• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Birmingham Films And Videos

Thanks Janice. Not sure it'll be my cuppa either Janice! But the boost to the local economy look good. Viv.
 
A few others and some referred to:-
Ready Player One (2018) - The Spielberg film mentioned
The Girl with All the Gifts (2016) - In cinemas now
Prostitute (1980) - the sort of thing we'd rather forget
Work Is a 4-Letter Word (1968) - Somewhere there's a crowd scene with my dad in the background along with the senior staff at the TGWU and a large part of the town council. Trouble is he only told me years after I last saw the film.

And one neither set in nor filmed in Birmingham but based on the story of a local family. (see reviews)
Existence (1973)

links are to the relevant page on imdb
You can actually search imdb locations by going to this page and typing in the location into a box that says "film locations". If you search for Birmingham you will get a long list including the other Birmingham. If you try Birmingham, UK you get only 3 films because a lot of the locations are more detailed than that. If you search from Birmingham as a location and United Kingdom as a country you get a long but mostly appropriate list. Here's a few I didn't think of...
Brassed Off (1996) - partly filmed at the town hall
Clockwise (1986) - King Edwards Grammar (among others).
Clubbed (2008)

Since IMDB also lists TV shows there are a lot of them but they do have 554 entries. I suspect some will relate to the other Birmingham but this search seems to work.
click here to run
 
Hi Mike.
I don't know where the first picture was.
But the second picture is Nechells Power Station.The wooden cooling towers on the extreme right of the picture belonged to the power station.The bank of cooling towers in the distance,just to the right of the gasometers belonged to the Temporary Power Station,built during WWI,which stood just to the north of the Aston to Stechford railway line.So I think the image was taken looking south from the road running through the filter beds of the Drainage Board,between Nechells Power Station and the Birmingham-Fazeley canal,as per the map. 1938-2.jpg
The third picture seems to show the twin towers of St Chad's cathedral,so my guess is the power station to the left is Summer Lane.


mikejee said:
Took a few stills from the film. Some I'm not quite clear as to where they are. I assume the power station is Nechells, but not sure about where it was taken from. Any suggestions ?

end_of_day_at_factory_1930.jpg


gasometers_1930.jpg


Birmingham_power_station_1930.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Just noticed that there is a short programme on "Freeview 81" this evening at 7.45 Glimpses of the Midlands in the 1960's
 
Lloyd said:
Birmingham? Really? I didn't recognise any of it from my personal experience, and I've lived in the city for most of my 75 years.
Click to expand...
It's getting on for 25 years since I lived in Brum and it has certainly changed since then, some of the scenes took some working out but I think I managed to keep up!
 
Hockley station

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="
" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Birmingham from Frank Price in 1971, inckuding a view of the newest-looking outside loo I have seen pictured from Birmingham

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="
" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
very interesting mike....if you start the video from 3 mins 59 secs straight away i recognised the street they were filming in..well i think i am correct if you could check...at the top of the street running across has to be lodge road or the flat as we used to call it as we can see the shop of h v smith and to the left of the shop is the church...both are still there today so the street must be heaton st its only a short shot but better than nothing....which should please some of our members who lived there..todays st view


www.google.com

Street View · Google Maps

Explore a place in a more immersive way in Google Maps.
www.google.com www.google.com
 
Last edited:
Other much older films were made about Birmingham (or included pieces or views of Birmingham) for the purpose of promoting Birmingham, such as these below. I think "When,we build again" is somewhere else on the Forum, but not sure.

