All but one of the picks from Lawrence Napper, senior lecturer in Film Studies at King’s College London, come from the huge trove of discovered Mitchell & Kenyon films. These fascinating records of everyday life in Victorian and Edwardian England and the United Kingdom lead to an array of exciting tangents, while Lawrence also uses his one fictional choice to make a resonant comparison between repeat film viewing and traditional religious ceremonies.
Lawrence’s publications include
The Great War in Popular British Cinema: Before Journey’s End (2015) and
Silent Cinema: Before the Pictures Got Small (2017). He is a regular on the
KinoQuickies podcast and occasionally blogs at
https://atthepictures.photo.blog/. Currently he is developing a book length study of
The Opening of the Benton New Bank Tram Route (1913). Lawrence also hosts the annual British Silent Film Festival Symposium each spring at King’s College London.
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Films and resources mentioned: