News on Screen

Bert Bloomfield became head of the darkrooms at Walturdaw in 1905, but left early in 1908 to found his own British and Colonial Kinematograph Company. In order to strengthen the newsfilm side of the company he also recruited McDowell [qv], who had recently left Walturdaw, and the first of their films were developed in McDowell’s basement. British and Colonial specialised in newsfilms and short comedies, but was sufficiently successful to become a limited company in March 1911, and to open a daylight studio in London. The company now began producing longer film dramas, but continued to release newsfilm, including film of the coronation of George V in June 1911, and film of the Derby in June 1912, when Bloomfield and McDowell were part of the five-strong British and Colonial cameramen team. Bloomfield also directed fiction films, and in December 1912 he was reported to be taking a team from British and Colonial to film in the West Indies. However, in May 1913 he was replaced as a director of British and Colonial, and McDowell was left in control.

After the outbreak of war in 1914 Bloomfield volunteered for service, and eventually became a member of the Royal Air Force. He did not entirely abandon filming, however, and at one point acted as the assistant to Edmund Distin Maddick, who was also in the Royal Air Force, and was making the first British official instructional films [see entry for Gordon]. Bloomfield described himself as an ‘all round topical and studio cameraman and producer’s assistant,' and at the end of the war in 1918 he went to work for the producer Walter West’s Broadwest company, which had studios in London. He stayed with West for several years, although during the same period Bloomfield frequently did freelance newsfilming for Topical Budget, his first recorded assignment being in December 1922 for ‘OXFORD v CAMBRIDGE - CRYSTAL PALACE’ in No.590-2. From March 1923 onwards he had several months of regular employment from Topical Budget, as part of teams covering football matches and horse races - his last surviving credit being for ‘DUKE OF YORK HANDICAP’ in No.634-1 of October 1923.

Bloomfield was still doing studio work for Walter West in 1925, and also did regular freelance work for the Pathe Gazette. His first recorded assignment was as part of the camera team covering the National Hunt Steeplechase for Pathe Gazette No.1379 of 10 March 1927, but he was soon on individual assignments for the company. The first of these was ‘A LITTLE BIT OF IRELAND IN ENGLAND’ for No.1405 of June 1927, after which he regularly covered domestic stories until ‘AT HMS CRYSTAL PALACE’ in Pathe Super Sound Gazette No.30/49 of November 1930. Bloomfield may have freelanced after this, for his next credits are as part of the camera teams for ‘THE AMATEURS GRAND NATIONAL’ in No.31/32 and ‘THE CUP FINAL’ in No.31/34, both of April 1931. He next appears in the camera teams for ‘STEEPLECHASING’S ASCOT’ in Pathe Super Sound Gazette No.32/18 of March 1932, and ‘THE TRIUMPH OF THE ‘ROSE’' in No.33/13 of February 1933 - his last surviving credit.

Sources

Kinematograph Weekly, 21/9/1911, p.1137, ‘The Advancement of ‘B. ' C.'': Bioscope, 13/6/1912, p.811; 19/12/1912, p.937: Public Record Office, BT 31/19897/114483, British and Colonial company file: Cinema, 8/1/1914, p.81, ‘Mr. J. B. McDowell’: Pictures and the Picturegoer, 27/6/1914, p.426, ‘Birthplaces of British Films: No.3 - The British and Colonial Film Company’: Kine Year Book 1925, p.280, ‘A.H. Bloomfield’: Cine Technician, April-May 1940, p.25; November-December 1942, p.128: NFTVA, Luke McKernan’s biographical index of Topical Budget staff.