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clip 1Clip description
The ‘Smith family’ do some gardening outside the front of their new suburban home before turning to walk inside. In the children’s bedroom, Mrs Smith places toys on the children’s beds, and in the main bedroom she makes the bed. The main living room is featured and Mrs Smith lays flowers from the garden on the mantelpiece above the fireplace while Mr Smith runs a bath and shaves. In the kitchen, Mrs Smith prepares a meal in the oven and at the dining table the whole family sit down for a meal.
Curator’s notes
In this clip, the male voice-over highlights some of the comfortable features of the new home, including the ‘labour-saving devices’, the 'neat’ and modern rooms, and a block not crowded with neighbours.
Narrator Kevin Brennan says that the ‘future of this or any nation is bound up in the dignity of its family life’. This clip exemplifies that dignity in contrast to the experiences of 'Ted and Mary’ shown in clip one. While the voice-over concedes that the ‘Smith family’ is part of a ‘fortunate minority’, the film promises that Ted and Mary will also be able to access the benefits of the postwar suburban housing estate.
