Colour footage of a lively Student Rag Parade. Judo demonstrations turn into a brawl when the Rag Day Parade takes over a rainy Belfast city centre.

This film rewards repeat viewers with a Rag parade that is bursting with satirical mischief. Watch the morbid fascination as a woman is delivered to the executioner from the crowd. The next float is perhaps an effigy of Ruth Ellis, the last woman executed in the UK in 1955. A toilet roll flung into the air reveals Belfast City Hall is the location of this rambunctious parade. This film ends abruptly with a mysterious fleeting shot in the dark of a car whizzing past the camera.

Digitised as part of the British Film Institute's Unlocking Film Heritage project.

 

Thanks to the Northern Ireland Tourist Board we can glimpse the golden age of Queen’s University Rag celebrations through these colourful rushes. This government department had their own staff who documented the region through stills and moving images and the films they created capture various facets of life in Northern Ireland. The department was particularly busy in the mid-1950s to late 1960s, creating films that aimed to sell Northern Ireland as a holiday destination. This material captures Northern Ireland at an intriguing time, post-World War Two and pre-Troubles.

• National Museums Northern Ireland
• Britain on Film