108 YEAR OLD FILM CLIP .. Perhaps the oldest "home movie" that you will ever see!

This film was "lost" for many years. It was the first 35mm film ever that has come to light. It was taken by camera mounted on the front of a cable car as it`s traveling down a a San Francisco street. Amazing piece of historic film.

The number of automobiles is surprising (to me) for 1906. The clock tower at the end of Market Street at the Embarcadero wharf is still there. ... How many "street cleaning" people were employed to pick up after the horses? Talk about going green err brown ?
Originally thought to be from 1905 until David Kiehn with the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum figured out exactly when it was shot. From New York trade papers announcing the film showing to the wet streets from recent heavy rainfall & shadows indicating time of year & actual weather and conditions on historical record, even when the cars were registered (he even knows who owned them and when the plates were issued!).. It was filmed only four days before the Great California Earthquake of April 18th 1906 and shipped by train to NY for processing. Anyway hopefully there will be a few who enjoy this bit of history...

wow no one was in a hurry back them, ill try to idle in the middle of the street next time like most folks on the video to see what happens

___

It seems waiting for the train stuff to be right there before crossing on from of it and hoping not to get crush was the fad of the moment

An amazing film. It's strange to consider that everyone in that video is dead.

I am also surprised how many horses there are. I also suspect that the film is played back a bit slower then it should be which gives the film a lovely dream like quality.

a reply to: Indigent

It would appear that way... lol.

I remember my grandma of all people showing this too me a while back. Pretty neat. I kind of wish we could go back.

Seems like every man is wearing a suit, or looking smart anyway. I love the lack of road rules although I wouldn't have liked to have been walking around on that road with all the people who nearly got run over in that clip.

a reply to: 727Sky

Cool video, I guess this is what main street USA looked like before Walmart!

These are the 'home movies' from Blackburn where i live of that period, the Hollywood of it's day, half the town was Irish at the time.










Boer war no expense spared epic filmed in the hills above Blackburn 1901....




They found 800 of these old films in a metal drum in the basement of a Blackburn shop, film of the people for the people.

a reply to: Kantzveldt

The first video looks like a modern day north Korea doing all that synchronized movements

a reply to: Indigent


Yes Calisthenics, strength and beauty, rather like the 'strength through joy' program of the third Reich or the twin pillars of Freemasonry.

The word Calisthenics comes from the ancient Greek kallos (κάλλος), which means beauty, and sthénos (σθένος) meaning strength. It is the art of using your own body weight and qualities of inertia as a means to develop your physique

That was intresting ! Looked like they had no rules for traffic back then.. quite chaotic.

a reply to: 727Sky

I can find older film than that. This is from 1877, that makes it 137 years old:-

www.telegraph.co.uk...

Why all the kamikaze people crossing right in front of the cable car? Even the horse draw carts pulling front and slowing down, people walking in the middle of the street, horses and cars going both ways on both sides of the street. I wonder how many people got run over back then?

a reply to: alldaylong

According to Guinness, this is the oldest surviving film:

en.wikipedia.org...

And here is San Fransisco not long after that home movie was shot.

www.youtube.com...

A side by side comparison.

I give up trying to post YT vids here..
youtu.be...

I love these old films they're a window to the past and with digital technology we can now see them as they were meant to be seen

Here are a couple from good old England in colour.



I think this one is incredible , Berlin around 1900

Funny no one has mentioned the serious lack of women in that film. I may have missed some in the beginning, but when I really started paying attention, I didnt see any until like 3:03, 5:20,and 6:30, give or take a couple seconds.

I do love these old films though, going to look at a few more that were posted

a reply to: 727Sky

Thanks for sharing this video! I hadn't seen it before. Even with all that "big city" activity & bustle, the journey down Market Street is somehow more peaceful-seeming than the same trip is today. What's eerie is when you realize that almost total devastation of that area was only days away.

I downloaded this one, & will keep it with another early San Francisco video I found on YT. Thomas A. Edison, Inc (maybe the old man himself?) mounted a camera on the front of a steam railroad engine that carried passengers between the Ferries at the foot of Market Street, out to the exotic far-off place that was Land's End. The movie is from 1902, & captures the scenic portion of the trip, along the track bed atop the cliffs of the Golden Gate, on SF's northwest coast. BTW, much of the track bed slid into the water, along with much of El Camino Del Mar, which roughly follows the train route today, during the 1906 earthquake.

This may be of most interest to those who are familiar with the Land's End area as it is now:

a reply to: onehuman

i think most of the women(in that time period mind you) were at home either with children,doing the house wife thing or working in factories (sewing etc) and that were seeing the men going about their business as was normal for the time perhaps they were riding on the trolley at the time behind the camera ,but that was an observation i had not noticed until you pointed it out

Any old film is cool to watch and see history first hand.

The film shows there were douche bags even back then...lol

Watch at 2:36 when the guy acts like he's going to jump in front of the car and makes them hit the brakes then steps back...

a reply to: Soloprotocol

Thanks for the heads up. That's one sobering video! I'll try a link (just use the video number after the = but don't use anything after it, ex: 6TaxcXfSwdE for this video):