Morning in the Streets

Morning in the Streets
Directed by
Written byFrank Shaw (research)
CinematographyRoy Harris
Gerry Pullen, Graham Turner, Ted Wallbank
Edited byDonald James
Music by
Distributed byBBC Northern Films Unit
Release date
  • 25 March 1959 (1959-03-25)
Running time
35 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Morning in the Streets is a BBC television documentary directed by Denis Mitchell and Roy Harris in 1959, for the BBC Northern Film Unit. It was broadcast on 25 March 1959.[1]

The documentary was described simply as "an impression of life and opinion in the back streets of a northern city in the morning".[1] It is an impressionistic slice-of-life documentary, featuring footage of working-class people and street scenes, accompanied by a montage soundtrack of voices conveying opinions and philosophies on life. The film was researched by a writer on Liverpool life and dialect, Frank Shaw.

The music was specially composed by Thomas Henderson and Liverpool songwriter Stan Kelly, and featured the harmonica of classical musician Tommy Reilly.

The Talking Streets

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The Talking Streets was a radio feature produced by Denis Mitchell for the BBC North Region, as part of his People Talking series, and broadcast on 27 October 1958. The programme was a kaleidoscope of voices, sounds and stories recorded by Mitchell using a portable tape recorder. These recordings provided the inspiration and the basis of the soundtrack for Morning in the Streets.

Recent revivals

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It was shown on BBC Four in 2008 as part of the Liverpool on the Box season to coincide with the city being European Capital of Culture, and again in September 2010. It was then further repeated in July 2011 on BBC Four as part of the "Britain through a Lens" season.

References

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  1. ^ a b Russell, Patrick (2003–14). "Morning in the Streets (1959)". BFI Screenonline. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
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