Our Public Parks

A tour of Glasgow's green spaces

This upbeat promotional film showcases Glasgow's 48 public parks - including Newlands, Alexandra, Kelvingrove and the Botanic Gardens - as well as its playgrounds and other entertainments. Perhaps surprisingly, given that it was commissioned by the Corporation of Glasgow, the film deliberately accentuates the parks' beauty and tranquillity by contrasting them with the city's less lovely side: "Much of industrial Glasgow is ugly and drab," confesses one striking intertitle.

Our Public Parks was one of a series of films commissioned between 1947 and 1949 by the Corporation's Education Committee under the banner Glasgow Civics - other titles included Our Water Supply, Our Police and How Our City is Governed. Unusually for its time - nearly two decades after the first sound films - the film was shot silent, and may have been presented with a live commentary.