SWS Newsletter

South West Silents & Film Noir UK Newsletter #2!

Hello all! Welcome once again to the South West Silents and Film Noir UK newsletter. Over the past month we have been taking stock and planning for the last part of 2022 as well as early 2023. Plenty of silent film and film noir action awaits, including the five events listed below in the ‘Coming Soon’ section. But do also keep an eye on the events page on the SWS website as much more can be found on there.

As mentioned in our first post in late September, this SWS monthly newsletter isn't just an advert for what we are doing. Every newsletter will include some free bonus content involving the ever-expanding world of silent cinema and film noir as well. This content will include archive interviews, vintage programmes and forgotten gems from key international film archives from around the world. So do check them out below!

Finally, don’t forget there are even more ways you can get involved with SWS/Film Noir via social media. All of the links for both groups can be found right at the bottom of this newsletter. And seeing that November is very much #Noirvember, there is a lot going on our social media channels.

But for now, welcome once again and we hope to see you very soon!

This animated insight into silent cinema-going is more fanciful than factual, and relishes in poking fun at the films of its time.

Ever wondered what it was like to run a cinema in the 1920s? Well it was probably nothing like how it is shown in this film, but who cares when it is such great fun? Dudley Buxton was a comic illustrator and postcard artist who started making cartoon propaganda films in WW1. His “Memoirs of Miffy” series was an attempt to continue his success into the 1920s, but like most other British animators the competition of American animation proved too strong.

Dudley Buxton’s contribution to the development of film cartoons in Britain is sadly little known. He tried to move the industry on from cut-out animation to using the cel technique so common in the US. However lack of investment in the UK and favourable distribution terms for American series like Felix the Cat made it impossible to compete on level terms. Buxton continued as a key but anonymous figure in British animation into the mid-1930s, but is today better known for his saucy postcards. (BFI)