Aha! Smashing find - thanks!!
The machine in the first (1936) newsreel looks like a
Cycloratio, designed in France as the Ravat Velo Horizontal and marketed (or possibly manufactured under licence) by the Cyclo company in Britain.
The machine in the second (1934) newsreel is the better known Mochet
Velocar, as shown on a card in the 1939 Player's cigarette card series on bicycle types (and featured in issue 33 of
Velovision).
There was a brief flurry of interest in recumbents in Britain in 1934. It died away quickly, though - partly because of the UCI and RTTC bans on recumbents in competition, but also because these early machines were heavy beasts. The touring Velocar shown weighed (IIRC) 45lbs according to the review in Cycling, with its steel rims and mudguards, hub brakes and tailbox.
For touring in anything but flat terrain they needed wide range gearing which was yet to be developed when they appeared. Surely it is no coincidence that recumbents made a comeback in the 1980s, just as mountain bike componentry became widely available.
