Oxford

About the film

A look at the facilities and character of Oxford University, and the varied experiences that are associated with studying there.

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Details

• Release year - 1941
• Director - Ralph Bond
• Production company - Strand Film
• Producer - Alexander Shaw
• Screenplay - Hugh Gray, Reg Groves
• Cinematographer - Raymond Elton
• Narration - Leslie Mitchell
• Sound recording - Al Rhind
• Musical director - Muir Mathieson
• Assistant - Charles De Lautour
• Running time (minutes) - 09 mins 19 secs

Original description

The university city

'For more than seven hundred years Oxford has existed as a centre of learning and culture. But it is not only a city of the past, loving and caring for its great traditions; it is also a city of the present and the future. its streets are thronged with the young men and women who one day will provide Britain's scholars, scientists, and statesmen. In the university, students from far off parts of the Empire, rich men's sons, and scholarship winners from Britain's industrial areas share alike the knowledge and culture offered by the university.'

(Films of Britain - British Council Film Department Catalogue - 1941)

Did you know?

• Oxford states that Oxford University’s reputation has thus far “been greatest in Classics and Literature”. Until the 1960s, Latin was an entry requirement for all applicants to Oxford University, regardless of their chosen degree.
• Though women are shown rehearsing with the Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS), women could not formally join the society until the 1960s. However, women had been admitted to the university as full members since 1920.
• Though Oxford shows people punting on the river Isis, no mention is made of the famous Boat Race between Cambridge and Oxford universities. This is likely because the race did not occur during the Second World War, when this film was made.

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