Smokescreen

I have never ever seen quoted where the filming location for this film was but seeing as it was filmed in my old home town in places that I played in as a child, I can reveal that it was Todmorden.

This is a lovely adaptation of Elsie McCutcheon's book and is presented on VHS as one continuous movie without the episode breaks. It is 1907 and it was the dawn of a new age of motor cars and the cinema; both are portrayed in the movie although the cars are only for the rich. I remember my father telling of the dreadful conditions of the early cinema in Todmorden and even in my era the local cinema was known colloquially as the 'laugh and scratch.' Sally Walsh wonderfully plays the part of Chrissy Gallant and little brother 'Chip' (Sam Townend) is the bottom wagging cheeky brother. There are interfering neighbours, resentful playmates and loving ones, landladies putting on airs and getting them knocked off again. It's the sort of thing that children love with a happy ending.

A delightful movie.