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Revolutions For All Says Denis Norden

1967 , Ipswich (Suffolk)

Cat no. 264

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A promotional film for Churchmans cigars.

In the opening sequence Norden, in the cinema and then in the shopping centre, ponders on how things are getting smaller and changing shape. A photo-montage sequence illustrates some of the things to which Norden is referring. The mini (car), a Sinclair Micromatic radio, a cycle, a dog, a miniature T.V., a car Hoover, a miniature of gin and last but by no means least minis (skirts). He switches attention to cigar smoking, which is apparently a growing habit. He interviews some people in the street and is baffled by a statistical chart. There are stills of some famous cigar smokers. Edward G. Robinson, Groucho Marx and Winston Churchill. He decides to tackle the question of whether small cigars are real cigars or just sunburnt cigarettes. At Churchmans' factory he bins his cigarettes and meets Peter Eyres, a top executive or high Churchman. Eyres offers a history of cigars; that they were brought to Southern Europe by Columbus and then to Britain by the Duke of Wellington who discovered them during the Peninsular War. They set off on a tour of the factory, going to the store room via the packaging plant. In the storeroom, which is controlled for both temperature and humidity, they find many different types of cigars. Some of these are manufactured by Churchmans and some are imported. Peter Eyres dissects a 6/6 cigar to show how it is constructed. There are three essential elements; the wrapper, which contributes to the appearance and aroma of the cigar; the binder, which holds it together and the filler. This is the core of the cigar that can be a blend of many different tobaccos.They go to the factory to see how a 'Grandee' mini cigar is made. A detailed account of the processes involved follows. Norden is shown the roles of reconstituted tobacco used for the binding. The wrapper leaf, the most expensive part, is fed by hand through the 'stripper' (big joke!) to remove the stem. Conditioning the tobacco in the steam oven is shown and then the various stages to the weighing and final testing of the product. Norden visits the packaging plant and the laboratory, where he is fascinated by the smoking machine. By the end he is thoroughly convinced that mini cigars are real cigars.The film ends with stills of people smoking and of different brands of cigars.

Featured Buildings

Churchmans' factory

Keywords

Cigars; Factories; Smoking

Background Information

The film won four major awards and was shown as a second feature. It had an estimated audience of 2 1/2 million viewers.

Manifestations

Revolutions For All Says Denis Norden

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