North London Liberal Jewish Group

Rival groups from Ealing and Finchley go head to head in an entertaining and witty amateur film

The annual battle of the Finchley and Ealing teams of the North London Jewish Group is splendidly captured in this appealing compilation of two home movies from Jewish optometrist Sidney Douglas, whose son donated nearly 100 of his films to the BFI National Archive.

This is an ambitious piece of filmmaking for a home movies, with an amusing commentary, a great soundtrack and, best of all, spoof publicity for local businesses, featuring heavy use of Yiddish ('schmutters', for those not in the know, means 'clothes'). The daft humour is infectious, while the children enter into the competition with impressive enthusiam. There's some nailbiting track and field events including a sack race and a three-legged dash.