News on Screen

Harold Morley was listed as a cameraman with Gaumont British from 1933 onwards, and in about 1936 he featured in a Gaumont British publicity photograph, on top of a camera car. The name Morley appears on the shotlist for ‘REYNOLDTOWN WINS THE NATIONAL’ in British Paramount News No.531 of March 1936, but he seems to have remained with Gaumont British, and is credited with cameraman Eddie Edmonds [qv] for ‘THE KING VISITS CANADIAN AND POLISH AIRMEN IN BRITAIN’ in Gaumont British News No.703 of September 1940. In February 1941 Morley filmed a home front rota story which became ‘TRAINING SCHOOL FOR THE MODERN ARMY’ in Gaumont British News No.746. In August 1944 Morley was in France, where he filmed shots of abandoned German tanks and vehicles, which went into ‘THE BIG ADVANCE CONTINUES ON ALL SECTORS’ in Gaumont British News No.1108. In January 1945 Morley provided footage of Belgian airfields for ‘AIRFIELDS ATTACKED’ in Gaumont British News No.1153, and in October 1945 he filmed material for ‘PREPARATIONS FOR THE SPEED RECORD BID’ in Gaumont British News No.1233. In July 1947 Morley and cameraman Bill Burningham [qv] filmed both sound and silent footage of the King for ‘ROYAL VISIT TO SCOTLAND’ in Gaumont British News No.1413. In March 1953 Morley was in the camera team that filmed ‘THE GRAND NATIONAL’ for Gaumont British News No.2007, and in April 1956 he worked on the local release ‘VISIT OF THE QUEEN’ added to Gaumont British News No.2326, and in September 1956 he filmed ‘1940-1956: FROM ‘THE FEW’ TO FARNBOROUGH’ for No.2367.

Sources

BUFVC, British Paramount News files, Number 1015 (Morley’s rota shotlist, 15/8/1940), Number 1043 (H. J. Morley rota shotlists, 17/18 February 1941), Number 1450 (Morley’s rota shotlist, c.January 1945), Number 1530 (Morley’s rota shotlist, 20/10/1945), Number 1711 (Gaumont rota dopesheet, 18/7/1947), Number 2304 ('Continuity and Cutting Sequence for Grand National, 1953’ by H. W. Bishop, March 1953), Number 2623 (Morley’s dopesheet, 17/4/1956), Number 2664 (Morley’s dopesheet, 6/9/1956): Kine Year Book 1946 (1945), p.275: NFTVA photograph: J. Ballantyne (ed) ‘Researcher’s Guide to British Newsreels’ (BUFVC, 1983), p.92.