Following in Father's Footsteps

Splendid portraits of three hopeful parliamentary candidates, filmed in the run-up to the 1924 general election.

Election fever hits Britain and the newsreels enjoy a media storm, 1920s style, with these splendid portraits of three Labour candidates. We are introduced to Will and Arthur Henderson Jr., sons of Labour leader Arthur Henderson, and "not quite following in father's footsteps" the pipe-smoking Oliver Baldwin, son of Conservative leader Stanley Baldwin, who poses with housewives in the street.

Oliver Baldwin adopted his father's penchant for pipe smoking, but clearly not his political stance. An affirmed Marxist, Oliver contested the Dudley seat for Labour in the 1924 election, causing quite a stir in the media - reflected in this film's playfully ironic title.