Please read Understanding catalogue records for help interpreting this information and Using footage for more information about accessing this film.

Title: HEALTH OF A CITY

Reference number: 2241

Date: 1965

Director: [d. Derek Williams]

Sponsor: Films of Scotland and Glasgow Corporation

Production company: Templar Film Studios

Sound: sound

Original format: 35mm

Colour: bw

Fiction: non-fiction

Running time: 26.00 mins

Description: Made to commemorate the centenary of the appointment of the first Medical Officer of Health for Glasgow, it highlights their work in housing, schools and hospitals.

There is no formal screen credit to Director, but the Films of Scotland production file held in the National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive refers to Derek Williams as director and creator of the original treatment and script. Grierson acted as unpaid associate producer and took an active role in the final shape of the film. He had strong and critical views on what he held to be the grim and pessimistic portrayal of the city in the original cut, and proposed post production cuts and changes to the film render it more optimistic and to give a more positive image of the city, changes which did not always sit well with Williams.

Credits: w. and p. [Robert] Riddell Black
comm.s. Roddy McMillan
outline Ronald Mavor
ph. David Low
location rec. James McKee
sd. mixer Cyril Brown
[assoc. p. John Grierson]

Shotlist: REEL 1
Title (.08) gvs children playing in playground (.30) panning shot of Glasgow rooftops (1.00) gvs people on street (1.22) model and stills depicting Glasgow in the early days (3.08) the Necropolis (3.23) gvs spring and Loch Katrine (3.53) water being tested from swimming pool (4.10) shots of lab, Kennedy St. and Belvedere Hospitals (4.57) shot demolition of old tenements (5.18) gvs multi-storey flats intercut with aerial shots of same (6.25) Clyde shipyards (7.00) health inspectors checking meat (7.15) and fish (7.24) int. of lab (7.36) gvs nurses and midwives preparing for work (8.00) int. Marks and Spencer's food dept. (8.25) panning shot from old part of the city with smoky rooftops to newer buildings (9.40) gvs of work of an x-ray dept. including excerpt from "Mass x-ray campaign" (10.45) Argyle Street and St. Enoch Square (11.10) Kelvingrove Park (12.03) shots of fair at Glasgow Green (12.12)

REEL 2
No credits. Shots of modern fairground and work carried out by health inspectors (.46) shots of blind people (1.34) various shots of down and outs around Glasgow (2.13) gvs int. of Barrowland and restaurant (2.41) Union Street at night (2.50) shots of old people and old folks' home including interviews with some of the residents (5.00) gvs milk bottling plant (5.53) stills of the Boer War and burial records (6.45) shots of development of health work with children through the years including shots of medical examination of school pupils (8.24) int. of child welfare clinic and day nursery (9.41) shots of various PE classes (11.33) various shots of Glasgow (12.06) ecs (12.25)