Morning in the Streets

Morning in the Streets
Directed by Denis Mitchell
Roy Harris
Written by Frank Shaw (research)
Music by Thomas Henderson
Melos Ensemble
Tommy Reilly (Harmonica)
Cinematography Roy Harris
Gerry Pullen, Graham Turner, Ted Wallbank
Edited by Donald James
Distributed by BBC Northern Films Unit
Release date
 25 March 1959 (1959-03-25)
Running time
 35 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Language English

Morning in the Streets is a BBC television documentary directed by Denis Mitchell and Roy Harris in 1959, for the BBC Northern Film Unit. It was broadcast on 25 March 1959.

The documentary was described simply as "an impression of life and opinion in the back streets of a northern city in the morning".[1] It is an impressionistic slice-of-life documentary, featuring footage of working-class people and street scenes, accompanied by a montage soundtrack of voices conveying opinions and philosophies on life. The film was researched by a well-known writer on Liverpool life and dialect Frank Shaw. It is one of the few televisual documents to reflect the post-war austerity felt by areas such as Liverpool in the 1950s, puncturing the myth of post-war cross-class affluence.

The music was specially composed by Thomas Henderson and Liverpool songwriter Stan Kelly, and featured the harmonica of classical musician Tommy Reilly.

The Talking Streets

The Talking Streets was a radio feature produced by Denis Mitchell for the BBC North Region, as part of his People Talking series, and broadcast on 27 October 1958. The programme was a kaleidoscope of voices, sounds and stories recorded by Mitchell using a portable tape recorder. These recordings provided the inspiration and the basis of the soundtrack for Morning in the Streets.

Recent revivals

It was shown on BBC Four in 2008 as part of the Liverpool on the Box season to coincide with the city being European Capital of Culture, and again in September 2010. It was then further repeated in July 2011 on BBC Four as part of the "Britain through a Lens" season.

References

  1. ↑ Morning in the Streets (1959)


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