Special Archive Filmshow
Sunday 19th November 2006 3-6pm at Ventnor Winter Gardens
Contact: John or Mary Salisbury 856 928, or Evelyn Knowles 855 193.
Extracts from
“The Sunshine Isleâ€? — the first Isle of Wight publicity film, made by the Isle of Wight Cine Club in 1949
“The Royal Visit 1966�
“The Wreck of the Volkerak at Brook�
“The SRN2 provides the first hovercraft service from Appley beach in Ryde in 1962�
“The Isle of Wight Railways in the 1930s� (featuring the Ventnor West line)
“Travel to the Island in the early 1960sâ€? — see how the crowds were in the heyday of the holiday season
“Captured on Cine — Reel 1â€? (and a preview of Reel 2) — a compilation of amateur footage edited by John Bartlett
“Sunshine Cruises�, a publicity film for Red Funnel Steamers made in 1932
The programme will be presented by the Trustees of the Archive, John Bartlett and Bob Ennis (who will introduce the show).
Background
The Isle of Wight Cine Club’s first show of early Isle of Wight films, in the Apollo Theatre in 1985, was a runaway success, to the extent that there were no fewer than 33 repeat performances. After the first show, these took place in the Medina Theatre, with a much greater seating capacity. In 1987 the Isle of Wight Film Archive became a separate entity, a trust set up under the aegis of the Cine Club, and it immediately set about the urgent task of securing existing film stock.
This costs money, and showing archive film became an important source of income for the trust. The archive holds about 11 hours of film, the earliest being “Urbanora Newsreels� of Cowes and Ryde in 1906 and 1910, which were donated by John Huntley.
Some of the gems of the collection are now available on DVD, but others, like “Needles Point the Way� (a Look at Life film) are subject to copyright restrictions and may only be shown in 16mm film format at public performances. The archive has access to a number of titles on loan, which may also be available to screen on occasions.
The star of the early archive filmshows was presenter John Huntley, but in later years he was prevented from continuing his appearances by ill health, and sadly he passed away in 2003. His passing marked the end of an era.
As trustees, Bob Ennis and John Barlett have had to face rising costs and the loss of their key presenter. Their response has been to take the Archive into DVD production, and a number of DVDs containing the best footage of the archive will be available for purchase at the Ventnor Film Society Gala Archive Event
