MITCHELL & KENYON: EDWARDIAN SPORTS - DVD

MITCHELL & KENYON: EDWARDIAN SPORTS
Films by Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon

Over a century ago, filmmakers Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon roamed the British Isles filming the everyday lives of people at work and play. For around 70 years, 800 rolls of this early nitrate film sat in sealed barrels in the basement of a shop in Blackburn. Now miraculously discovered and painstakingly restored by the BFI, this ranks as the most exciting film discovery of recent times.

Following on from the hugely successful BBC TV series, The Lost World of Mitchell and Kenyon and the BFI's first DVD volume Electric Edwardians is this new selection of films, Mitchell and Kenyon: Edwardian Sports.

A remarkable selection of sporting highlights from the Mitchell and Kenyon Collection. This new BFI DVD brings together some of the earliest surviving films (1901 -07) featuring the titans of professional football, cricket and rugby whilst also rediscovering the Corinthian spirit of amateur sport and leisure in Edwardian life. Liverpool, Hull Kingston Rovers, Everton, and Blackburn Rovers feature alongside a swimming gala in North Shields, the AAA championships of 1901 and the Mold cricket controversy an early chucking storm with an Australian umpire at its centre.

DVD extras

• Commentary written by Dr Vanessa Toulmin and read by Adrian Chiles
• New music score by Stephen Horne and Martin Pyne