1982
00:52:21
Colour / Sound
Professional
Documentary
Sam Clayton from Willenhall has been keeping a diary since he was fifteen in 1930. Using these diaries the film provides a nostalgic look back over events in Sam's life and his courtship with wife-to-be Mary.
The film cuts between shots of retired couple Sam and Mary Clayton (nee Florence Annie Mary Evans) pottering about at home, doing shopping etc with archive film and stills of British life in the 1930s. Sam is also a talented artist and some of his drawings are shown. There are also shots of the Claytons returning to some of the locations mentioned in the diaries.
Actors read diary extracts written by both Sam and Mary covering the years 1931 to 1940.
The story starts with a sixteen year old Sam Clayton living on Waterglade Lane in Willenhall and working as an apprentice locksmith for T. Benton and Sons. Archive stills are used to introduce the area and Sam. Sam meets Mary Evans who lives on Thorn Road and works at Yale locksmiths.
The couple take to meeting on a canal bridge and modern shots of this location are shown.
Sam and Mary continue to meet and romance blossoms during a combined scout/guides trip to Colwyn Bay in Clwyd. These events are illustrated with stills of the young couple, film of holidaymakers at a railway station and modern shots of the beach at Colwyn Bay.
Newsreel of the Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, shots of unemployed men during the depression and a women's fashion show follow.
Modern scenes of Sam cleaning his windows are cut with a singing window cleaner from a 1930s film. We also see shots of a 1930s health and beauty league contrasted with Mary applying make-up.
Modern shots of men at work at a lock making business follow.
Another trip, this time to Bridgnorth is illustrated with modern shots, archive stills, archive footage of a rotund xylophone player and a Pathe newsreel about cycling for fitness.
The Claytons were keen cinema goers - we see the Dale cinema in Willenhall which was where the couple saw the Bebe Daniels film 'A Southern Maid'. Clips from this film are cut with modern shots of the Claytons in the Dale (although it is now a bingo hall).
Another newsreel of Ramsay Macdonald follows and shots of snow in the Midlands (Pathe winter 1937). Sam's interest in singing is depicted with shots of Richard Tauber singing in the film Blossom Time. This is also included in a montage that takes the narrative up to the couple's wedding and also includes modern shots of them shopping, archive of a lido, modern shots of their first home (81 Stubbey Lane) and many stills.
A holiday to Tong in Shropshire is remembered with shots of the Claytons returning to the scene and shots of the river.
The political situation of the late 1930s is covered with archive footage of the abdication of King Edward VIII, Coronation of George VI, a Pathe newsreel in which the astrologer Edward Lyndoe makes his future predictions, film of a BBC radio concert broadcast, passengers on a train, shots of Blackpool and a music hall. Throughout we also see many stills of the Claytons.
The Clayton's son was born in 1938. We see archive of the Spanish civil war, new year celebrations, RAF pilots, and Oswald Moseley. The Clayton's unnamed son appears in the modern day scenes following his (diary) birth. We also see modern shots of a railway bridge on Nurse Lane in Willenhall and Willenhall Park this cuts to archive of children being fitted with gas masks.
More archive showing the build up to war follows: unemployed men, German army, Neville Chamberlain speech after meeting with Hitler, army recruitment, Nazi book burning and Hitler at rally. Sam joined the army in 1939 after a spell in the TA. From this point Mary Clayton continued to keep the couple's diary. Her entries touch on the loneliness she felt on her own with an eighteen months old baby. Sam was captured in 1940 and spent the rest of the war in prisoner of war camps. Stills show Sam in the army and his drawings of POW life.
The final shot sees Sam sitting in the kitchen at his typewriter continuing his diary.
Following the credits a short trailer for the England Their England: Close Encounters series is seen.
Camera - Ian Hollands
Assistant Camera - Bruce Larner
Rostrum Camera - Ken Morse
Sound Recordist - Barry Pritchard
Sound Mixer - Richard King
Production Assistant - Liz Hetherington
Editor - Sue Massey
Executive Producer - Brian Lewis
Director David Naden
The programme included extracts from the following films:
The Face at the Window
I'm Letting in the Sunshine
with Albert Burdon and Molly Lamont
Directed by Lupino Lane
A Southern Maid
with Bebe Daniels and Clifford Mollinson
Blossom Time with Richard Tauber
Sing as we Go with Gracie Fields
Directed by Basil Dearden
Newsreel interviews with Ramsey MacDonald and Lyndoe
Central wishes to thank:
National Film Archives
EMI Pathe Film Library
Messrs Josiah Parkes
T. I. Raleigh Bicycles Ltd
Yales Securities Ltd
Mr Norman Tildesley
Walsall Public Library
The Express and Star, Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton Public Library
Central Television
Central Television production number 9556/82.
The end roller lists the following feature films: The Face at the Window (British Lion 1939), Letting in the Sunshine (BIP 1933), A Southern Maid (British Alliance 1933), Blossom Time (BIP 1934), Sing As We Go (ATP 1934).
At the time of production copyright was owned by EMI. Rights are currently (2005) owned by Canal + Image UK.
There is also extensive use of newsreel footage, many clips can be identified as Pathe which at the time were also handled by EMI.