There's a famous magazine photograph -- well, it's famous in Britain, at any rate -- that was published in Picture Post in 1943. Titled 'Dancing the Lambeth Walk', it depicts a girl about nine years old in an East End street, wearing a woman's high-heeled shoes and spoofing an elegant dancer while other street urchins of the same age laugh at her la-di-dah efforts.

I was reminded of that photo when I saw this brief film, shot in London almost half a century earlier. We see three girls about the same age as that Lambeth Walker, or perhaps just a bit older, performing an elaborate dance in the street while a hurdy-gurdy plays nearby. These girls are wearing elaborate Victorian hats and frocks, yet while they dance they raise their skirts to display their high-buttoned shoes. The crossroads shown here -- as well as the people in the film, and their clothing -- are all clearly more genteel than the East End neighbourhood in that Picture Post photo.

These girls are not extemporising; it's clear that they're performing some dance which they've carefully rehearsed. I wish I could recognise the dance; it might help if I knew what music was playing in this silent film. Although this movie is very brief, it gives us a fascinating glimpse of girls' clothing and shoes of the time period, and the dance may have some historic value as well. My rating for this: 9 out of 10.

The documentary is a form of non-fiction storytelling that aims to present factual information, insights, and perspectives on real-world subjects, events, issues, or people. Documentaries can cover a wide range of topics, including history, science, culture, social issues, nature, biographies, and more.

Dziga Vertov in Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

The short form refers to creative works characterized by their brevity and concise storytelling. Unlike full-length feature films, short films have a running time of less than 45 minutes, while TV shorts have a running time of less than 22 minutes.

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Three young women dance in Drury Lane, London.

Félicien Trewey and Jules Fuerst in Danseuses des rues (1896)

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Panorama de l'arrivée à Aix-les-Bains pris du train

Panorama de l'arrivée à Aix-les-Bains pris du train (1896)

Le Débarquement du congrès de photographie à Lyon

The Photographical Congress Arrives in Lyon (1895)

The Photographical Congress Arrives in Lyon

Danseuses des rues

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