Arte - Mysteries in the Archives Series 2 (2010) Part 2 1953 Queen Elizabeth's Coronation

Mysteries in the archives, ten investigations into ten events of the twentieth century that have marked our memory and our imagination. In the French series, we learn about the historical events of the 20th century by closely investigating archive films. Who is in the picture, who is missing? Why was the camera pointed right here? Who is sitting next to whom? The “Mysteries in the Archives” series takes us to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth and the Khmer Rouge camps, the occupation of Saigon and a Tour de France. We follow John F. Kennedy's visit to Berlin as well as the funeral a few months later, and we learn about the Shah's celebrations at ancient Persepolis and de Gaulle's scandalous speech in Quebec. By looking at the pictures again and more closely, the series reveals how history has been processed, told and manipulated in the pictures. Each image is carefully studied and analyzed until its secrets are revealed. The series explores the power of pictures to tell otherwise. It raises the question do we see what we know or can we know more with the help of the image? “Mysteries in the Archives” is a collection aiming to uncover and rediscover known or unpublished images that bear witness to our history. The audiovisual document becomes a piece of evidence that it is up to us to question, to make people talk. The image is scrutinized, dissected, and often, Mysteries in the Archives takes our gaze away from what the camera operator had seen or expected. Each episode is constructed as an investigation. Some are about cheerful and amusing topics, others are about more solemn, momentous events. Serge Viallet, a true detective of the image, reveals a multitude of new elements and significant anecdotes hidden behind the story as it was shown to us in cinemas and then on television. Meticulous investigations are undertaken - film is rummaged, sifted through and sorted, examined frame by frame and analyzed until it finally reveals its secrets. This collection includes all 10 episodes of season 2.

Part 2 1953 Queen Elizabeth's Coronation

On June 2, 1953, more than 30 million television viewers in Europe and over one hundred million viewers around the world witnessed the coronation of young Queen Elizabeth II of England. The six-step ceremony for the then 27-year-old with 7,500 guests took place in Westminster Abbey, where even the rehearsals that were already taking place were filmed. Elizabeth II was crowned to queen on June 2, 1953. That day will also go down in the history of broadcasting it has been calculated that it was at that time in Britain that the number of television viewers first exceeded the number of radio listeners. One hundred million people around the world watched the live broadcast. However, Winston Churchill, among others, had opposed television broadcast. Many feared royal grandeur would incite anti-British sentiment and accelerate the destruction of the world's most powerful empire. And were the high expenses for the organization and the technical equipment with over 20 cameras reasonable? How did this event become a landmark in television history?

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