Vintage film, TV, documents, and photographic footage from down the years

[Tintin]

Some more delights including two remarkable pieces of film showing Moscow, the first from 1896, and the second from 1908.

Moscow, Tverskaya Street filmed by Charles Moisson of the Lumière company - it's very short at less than a minute in duration but still fascinating:



And this film called Moscow Clad in Snow from 1908:



Description:

"Moscow Clad in Snow" (1908) - silent documentary short film George Meyer in 1908, showing the Moscow winter 1907/08 year. Also known as "Moscow under the snow" and "Moscow in the snow". The first film shot in Russia at the Moscow branch of the Studio "Brothers Pathe". The first screening of the film took place on 9 April 1909 in the United States.

The film is in four parts. First, the camera pans the Kremlin and Marshal's Bridge. Sleds are parked in rows. Horse-drawn sleighs run up and down a busy street. Next, we visit the mushroom and fish market where common people work and shop. In Petrovsky Park are the well-to-do. Men are in great coats. A file of six or seven women ski past on a narrow lane. Last, there's a general view of Moscow. A slow pan takes us to a view above the river front where the film began.

Moscow Clad in Snow (1908) documentary

Genre; Documentary
Production Co: Pathé Frères, Moscow branch

Directed by Joseph-Louis Mundwiller

[Tintin]

Fascinating early colour footage here from Japan in the 1930s before World War 2:



This is colourised footage from rural Osaka prefecture again from the 1930s:



And this from Tokyo 1935, with the following description from the source:

"The earliest color footage of Tokyo from James A. FitzPatrick's traveling Traveltalk series. Technicolor was brand new at this point in time. The original reel has dated commentary so I decided to add an ambient soundtrack instead for immersion. The reel is very faded with overwhelming red hue so I've heavily boosted the brightness and re-balanced the colors for every shot. This was shot in early three-strip technicolor so the system isn't perfected yet but it's so beautiful. Music for the interior section is 1933 Japanese records, "Yume wa Mijikashi" and "Kamome Kanashiya""

[Tintin]

July 30, 1914 (on/or around) and the Russian government have just told the population to mobilise for war....St. Petersburg. Little did anyone know that it'd last 4 years; had they known that, they may not appear so almost, excited

[Paul D.]

Here's are a few from my Album #5 I don't know much about them as I collect them as photos firstly , so I don't record or know any details usually .
But I'm thinking ..
.#1 Piccadilly Circus -1949
#2 Paris - mid. 50's
#3 Paris - early 60's
#4 West Coast America? ( apologies ) - early ' 60's
#5 Paris - late '40's

[Tintin]

Posted by Seeclearly (here)
Here's are a few from my Album #5 I don't know much about them as I collect them as photos firstly , so I don't record or know any details usually .
But I'm thinking ..
.#1 Piccadilly Circus -1949
#2 Paris - mid. 50's
#3 Paris - early 60's
#4 West Coast America? ( apologies ) - early ' 60's
#5 Paris - late '40's

Aren't these wonderful! Thankyou

You've got me really thinking here now about whether I could ask my mum when I see her over Christmas to scan some shots from Hong Kong when we lived there in the 1970s. That's changed beyond any recognition now...

[Tintin]

Generally speaking I'm trying not to focus too much on famous peoples here, really more on trying to capture scenes from regular folks, but, that's not to say that the occasional ones aren't worth sharing, as has been done already. Really, the rarer the better in these instances

This is a rather thoughtful looking Andrei Tarkovsky, famous Russian film director, photographed on the steps of the Moscow Institute of Oriental studies, where he studied Arabic, at 19 years of age. I wonder what he was thinking or perhaps creating there, in his thoughts that day....

[Tintin]

Dam Square, Amsterdam from 1900 with a lovely comparison shot from 2017 towards the end:

[Tintin]

I just forever ask myself why on Earth don't they roll-out a new modern tram network right throughout London? Surely that could work?

In the meantime, while I seem to be on a tram theme, some glorious film from Vienna in 1906:

[Brigantia]

Those are amazing posts Tintin and lovely photos Seeclearly, just what I need to wind down after a busy day. Here's KLM's customer service in the 1930s, just a few seconds long - they would be sued for that now!

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=OopGGsfSgRM

[Tintin]

A quite extraordinary very high quality piece of footage from 1897 showing the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem. Taken by Alexandre Promio of the Lumière company, which may account for its amazing clarity given the company provenance.

