Panoramic View of the Morecambe Sea Front (1901)

Crystal-clear views of town, sands, sea, tourists and locals at the Lancashire resort.

With their summer afternoon clarity, Mitchell and Kenyon’s images of Morecambe remain gorgeously fresh. The respectable pleasures of the white-collar resort are communicated by static shots (men, women and children on the promenade) and others filmed from a horse-drawn tram: onlookers are encouraged to wave, while excited boys race the carriage.  The seaside shimmers in the background.

The film ends on a wave across the street and a view of the poster advertising the winter gardens show at which this film, commissioned and exhibited by the flamboyant showman AD Thomas, was first screened. It subsequently travelled at least as far as Yorkshire (there's evidence of it being screened in Bradford).