Edison (Thomas A.)[Edison Newsreels: San Francisco Earthquake aftermath] (1906)

Cleaning up downtown San Francisco after the conflagration.

This item is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Edison (Thomas A.)
Audio/Visual: Si, B&W
Keywords: Earthquakes: San Francisco, 1906; San Francisco: Disasters

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: Ceecat - - March 1, 2007
Subject: San Francisco Earthquake

Amazing on several levels. The destruction was so complete. I wonder what that earthquake would have measured on the Richter scale. Of course, most of the buildings then were bricks and mortar, hence all the rubble.

What a privilege to see this footage. Filmed by Edison himself? The quality is excellent for its time and still stands up.

Reviewer: wizard100 - - January 24, 2007
Subject: SanFranEarthquake

Just a note on a film relating to this. The 1936 b/w film "San Francisco" with Clark Gable had a one channel optical soundtrack that incorporated into it the actual seismograph of the 1906 earthquake so the rumbling that shook the theatre was the same rumbling that shook SanFran. This in contrast to the 1974 film "Earthquake" that merely had the soundtrack 'trigger' a device that produced pseudo-quake rumbling. regarding the 1936 film, aside from one theatre showing it in the mid 1970s which i was involved with, it was only shown at it's premiere in 1936 with a sound system that would reproduce the low frequency 'quake'. hope this is appropriate addition here.

Reviewer: apenny13 - - December 29, 2006
Subject: San Francisco Earthquake aftermath - fascinating fact film

Very interesting older documentary of cleanup and post-earthquake 1906 San Francisco. It's impressive how bad the city looks, and the video also gives you a bit of a window into life at the time. There is no sound, and the quality was not great, but it is better than I would have expected. Very interesting from a historical perspective.

Reviewer: rrrrob - - November 16, 2006
Subject: fascinating

i found the quality of the print to be much better than I expected. I was impressed by the decent cinematography (the simple panning seemed appropriate), and you defitinely get a sense of the unbelievable destruction you'd never get from still pictures. This is a historical keeper, not least of all to the rather skilled director...

Reviewer: eliannaj - - September 15, 2006
Subject: Fuzzy, but historically worth it

Fascinating. How often do you get fuzzy, no sound included footage that is of such historical import.

Of interest: the horses who do not appear the least bit stressed out; just standing there doing their job, waiting for their carts to be loaded.

It only loses points for how poor the quality is, but maybe that's not fair.

Reviewer: nolight - - August 21, 2006
Subject: impressive

It is somehow impressive to be able to watch moving pictures from 1906. Nothing but impressive.

Reviewer: cyberhacker665 - - August 9, 2006
Subject: Super

Although black and white its good

Reviewer: david gunnells - - December 29, 2005
Subject: historical footage...

Despite the faint, black and white, silent footage, this tiny piece of history is one of the earliest motion captures of the aftermath of a natural disaster.

The Library of Congress has seen fit to add the "San Francisco Earthquake and Fire April 18, 1906" to the National Film Registry (http://www.loc.gov/film/nfr2005.html), though I'm not sure if the footage here is the same as that included in the Registry.

Reviewer: Spuzz - - December 17, 2005
Subject: Only a fire.. keep moving.

Fairly faint footage that features the aftermath of the quake and fire in San Fransisco in 1906. Fairly surreal of course is that this film is almost exactly 100 years old, and here I am, watching it now! Anyways, a heck of a lot doesnÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂt really happen in this, just a lot of people wandering around. WhatÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs left of the buildings looks eerily like Ground Zero in 2001.

Shotlist

Edison newsreels of San Francisco earthquake / falling buildings / taking away the hurt / troops marching along Van Ness Avenue with relief supplies / pan views of the destruction 1906 Earthquake



Disasters Fires Destruction San Francisco, California safety