About the Film

Running at just over 8 minutes, the movie is a copy of an old b&w reel of 16 mm Kodak Safety Film (no audio), entitled “Watford Works,” showing a busy day at the Sun Engraving Company (and possibly Rembrandt). The copying process has slightly speeded up the action, which only enhances the sense of bustle and excitement.

The original ciné film was made in 1935 or so; the Sun’s little clock-tower pumping station, built in 1934, features prominently in the initial frames. We are taken on a tour of most departments (composition, cylinder room, gravure machine room, bindery, warehouse, and so on) and very roughly follow the path a customer’s project would have followed from planning through delivery.

Reg Farrell, W.T. Blenkarn, Alf Larcombe, and David Greenhill have been identified so far in this film. Can you put names to other faces or provide details on the images?

To View the Film

You must have Windows, equipped with Browsers I.E. 6, Netscape 7.1, or FireFox.
You will also need Windows Media Player version 8 or higher. Don't have it? Click here to download it.

Warning! For those of you with low-speed (dialup) connections, be aware that downloading this film will take about 90 minutes, and that the film will occupy about 20MB on your hard drive. If you decide to go ahead, we suggest that you download the movie first, then play it on your desktop instead of in your browser.

For those with high-speed (broadband) connections, download time will be about 5 minutes, and downloading and playing can occur simultaneously.

Viewing alternatives: We hope to offer shorter clips of the film in the future. And videotaped and DVD versions will soon be available as lending copies.

Want to go ahead? Choose low speed or high speed.