Ageless Iraq

Basra – The Venice of the Middle East

For the last few decades, holidaying in Iraq has, sadly, been almost impossible. The country has been synonymous with war, violence and oppression for such a long time that the idea of visiting seems very fanciful for anyone born after the 1960s. 40 years ago, Iraq was in fact a popular destination for tourists. But for now, we can only travel there through the medium of film.

We posted an article, “Iraq Before Saddam“, a few days ago, featuring ten films from the history of Iraq prior to the 2003 invasion. But one of them deserves special attention.

The Pathé documentary unit shot a two reel documentary called Ageless Iraq back in the 1950s. If you disregard that the film was probably made for propaganda reasons (the notes say the film was made for the Iraq Petroleum Co.) and instead just view it as a travelogue, it paints a fascinating and extremely appealing picture of this ancient land.

Afternoon sailing trip

It is easy to forget that Iraq is in fact a country steeped in rich history and culture and as the first reel tells us, the very beginnings of civilisation started here. This is a country where writing was conceived and where man began cultivating the land. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow through Iraq, fertilising the plains and during the 1950s agriculture production was thriving and self-sufficient. Iraq is also home to the ancient walls of Babylon and is the birthplace of the prophet Abraham.

Baghdad – this could be a resort in any other holiday hot spot

Both reels show images of a landscape, culture and society that we just don’t associate with Iraq anymore: art, horseracing, music, cuisine and boats leisurely sailing down a canal in Basra otherwise known as “The Venice of the Middle East”.

The narrator states at the end: “Ageless Iraq, a new country but one that hasn’t forgotten the glories of its history. A country that is now emerging from the shadows of it past to a future bright with promise.” Let’s hope that this will soon be true again and that perhaps, one day, we will be able to book a flight to explore this fascinating land.

View both reels of Ageless Iraq below:

Iraq Before Saddam

During this time of turmoil in Iraq, it is interesting to look back at that country and its history prior to Saddam Hussein coming to power. In the British Pathé archive, there are some fascinating stories and images from that beautiful, if troubled, state. This selection of 10 films includes footage of King Feisal, the construction of Iraqi oil fields, and vintage looks at Iraqi culture.

For those wanting more recent footage from Iraq’s history, these short overviews by John Humphrys document Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1991, Operation Desert Storm, the fall of Iraq during the 2003 invasion, and the capture of Saddam Hussein by US troops.

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1.  BAGHDAD AND BEYOND (c.1932)

The British mandate in Iraq came to an end in 1932 after twelve years. This film presents an intriguing picture of life in Iraq at around that time, including footage of the Iraqi army.

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2.  A ROYAL WELCOME (1933)

Full title reads: “Dover & London. A Royal Welcome. The King and Queen, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, the Duke of Gloucester, Prime Minister and Officers of State, greet King Feisal of Irak on State visit for first time.”

There is an interesting outdated spelling of Iraq used in the title card.

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3.  IRAQ (1942)

This short little film provides a glimpse of life in Baghdad during the 1940s.

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4.  BOY KING OF IRAQ (1943)

Six-year-old King Feisal II tours a British military camp in Baghdad, Iraq with his uncle and regent Emir Abdul Illah. From the Second World War.

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5.  NEW OIL WEALTH FOR IRAQ (1952)

This newsreel concerns the opening of a new desert oil field near Basra by the Iraq Petroleum Company. The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nuri Pasha al-Said, can be seen in the film.

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6.  AGELESS IRAQ – PARTS ONE AND TWO (1954)

This longer film, split across two reels, was made for the Iraq Petroleum Co. in the 1950s and documents life in Iraq – its political history, traditions, industry, and its religious life.

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7.  KING FEISAL ENTHRONED (1953)

The Duke of Gloucester attends the enthronement of Iraq’s young King Feisal in Baghdad, 1953.

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8.  IRAQ BOMBSHELL (1958)

A revolution in Iraq sweeps away King Feisal and his Prime Minister. This newsreel takes a quick look at the life of the monarch, including his state visit to England and the inaugurating of an oil well at Kirkuk.

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9.  BRITISH TROOPS DEFEND KUWAIT (1961)

Threatened by neighbouring Iraq, Abdullah III Al-Salim Al-Sabah of Kuwait seeks protection from British forces. News story with an American commentary.

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10.  FIRST PICTURES – REVOLT IN IRAQ (1963)

Prime Minister Kassem of Iraq is killed during a brief revolution in 1963. American commentary.

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Further Viewing
There are simply too many interesting films to list here. Additional films can be found by searching our YouTube channel or our website. But we’ve selected this “bonus” film. It features Ernest Bevin and the Iraqi Prime Minister Sayyid Salih Jabr in Portsmouth, England at the signing of a new treaty between Iraq and the United Kingdom in 1948.

