1957 October Blantyre Gazette
Residents in Blantyre were treated at the Broadway Cinema in October 1957, of a re-enactment film of the Dixon’s Explosion. To celebrate the 80th Anniversary of the tragedy, the Broadway screened the film and the newspaper reports suggested in advance just how popular it was going to be.
The extract from the Blantyre Gazette tells, “A film which should create a lot of interest locally is to be shown throughout the whole of next week in the Broadway Cinema. The film deals with the big explosion at Dixon’s Colliery at High Blantyre, in 1877 when 262 men and boys lost their lives.
The explosion was one of the biggest mining disasters in history and there was hardly a family in Blantyre at that time that wasn’t left to mourn some one who was very near and dear to them.
Some of the actual scenes in the film were “shot” within the precincts of the local colliery. Next Thursday 24th October is the 80th Anniversary of the explosion and it should be interesting to see how this event, which brought so much sorrow to Blantyre, is portrayed on the screen. “
The reports actually has a couple of incorrect details in the number that died, which the report has exaggerated and indeed the date is slightly out too, with the accident happening on 22nd October 1877, not 24th.
1957 Dixons Film shown at Broadway
The other picture shows the Broadway advert from 1957. Thank you to Gordon Cook for bringing this to my attention. I hope to have some screen stills of the copyrighted film in the coming weeks.