This film is part of Free

It Never Really Happened
Do our eyes deceive us? Trick shots galore in this magical tour of London.
Overview
The film camera is used to great effect here to trick and treat its audience, injecting fun into the otherwise mundane London commute, slum demolition, Thames or London Bridge traffic. Trick films, as they were known, used the medium's technology to enchant, entertain and astonish. This spectacle-dominated, avant-garde piece is pure delight and features some of the capital's key landmarks.
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