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WWW.BRITISHPATHE.COM

WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/BRITISHPATHE

Days That Shook The World – 21st Century Pathé

A few years ago, what was then called “British Pathé News” began a production with the BBC called A Day That Shook The World. Two series were eventually made, the first narrated by John Humphrys, and they are available on our website to view (for free) in our programmes section. The last Pathé newsreel was released in February 1970, so this series and the associated series 20th Century Hall of Fame bring the archive beyond the twentieth century.

Topics covered by the series include September 11th, the Iraq War and the Capture of Saddam Hussein, the collapse of Enron, the Asian Tsunami, and the London Bombings. From this period, the series also covers the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla – not quite an event that “shook the world” but certainly an interesting one.

From the latter part of the twentieth century, the series documents the impeachment of President Clinton, the death of Diana, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the first Gulf War, Chernobyl, and the Falklands Crisis. Prior to that we are in classic Pathe territory, with episodes succinctly summarising key events using Pathe footage that was captured at the time – the Somme, Hiroshima, Queen Victoria’s funeral, to name but a few. The series therefore acts as a useful entry point into an archive of 90,000 clips to wade through.

Martin Luther King is the subject of an episode. Click the still to watch the film.

The moon landings are covered in an episode. Click the still to view it.

You can view the entire A Day That Shook The World series by clicking http://www.britishpathe.com/programmes/day-that-shook-the-world or selecting the link below that you want:

Episode	Title	Date
1	Queen   Victorias Funeral	1901
2	The   Wright Brothers First Flight	1903
3	Emily   Davison Throws Herself Under The Kings Derby Horse	1913
4	Battle   Of The Somme	1916
5	Abdication   Of The Tsar Nikolas	1917
6	Irish   Free State Treaty Signed	1921
7	Suzanne   Lenglen Breaks Wimbledon Record	1925
8	Start   Of UK General Strike	1926
9	Charles   Lindbergh Flies The Atlantic Solo	1927
10	American   Golfer Bobby Jones Wins Grand Slam	1930
11	Hitler   Becomes German Chancellor	1933
12	Edward   VIII Abdicates	1936
13	Hindenburg   Airship Crash	1937
14	Hitler   Annexes Austria	1938
15	Germany   Invades Poland	1939
16	Evacuation   Of Dunkirk	1940
17	London   Blitz Begins On Civilian Targets	1940
18	Pearl   Harbour Attacked	1941
19	Battle   Of El Alamein Begins	1942
20	Fall   Of Stalingrad – German Army Surrenders	1943
21	D-Day   Landings	1944
22	Liberation   Of Paris	1944
23	Big   Three Meet At Yalta To Carve Up Post-War World	1945
24	Germans   Surrender To Montgomery	1945
25	VE   Day Celebrations	1945
26	First   Atomic Bomb Test In New Mexico	1945
27	Labours   Landslide Election Win	1945
28	Atomic   Bomb Dropped On Hiroshima	1945
29	India   And Pakistan Gain Independence	1947
30	Berlin   Airlift Begins	1948
31	Maos   Communists Take Over In China	1949
32	Korean   War Starts	1950
33	Britain   Explodes First Atomic Bomb	1952
34	Launch   Of First Nuclear Submarine	1954
35	Roger   Bannister Breaks Four Minute Mile	1954
36	French   Surrender At Dien Bien Phu	1954
37	Le   Mans 24 Race Disaster	1955
38	Khrushchev   Denounces Stalin	1956
39	First   Nuclear Power Station	1956
40	Soviets   Crush Hungarian Revolt	1956
41	Suez   Invasion	1956
42	Manchester   United Players Die In Munich Air Crash	1958
43	Peles   World Cup Final Performance Thrills Crowds	1958
44	First   Hovercraft Run	1959
45	Kennedy   Inauguration	1961
46	Yuri   Gagarin Becomes The First Man In Space	1961
47	Erection   Of The Berlin Wall	1961
48	Cuban   Missile Crisis	1962
49	Martin   Luther King Delivers His “I Have A Dream” Speech	1962
50	Kennedy   Assassinated	1963
51	Beatles   Return From States In Triumph	1964
52	Aberfan   Slag Heap Buries School	1966
53	Donald   Campbell Dies In Bluebird Crash	1967
54	Six-Day   War Begins	1967
55	Grosvenor   Square Anti-Vietnam Riots	1968
56	Paris   Riots – France Comes Close To Revolution	1968
57	Soviets   Put Down Prague Spring	1968
58	Concorde   Flies For First Time	1969
59	Armstrong   Sets Foot On The Moon	1969
60	Bloody   Sunday In Northern Ireland	1972
61	Nixon   First Us President To Resign	1974
62	Ayatollah   Khomeini Returns From Exile	1979
63	Lord   Mountbatten Assassinated By IRA	1979
64	British   Sas Storm Iranian Embassy In London	1980
65	British   Task Force To Sail For Falklands	1982
66	HMS   Sheffield Sunk In Falklands War	1982
67	IRA   Bombs British Cabinet At Brighton	1984
68	Ethiopian   Famine – BBC Reports Spark Huge Response	1984
69	Heysel   Stadium Riots	1985
70	Challenger   Spacecraft Explodes	1986
71	America   Attacks Libya	1986
72	Chernobyl   Disaster	1986
73	Zeebrugge   Ferry Disaster	1987
74	Lockerbie   Pan-Am Jet Explosion	1988
75	Exxon   Valdez- Worlds Worst Oil Spill	1989
76	Hillsborough   Football Stadium Disaster	1989
77	Tiananmen   Square Massacre	1989
78	Berlin   Wall Comes Down	1989
79	Official   End Of The Cold War – Bush/gorbachev Agree To Deal	1989
80	Ceausescu   Overthrown	1989
81	Nelson   Mandela Released	1990
82	Iraq   Invade Kuwait	1990
83	Thatcher   Falls From Power	1990
84	Desert   Storm – Gulf War	1990
85	Soviet   Coup Failed	1991
86	Maastricht   Treaty	1991
87	Los   Angeles Race Riots	1992
88	British   Royal Family In Crisis	1992
89	Windsor   Castle Damaged By Fire	1992
90	The   Prince And Princess Separate	1992
91	Arab   Israeli Peace Agreement	1993
92	Yeltsin   Crushes Political Rebels	1993
93	Bosnian   Crisis	1994
94	Barings   Bank Collapses	1995
95	150   Die In Oklahoma Terrorist Attack	1995
96	Dolly   The Sheep Clone Unveiled	1997
97	Princess   Of Wales Dies In Paris Car Crash	1997
98	Death   Of Mother Teresa	1997
99	Funeral   Of Diana, Princess Of Wales	1997
100	Hurricane   Mitch	1998
101	President   Clintons Impeachment	1998
102	NATO   Bombing Of Chinese Embassy, Belgrade	1999
103	The   Millennium	2000
104	Deciphering   Of The Human Genome	2000
105	Concorde   Crash	2000
106	September   11th	2001
107	Ipod	2001
108	Battle   Of Tora Bora	2001
109	Fall   Of Iraq	2003
110	Saddam   Capture	2003
111	Beslan   School Siege	2004
112	Orange   Revolution (Ukraine)	2004
113	Asian   Tsunami	2004
114	Kyoto   Agreement	2005
115	Pope   John Paul II Dies	2005
116	Charles   And Camilla	2005
117	Super   Jumbo Airbus	2005
118	London   Awarded 2012 Olympics	2005
119	London   Bombings	2005
120	Hurricane   Katrina	2005
121	Israeli   Invasion Of Lebanon	2006
122	Collapse   Of Enron	2006

