St Valentine’s Cards (1961)

London. L/S of a group of teenagers in leather jackets sitting round tables in a coffee bar, most of them are smoking. They are all looking at cards, C/U of a girl’s face, the camera pans down to show her writing a card, she is holding a cigarette in the other hand. M/S of two boys, one of them is writing a card, the other puts a cigarette in his mouth. M/S of hands putting a card in an envelope and writing on it, other people round the table are looking at their cards, there is also a motorcycle helmet on the table. L/S of shelves full of boxes in a room, a man takes out one of the boxes and puts it on a desk, he sits down and opens it. The narrator tells us this is the Victoria and Albert Museum and this box contains Valentine’s cards from 1861. C/U of the man’s hands taking out a frilly box card with a picture in the middle. The narrator says the sentiments expressed in these cards are similar to those expressed by the modern generation. M/S of another patterned card, C/U of the card with hearts