June in December

Travel to Madeira.

Film record of a trip to Funchal in November/ December 1936. Sequences on reel 1 include: the voyage; activities on and around the ship as it is moored off Funchal; the harbour and street scenes in Funchal, with a particular emphasis on the activities of the local population and a fortress-like building. Shots of the voyage to Madeira include: members of the ship’s crew adjusting ropes on the ship’s lifeboats; officers on the bridge with sextants taking readings and one of the officers entering readings into a log book. The voyage sequence concludes with a shot of the ship, the Arundel Castle, anchored off Funchal. The sequence recording details of the activities aboard the ship as it is moored off Funchal includes shots of a launch leaving for the mainland; local men in rowing boats and traders in boats laden with goods; goods laid out on board, including basket chairs, fabrics, clothes and jewellery. This sequence concludes with shots from a small boat of the stern of the Arundel Castle and a close up of three local men in a rowing boat as Eustace Alliott heads for shore. Shots in Funchal include women carrying baskets of flowers on their heads, street scenes as tourists mingle with the local population; sleds being drawn across cobble streets by oxen and donkeys; soldiers on guard or at the entrance to a building with the sign ‘Governo Militar da Madeira’; men unloading goods from a sled, fishermen and fishing boats; men carrying baskets on their shoulders or leading sleds laden with goods; a fortress like building with aerial transmitters features in pan shots across Funchal; a woman washing laundry in a stream; exterior shots of the Hotel Bellavista and its gardens; a man playing with a monkey; men, women and children walking along streets. Sequences on reel 2 record: the movement of people and goods along streets in Funchal; the activities of fishermen; local inhabitants encountered who pose for the camera; goods and people being transported on sleds; a trip through the countryside which culminates in a visit to Camacha, where Eustace Alliott records the activities of basket weavers; the activities of fishermen at Cama Dos Lobos, a local fishing village; local mountains and a stream which flows into the sea, next to which women wash and dry laundry. The reel concludes with a pan shot of the island and its harbour, in which two ocean liners are moored. Shots include a large barrel being transported on a sled; locals who pose for the camera; a fishermen repairing a net; a woman stitching a mattress; a man in a suit, possibly a tourist, being transported by sled down a hill; a man on horseback, a woman and children on foot walking through the ‘Little Curral’; street scenes in Camacha and the work performed by weavers in order to make chairs by hand; the harbour, boats and activities of fishermen at Cama Dos Lobos, with shots of buildings and individuals; the coast line and waves breaking against rocks; a boat laden with crates struggles against the tide; a stream flows into the sea, while two women wash and dry laundry on the rocks.

Featured Buildings

Arundel Castle [ocean liner] Se Cathedral, Funchal Hotel Bellavista Santa Clara Convent, Funchal Fortaleza de São Tiago [Fort of St James], Funchal Câmara de Lobos

Keywords

Union Castle; Union Castle Mail Steamship Co; Arundel Castle; Cape Mail; Madeira; Inter-war tourism; Traditional costumes

Intertitles

June in December. Reel 1. Record in colour of two weeks in Funchal – Madeira’s sunny capital. On board the Arundel Castle. Off Funchal. At the Hotel Bellavista. June in December. Reel 2. More scenes in Funchal. Through the “Little Curral” to Camacha – where Madeira’s basketwork is done. At Cama Dos Lobos [Câmara de Lobos]. A nearby fishing village. The End