Coronation Drill at Reedham Orphanage (S)

Reedham Orphanage was the unlikely subject of several films at this period. The children’s annual regimented drill, with its worrying echoes to our minds of the gymnastic displays of future totalitarian regimes, proved to be an irresistible subject for British film companies of the period. The visual effect certainly is remarkable. The high-angle camera position used for these films gave the cinema audience a better view of the show than the visiting dignitaries, in this case a patriotic flourish in which the children form the letters ‘G.R.’ topped by a crown, to mark the coronation that year of George V (Georgius Rex). -- Luke McKernan