London’s Screen Archives enables Londoners see their past come alive on film. Managed by Film London, we are a unique network of historic film collections that cares for, collects and screens heritage film across the city. Together we preserve London’s rich film heritage from feature films to home movies, public information films, newsreels, and records of the capital’s many different industries.
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Port Health
Rat traps, house boats and London’s ports all feature in this public information film looking at the work of the Port Of London Health Authority.
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Overview
Focusing on the Port Of London Health Authority’s role regarding London’s sanitation, this film explores life around London’s river, interviewing experts charged with ensuring health standards remain high. This includes such diverse tasks as interviewing immigrants to see if they carry smallpox, examining imported food, inspecting house boats and monitoring the quality of water. We also get to see a captured rat being dissected – “an insurance against plague.”
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