Detail
Collection Sevenoaks Cine Society
Summary
A varied collection of amateur films made by members of the Sevenoaks Cine Society dating from the 1930s to the 1960s.
Collection ID | 60 | Reference code | K 980424 |
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Title | Sevenoaks Cine Society | ||
Dates | 1930s - 1960s | ||
Production | Sevenoaks Cine Society | ||
Materials | FILM Standard 8mm 16mm Audio | ||
Access status | Contact Screen Archive South East for details |
Description
The Sevenoaks Cine Society made a number of highly proficient amateur films dating from the 1930s to the 1960s. As with many other local and regional cine societies of the time, members produced films covering local events such as parades and scenes around the local area. Members also filmed many of their own activities including scenes of themselves making a fiction film and attending various annual dinners.
A series of amateur dramas made by the society include some very interesting forms of storytelling using cine film. The society's film Is This Your Life from 1957 ingeniously depicts a 'typical' working day in the life of a man and a woman, and was 'specially commended' by Amateur Cine World magazine. Other fiction films in the genre use special and camera effects to create various illusions including ghosts and paranormal activity.
In 1961, the society came together to make a film on behalf of a local charity - No Milk Today (1961) that expertly illustrates the work of the Old People's Welfare Committee (Age Concern), now known as the UK charity AgeUK.
Films in this collection:
Showing 13 results.
[Social Functions And Days Out, Sevenoaks Cine Society]
Date | [ca. 1937]; [ca. 1949?]; 1950 - 1951 | ID | 1142 |
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Members of the Sevenoaks Cine Society take a trip on the Woolwich Ferry paddle steamer 'John Benn' in the late 1930s. A brief colour sequence records an outdoor gathering. In 1950 and 1951 they are gather together at the Society's black-tie Christmas parties and annual dinners.

Sevenoaks Scrapbook
Date | [1937 - 1946?] | ID | 1141 |
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A compilation of films beginning with the Coronation procession of King George VI, followed by wartime parades in Sevenoaks.

Hikers Haunt
Date | 1950 | ID | 1143 |
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This amateur fiction film tells the tale of a group of ramblers who show disrespectful behaviour at Knole Park, one of the National Trust's properties. In response, ghostly figures appear at an ancient oak tree and temporarily turn the ramblers into deer.
"Late Again"; Second Annual Garden Party; Filming “It Goes Like This”
Date | 1951; 1953 | ID | 1144 |
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A compilation of three films relating the the Sevenoaks Cine Society.
It Goes Like This
Date | 1953 | ID | 1140 |
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Amateur fiction comedy about an inventor, his work and his family's changing circumstances.
Winner Takes All
Date | 1954 | ID | 1139 |
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Two young men fall in love with the winner of a local 'talent and personality contest' in this amateur fiction film. They compete in a range of sports, making a gentleman's agreement which will see the overall winner claiming the woman's hand. Their total dedication to the competition however allows for another suitor to step in and wed the woman.
Home From Home
Date | [ca. 1956] | ID | 1145 |
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An amateur fiction film in which a pair of ghosts search for new lodgings when their home is demolished for new housing. The film uses superimposition and other editing devices to depict the paranormal goings-on.
![[Cine Society Functions] (1954-1956) A still from [Cine Society Functions] (1954-1956) showing members of the Cine Society at a dance](/wp-content/uploads/films/1146/image_a_thumb.jpg)
[Cine Society Functions]
Date | 1954 - 1956 | ID | 1146 |
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An amateur record of Sevenoaks Cine Society's black-tie events during the mid-1950s. The events in formal dress show the members greeting, playing party games and dancing.

Is This Your Life?
Date | 1957 | ID | 1148 |
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This film depicts a ‘typical’ working day in the life of a man and woman. The narrative unfolds without the use of dialogue and with a minimum of human presence.

Birthday For Peter
Date | 1958 | ID | 1149 |
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A fictional film in which Peter, a young boy celebrating his birthday, is abducted on his way home from school. The horrible events turn out however only to be a bad dream.
The China Changeling
Date | [1958?] | ID | 1151 |
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A comic fictional tale about a man overcoming various obstacles when attempting to replace a broken china jug before his wife returns home. He succeeds, only to find that his wife has never cared much for the object.

Country Magazine
Date | 1959 | ID | 1147 |
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A colour film which traces a young couple on a day's outing by car to various historic buildings in rural Kent. The colour sequence is bookended by B&W images of a screening of the amateur film in a domestic setting.

No Milk Today?
Date | 1961 | ID | 1150 |
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Three pensioners talk about the help they receive from the Old People’s Welfare Committee (Age Concern) and express their appreciation of it. The spoken narrative is provided by each of the characters. The film was made for the Old People’s Welfare Committee by the Sevenoaks Cine Society.
Showing 13 results.