Prepare for a dazzling display of seaside kitsch as night falls on Blackpool's famous Illuminations.

The bright lights of Blackpool shine out of the darkness in this dazzling display of seaside kitsch filmed for the Topical Budget newsreel. A tram festooned with fairy lights masquerades as a Venetian gondola, while grinning nursery-rhyme characters throng the prom. Running for 66 days from late August, the off-season Illuminations cannily kept the punters coming, along with the newsreel cameras.

The film features two illuminated tram cars, one in the guise of a gondola and the other as a lifeboat - star attractions of the 1930s Illuminations. The 'gondola' was finally decommissioned in 1962. Also seen are some of the earliest 'animated' light tableaux, along with a giant Mickey Mouse. Today the annual event attracts some 3 million visitors.