Field End Telephone Exchange Goes Automatic

From the collection of

London’s Screen Archives
London’s Screen Archives is a network of over 50 organisations with a collective vision – to preserve and share London’s history on film. The network is managed by Film London and we work with our partners to digitise, preserve, and offer access to their moving image collections.

Field End Telephone Exchange Goes Automatic


A sharp swell of music coupled with a title card introduce this short film like a news story, complete with a formal and well-spoken narration. The narration announces the shift from the old telephone operators towards the new and efficient automatic service. A sequence of the busy manual exchange yields to a now empty room, and the narrator bemoans the bygone age. The piece ends with a brief tour of the new but impersonal technology but time marches on.


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