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Me and My Two Friends

A beatific image of Victorian childhood

1898 Silent

Overview

This heart-melting fragment, long impossible to show publicly due to its unusual format, gives us one of the most iconic images in early British film. Not only does it showcase the pin-sharp detail of William Kennedy Laurie Dickson's unique 68mm film. It also, in the barely four seconds that survive, seems to distil many of the modern stereotypes of Victorian Britain - pictorial, sentimental in its attitude to children and animals, and intensely patriotic.

The film appears to be related to the films shot by Dickson to mark the launch of the Worthing lifeboat, and may have been the concluding shot of a longer sequence featuring the girl and her companions. As it stands, it has the flavour of an advertisement - very much like the celebrated series marketing Pears' soap, which made a point of using fresh-faced young children.

Country

United Kingdom

Location

Worthing

Language

No Dialogue with English subtitles

Subjects

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Launch of the Worthing Lifeboat Emerging from the Boathouse Launch of the Worthing Lifeboat Emerging from the Boathouse

Non-Fiction 1898 1 mins Silent Location: Worthing

Lifeboat paraded through the streets of Worthing on way to demonstrate a launch

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Incoming Tide Incoming Tide

Non-Fiction 1898 1 mins Silent Location: Worthing

Worthing waves at us in this mesmerising early film

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Water Polo - Worthing Swimming Club Water Polo - Worthing Swimming Club

Non-Fiction 1898 0 mins Silent Location: Worthing

Brief but lively snatch of a game in progress

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Launch of the Worthing Lifeboat Coming Ashore Launch of the Worthing Lifeboat Coming Ashore

Documentary 1898 1 mins Silent Location: Worthing

Stunning footage of a lifesaving demonstration

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Journey home to Canterbury Journey home to Canterbury

Amateur film 1930 7 mins Silent Location: Glastonbury

Join the Blighs on their homeward journey through the Southern counties - calling at Glastonbury and various ancient landmarks east

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Re-building Worthing Pier, Wrecked by the Gales of Last Year Re-building Worthing Pier, Wrecked by the Gales of Last Year

Non-Fiction 1914 1 mins Silent Location: Worthing

Workmen set to on the reconstruction of Worthing Pier after it was destroyed by the English weather

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All We Imagine As Light - Exclusive Q&A All We Imagine As Light - Exclusive Q&A

Short interview 2025 28 mins

Payal Kapadia discusses her Cannes prize-winning and Bafta-nominated drama with Ashanti Omkar.

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Khichdi Khichdi

Animation & Artists Moving Image 2023 16 mins

The interwoven stories of four best friends who reunite in the UK, thirty-five years after training together as nurses during their teens in Ferozepur, Punjab.