[Tintin]

Here, a video slideshow of photographs of Palestine before 1948 and photos collected from various cities during the 1920s and 1930s



..and some rare colour film of Jerusalem in 1928. Very evocative too:

[Tintin]

Oh for the original photos shown here

Another slideshow showing photographs of Palestine between 1900 and 1918 and it seems timely as we approach Christmas as many of these remarkable pictures show the famous holy sites in Bethlehem and Jerusalem - one can pause each frame to appreciate what has been captured of course:

[grapevine]

Our Gang | "Goodbye, Alfie" Clip | Warner Bros. Entertainment

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=dh_g8J37dTo

(1.56)

I'm posting this very short clip as Our Gang - or The Little Rascals, as I knew them - featured so much in my childhood, and my mother's before me. Fortunately there are many clips on YT still.

Created by film producer Hal Roach, also the producer of the Laurel and Hardy films, Our Gang shorts were produced from 1922 to 1944, spanning the silent film and early sound film periods of American cinema.

For those who are interested, here is a link to the biographies of the cast, all of whom are gone now . . .
http://www.picking.com/og-bios.html

[Tintin]

From 1920 here we see lift attendants at London's famous department store Selfridges:



1950 here and a frozen Wimbledon Common pond which is reminiscent in many ways of a Lowry painting



...and something that hasn't been seen for many a decade now, a frozen River Thames in London with Tower Bridge clearly seen in the backdrop. This photo from 1895

[Tintin]

Boxing Day tsunami 2004

This kind of breaches my own "rule" regarding a definition of vintage but it's a sobering piece of film of historical interest nonetheless. This from 2004 as a German tourist films from Khao Lak in Thailand which took the brunt of that Boxing Day tsunami. You get a real sense of just how menacing those waves are, and those dear souls on the beach some of whom may never have made it appearing at once both awestruck, almost in a state of paralysis and uncertainty, and subsequently becoming aware of what was a rapidly looming horror.

History channel provide a write up on the events of that day. I do not know if the tourist who filmed this remains alive. Given that the footage is in fairly good order one would have to assume that maybe they got to safety, somehow

It was 2004, the day after Christmas, and thousands of European and American tourists had flocked to the beaches of Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia to escape the winter chill in a tropical paradise.

At 7:59 AM, a 9.1-magnitude earthquake—one of the largest ever recorded—ripped through an undersea fault in the Indian Ocean, propelling a massive column of water toward unsuspecting shores. The Boxing Day tsunami would be the deadliest in recorded history, taking a staggering 230,000 lives in a matter of hours.

The city of Banda Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra was closest to the powerful earthquake’s epicenter and the first waves arrived in just 20 minutes. It’s nearly impossible to imagine the 100-foot roiling mountain of water that engulfed the coastal city of 320,000, instantly killing more than 100,000 men, women and children. Buildings folded like houses of cards, trees and cars were swept up in the oil-black rapids and virtually no one caught in the deluge survived. -

....continues here

[Tintin]

D.B Cooper airline ticket from 1971

Here's another historical piece, and it's an evergreen story and one which fascinated me as a youngster: whither Cooper? Did he survive and get away with the heist? I have to admit that a part of me has always hoped he did

A brief recap, here:

This is the airline ticket purchased by the mysterious hijacker known as D.B. Cooper, who used the alias Dan Cooper for a flight bound for Seattle.

The hijacker informed a flight attendant of being armed with a bomb, demanded $200,000 in ransom, and requested four parachutes upon landing in Seattle.

After releasing the passengers, the hijacker directed the flight crew to refuel the aircraft for a second flight to Mexico City, with a stop in Reno, Nevada.

Approximately 30 minutes after departing Seattle, the hijacker opened the aircraft's aft door, deployed the staircase, and parachuted into the night over southwestern Washington.

The hijacker has never been located or definitively identified.

[Ewan]

A view of Moscow, 1910.



found here amongst many early 1900's images of life in Russia

Higher site with many other vintage offerings.



Mugshots of the Original Peaky Blinders.

[Tintin]

July 1939 letter to Adolf Hitler from Mahatma Gandhi

I'll try not to overdo the curios here for fear of stepping off-reservation as it were, but, this is fascinating to see and share:

[Tintin]

Posted by Ewan (here)
A view of Moscow, 1910.



found here amongst many early 1900's images of life in Russia

Higher site with many other vintage offerings.

Wow, that's a truly stunning photograph. And many thanks for the link as well, which I'll most certainly peruse as time permits

[Ewan]

Sir Ugyen Wangchuk with his bodyguards, Bhutan 1905

(For those wondering who Ugyen Wangchuk was, he was the first King of Bhutan. More info at link.)




Possibly France? 1914-18 war?






Check out this thread on 4archive.org.

and

Chinatown, San Francisco early 1900's at the link.