Welcome to Baghdad Madame!

Welcome to Baghdad Madame

Anyone up for a holiday in Iraq? It does seem a fairly fanciful idea when Iraq has been synonymous with war, violence and oppression for such a long time and for anyone born after the 1960s the idea of Iraq ever having been a holiday destination seems fantastically peculiar.  However, wind back 40 years and Iraq was in fact a popular destination for tourists and now there are signs, indeed very small, that international tour operators could be taking visitors back there one day.

The Pathé documentary unit shot a two reel documentary called Ageless Iraq back in the 1950s. If you disregard that the films were probably made for propaganda reasons (the notes say the film was made for the Iraq Petroleum Co.) and instead just view them as travelogue films; they paint a fascinating and extremely appealing picture of this ancient land.

Afternoon sailing trip

It is easy to forget that Iraq is in fact a country steeped in rich history and culture and as the first film tells us, the very beginnings of civilisation started here. This is a country where writing was conceived and where man began cultivating the land. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow through Iraq, fertilising the plains and during the 1950s agriculture production was thriving and self-sufficient. Iraq is also home to the ancient walls of Bablyon and is the birthplace of the prophet Abraham.

Baghdad – this could be a resort in any other holiday hot spot

Both films show images of a landscape, culture and society that we just don’t associate with Iraq: art, horseracing, music, cuisine and boats leisurely sailing down a canal in Basra otherwise known as “The Venice of the Middle East”.  

The narrator states at the end: “Ageless Iraq, a new country but one that hasn’t forgotten the glories of its history. A country that is now emerging from the shadows of it past to a future bright with promise.” Let’s hope that this time it is true and perhaps one day we will be able to book a flight to explore this fascinating land.

Ageless Iraq Reel 1

Ageless Iraq Reel 2

Basra - The Venice of the Middle East