This color, British educational film “Sole of Comfort” is about making a sole for a shoe. It was made on behalf of the British Leather Publicity Council and with the help of the British Leather Manufacturers’ Research Association. No copyright but this film is circa the late 1940s or very early 1950s.

Opening: a boot with a spur, close on an alligator, lizard, snake, deer, salamander, bull in a field. Leather is examined and then placed in a special solution. The hide of leather is dunked into a milky white solution for tanning. The hide is fed into a machine where some of it is scraped off. All fleshy tissue is pulled off in a second machine. The hide is hammered with a special hammer that leaves a mark. The hide is scrapped and then placed into a tanning liquid (:06-3:00). The racks are raised and the hides are raised out of the liquid. The hides are then hit and scrapped with a pole. Tanning machine for the hide. The hide is carried by a machine while hung. It is sent into another machine which will smooth it. It is oiled and then dried, rolled under heavy pressure to make it more compact. A heavier material is done and ready to be used as leather. Stacks of the finished leather are carried off. Microscope of the fibers in the leather (3:01-5:52). All types of leather slide past the screen. All colors and sizes. The leather is with a shoe manufacturer. He places the shoe leather in a machine. Soles for shoes are in piles. A machine trims the sole to be a certain shape to fit a certain shoe. The shoe is placed into two more machines. The leather and shoe are bent and processed (5:53-8:14). A finished shoe is taken from a machine. The shoe worker places another shoe into a machine and gets it ready. Stitching the sole of the shoe on a machine. The beveling machine shapes the edge and colors the shoe. A man sands down any rough shoe edges (8:15-9:34). A woman shoe sales person shows shoes to a woman and her daughter. A little girl walks through a muddy road. Hands wash down the shoes, cleaning them of mud. Leather sole in water. A clear shoe with a leather sole in water. The sole of a shoe (9:35-11:32). A man stitches a shoe’s sole. He then sharpens his knife on a strop. He cuts some of the excess stitching off. Tears at the shoe bottom with a knife (11:33-13:19). The leather bottom is placed onto the shoe. The shoe is complete. Finished pairs of shoes are shown. Many different types of shoes are shown from flats to heels. Step machine has the shoe being tried out by stepping down repeatedly to test it. A man on duty steps hard on his shoes. Marching band marches, a man on a horse. Legs step hard on their shoes. Shoes outside in the woods. A couple look at a map and then walk off into the woods. Lots of feet touching the ground, walking, dancing, running, playing cricket, riding a dirtbike, dancing, soccer, cricket (13:20-16:29). At 14;41, a special Rube Goldberg machine to test shoes is shown that literally is an endless treadmill. End credits (16:30-16:40).

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