Queen Cotton

About the film

Queen Cotton is a Technicolor introduction to the manufacture and design of both woven and printed cotton fabrics, the products of which are presented in a stunning fashion show.

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Details

• Release year - 1941
• Director - Cecil Musk
• Production company - Merton Park Studios Ltd
• Screenplay - Terence Egan Bishop
• Cinematographer - Jimmy Rogers
• Composer - William Alwyn
• Editor - C. Beaumont
• Sound recording - Al Rhind
• Assistant Director - Don Weeks
• Technicolor Adviser - Jack Cardiff
• Running time (minutes) - 13 mins 49 secs

Original description

Lancashire cotton

'Cranes swing out over the docks of Manchester. Bales of raw cotton come in from all over the world for the looms of Lancashire. Even in wartime Lancashire supplied the world's cotton goods.
The film includes a display of fashions in fascinating cotton fabrics by well-known dress designers.'

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

Did you know?

• The fashion show at the end of Queen Cotton was a part of an export trade exhibition organised by the UK Cotton Board in 1941 that was sent to the Americas and South Africa.
• This is the only known title in the British Council Film Collection to feature a female narrator, though her identity is unknown.
• The list of designers who contributed to the outfits seen in the film includes Edward Molyneux, Norman Hartnell (then dressmaker to the Queen), Victor Stiebel, Charles Creed, Digby-Morton, Worth, and Peter Russell.

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