sudden, short burst of attacks on sex workers which highlighted the challenges of London's east end and the inadequacies of Victorian policing, but only the briefest of lights shone onto that darkness. And when the light went out again, the people of Whitechapel and Spitalfields were still there, bearing-up and carrying-on. Britain at her best!

[Yabs]

Some other footage in the east London area listed here along with the title in question if it’s of interest

https://beamoyes.com/2015/10/02/east-london-in-film-1955-2012/

[Iconoclast]

If this is the same one it’s 1980

Looks like Mark and Yabs have identified the broadcast as March 22, 1980. Human memory is a strange thing - I saw the date and immediately thought 'The Jam, Going Underground'. Was it No. 1 that day, I wonder. Anyone know?

Cheers,

Ike

[Yabs]

If this is the same one it’s 1980

[Mark J D]

... You can date the broadcast to within ten years straightaway by its 'ident'...

BBC Genome?
Broadcast - BBC Programme Index

M.