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This short documentary film, made for cinema release, adopts (and to some
extent popularised) the 'day in the life of...' approach which has become a
classic documentary format, still widely used in television. In this case, the
subject was Croydon Airport, which was for many years London's airport, and one
of the world's busiest. The film shows planes in flight, with maps to indicate
their routes. In keeping with the format, however, it also goes behind the scenes to
record the work of different technical and service departments, from weather
forecasting and part maintenance to customs.
As such, the film is a fascinating record of our air transport infrastructure
at a relatively early stage of its development. Nonetheless, its place in film
history derives almost entirely from its having been the very first product of
the newly-formed Shell Film Unit, and in fact its content is sometimes written
up as dull and prosaic. Clearly, not everyone felt this way: to properly
appreciate the film's achievement it is worth remembering that very few members
of its initial audience would ever have been to an airport - at this time, air
travel remained the privilege of a social elite. Like much of Shell's catalogue,
it enjoyed a long shelf-life: a shortened version was issued in 1957 and
remained in distribution for many years thereafter.
The film's producer Edgar Anstey, a key figure in British documentary, left
Shell soon after making the film (his association with the company was renewed
later, during World War Two). The first-time director Roy Lockwood, a much more
obscure figure, went on to feature films, but Airport remains his best-known
work.
Patrick Russell
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1. Inspection, preparation and take-off (3:57)
