A war-time housewife and her husband's oldest and favorite suit talk about old times and the future in this delightfully eccentric British informational short.
Director Richard Massingham has started out as a doctor, but by the middle of the 1930s was directing movies for the British Post Office, a major source of documentarists in this period. In this one, he offers us a series of suggestions on how to keep a suit in good shape, including cleaning, how to iron it properly, and some useful advice on how to remove greasy stains. Happily, this piece never falls into the trap that so many lesser informational movies did in this era, by telling the audience that it was for their own good. The message is offered as a series of humorously overwrought vignettes, preceded by old-fashioned title cards, and backed by a treacly violin score that lets us know how silly this whole thing is. That's a fine way to slip good information in; it's a pity that so few people used the technique this well.
Director Richard Massingham has started out as a doctor, but by the middle of the 1930s was directing movies for the British Post Office, a major source of documentarists in this period. In this one, he offers us a series of suggestions on how to keep a suit in good shape, including cleaning, how to iron it properly, and some useful advice on how to remove greasy stains. Happily, this piece never falls into the trap that so many lesser informational movies did in this era, by telling the audience that it was for their own good. The message is offered as a series of humorously overwrought vignettes, preceded by old-fashioned title cards, and backed by a treacly violin score that lets us know how silly this whole thing is. That's a fine way to slip good information in; it's a pity that so few people used the technique this well.