Source : British Newspaper Archive
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20250119_122038_Chrome.jpg
    Screenshot_20250119_122038_Chrome.jpg
    229.9 KB · Views: 11
  • Screenshot_20250119_121403_Chrome.jpg
    Screenshot_20250119_121403_Chrome.jpg
    336.7 KB · Views: 11
  • Screenshot_20250119_121628_Chrome.jpg
    Screenshot_20250119_121628_Chrome.jpg
    310.2 KB · Views: 9
  • Screenshot_20250118_084940_Chrome.jpg
    Screenshot_20250118_084940_Chrome.jpg
    376.5 KB · Views: 11
A more recent video produced by Dave Hale. Source: British Newspaper Archive
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20250124_141120_Chrome.jpg
    Screenshot_20250124_141120_Chrome.jpg
    121.3 KB · Views: 10
A few more films which are about or include Birmingham. (Source: British Newspaper Archive)
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20250128_103508_Chrome.jpg
    Screenshot_20250128_103508_Chrome.jpg
    244.7 KB · Views: 7
  • Screenshot_20250128_105249_Chrome.jpg
    Screenshot_20250128_105249_Chrome.jpg
    219.1 KB · Views: 5
  • Screenshot_20250128_105307_Chrome.jpg
    Screenshot_20250128_105307_Chrome.jpg
    408.1 KB · Views: 7
  • Screenshot_20250128_105610_Chrome.jpg
    Screenshot_20250128_105610_Chrome.jpg
    335.2 KB · Views: 7
  • Screenshot_20250128_105748_Chrome.jpg
    Screenshot_20250128_105748_Chrome.jpg
    150.9 KB · Views: 5
  • Screenshot_20250128_105958_Chrome.jpg
    Screenshot_20250128_105958_Chrome.jpg
    256.4 KB · Views: 7
  • Screenshot_20250128_110347_Gallery.jpg
    Screenshot_20250128_110347_Gallery.jpg
    263.2 KB · Views: 7
  • Screenshot_20250128_102822_Chrome.jpg
    Screenshot_20250128_102822_Chrome.jpg
    161.9 KB · Views: 7
Vivienne14 said:
Other much older films were made about Birmingham (or included pieces or views of Birmingham) for the purpose of promoting Birmingham, such as these below. I think "When,we build again" is somewhere else on the Forum, but not sure.

Source : British Newspaper Archive
Click to expand...
An interesting piece of history in those articles. The “mind set” of the day and life’s environment shows through.
 
Filmed at Forshaw Heath, Earlswood, ELO’s lovely “Can’t Get It Out Of My Head” from 1974. Apparently, Jeff wrote it in the living room of his parents house at Shard End
 
Godber said:
A wonderfully atmospheric snapshot of the times. My, how things have changed
Click to expand...
I’ve just spent half hour going back in time there.
What an interesting film and gentleman indeed. You’d almost feel it was still like that in one’s mind.
Yes things have changed, Fred would never believe it! Fifty years on and yet it seems like yesterday.
Thanks for posting that little gem.
 
lmr3103 said:
I’ve just spent half hour going back in time there.
What an interesting film and gentleman indeed. You’d almost feel it was still like that in one’s mind.
Yes things have changed, Fred would never believe it! Fifty years on and yet it seems like yesterday.
Thanks for posting that little gem.
Click to expand...
I’m glad you enjoyed it. I find the opening shots of empty city streets on a hazy summer morning absolutely mesmerising, I can almost smell the place. The familiar shops and buildings…almost painfully nostalgic. Sometimes I think I understand how someone from the old East Germany must feel now: The land I grew up in is still there, but the country I grew up in no longer exists.
 
Godber said:
A wonderfully atmospheric snapshot of the times. My, how things have changed
Click to expand...
hi godber what a wonderful snap shot of the fruit and veg wholesale market..sights and sounds i can certainly relate to...back in the very early 80s my sister had a flower stall at the bull ring market and i used to help her out which included early mornings going to the wholesale market to buy the flowers to sell..what a magical time it was and can only be appreciated if you was there...so very sad that this part of birminghams history is no longer there but we must never forget it...the people on the markets were the salt of the earth..to quote you from post 84

The land I grew up in is still there, but the country I grew up in no longer exists.

lyn
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top