The Staff of Life. A Measure of Progress.

Series

Series Name: Eve And Everybody’s Film Review

Issue

Issue No.

484

Date Released

11 Sep 1930

Length of issue (in feet)

936

Stories in this Issue:

Story

Story No. within this Issue

5 / 6

Summary

NoS Summary - contrasting bread making in caveman days with modern methods.
NoS synopsis: "Bread-making gives eloquent testimony to the advance of civilisation from primitive days to the present. The primitive woman had first to grind the flour..." High angle of a woman posing as a "primitive woman" - with dishevelled hair and dirty clothes she crouches on the ground grinding wheat. A fire burns beside her as she shelters under some rocks. C/U of the woman, she is wearing an animal skin outfit and grinding the flour between two rocks. C/U of the grinding process. "Nowadays, the baker receives his flour already ground... by the ton!" L/S of sacks of flour being wheeled into a warehouse. "The processes have altered but little - but what a difference in methods." Our primitive woman mixes the flour with water by hand. She then kneads the dough on top of the stone. "The automatic dough mixer of today." We see the automatic dough mixer. "Out it comes, by the hundreds of pounds, thouroughly mixed!" C/U of dough being mixed and pouring out the other end. "The dough must be separated into small rolls - larger now than then - and worked into smooth shapes." C/U of our cavewoman kneading her dough. C/U of the dough. She separates the dough into smaller pieces. "And what a difference in the baking methodes - then and now." The automated version of this is seen. Small pieces of dough travel on a conveyor belt within the bakery. We see the dough balls travelling down a chute. Baker picks the dough up and throws it into baking tins. C/U of the tins filled with dough. "The same principle of the heated stone - but with a few improvements!" C/U of bread being placed on a hot stone. M/S of two bakers at work loading the ovens. C/U of the bread being lifted off the primitive stone. The bread is unloaded from the ovens.

Keywords

Food and cooking

Footage sources

Pathe Review Issue No. 5/1924
Pathe Exchange

Written sources

Pathe Inventory File Tin No.196
British Pathe Database 1997 Reference No. EP196
Pathe Eve 473-493 Boxfile Issue sheet
National Film Archive Catalogue

Credits:

Production Co.: British Pathe Ltd.

Length of story (in feet)

271

This series is held by:

Film Archive

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Record Stats