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San Francisco Scenes

Silent black and white footage of San Francisco, presumably from the late 1920's or early 1930's.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Audio/Visual: silent, B&W
Keywords: San Francisco: Scenics: Historical; Transportation: Cable cars; Landscapes: Cultural

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Reviewer: Rick Ankney - - May 30, 2010
Subject: 1920's
One of the title cards has the words "Eastman Classroom Films" at the bottom. In checking the internet, I found that Eastman (Kodak) company was "experimenting" with classroom films in the 20s, in order to determine their effectiveness. The presence of title cards tells me this was a silent film, which in turn tells me it was probably made in the 20s. Sound on film as we know it, did not come around until 1929, and it certainly wouldn't have made it into the classroom yet. This film is an excellent path to a bygone moment.

Reviewer: thebonobo - - November 2, 2009
Subject: Steam locomotives on Market Street?
The footage of roughnecks jockeying cargo on and off ships concretely reminds me that, even long ago, industry on a mass scale was what drove almost all of our activity.

I logged a few of the bits that really stood out to me:

• 3:00 - Steam locomotives navigating city intersections with cars and cruising along the Embarcardero.


• 5:00 - Cool aerial footage; Ferry Building with street cars on a circular track in front and a heavy rail locomotive waiting (loading?) on the left; Golden Gate Ferries.


• 6:50 - I believe this is a quick shot of Dolores Street.


• 7:40 - Funky, animated relief maps of the area and trade routes, points of interest.


• 8:55 - Aerial footage of downtown, City Hall and Golden Gate Park.


• 10:45 - Aerial of the western side of the city; Golden Gate Park, including the bandshell area.

Shotlist

Trolleys
Market Street
Ferry Building
Chinatown
Ferryboats
Aerials
Docks