Great old San Fran film

[paulw]

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=NINOxRxze9k

This is a great historical film! It takes 7 minutes but is well worth watching.

A 1906 San Francisco film shot from a Street Car - It was the first 35mm film ever and was "lost" for many years. It was taken by camera mounted on the front of a cable car and you've just got to see the suicidal pedestrians, maniacal motorists, blind horse and cart drivers, and overall the almost unbelievably anarchical traffic chaos.

The number of cars is staggering for 1906. Absolutely amazing! The clock tower at the end of Market Street at the Embarcadero wharf is still there. (I'm also wondering ... how many "street cleaning" people were employed to pick up after the horses? Talk about going green!)

This film was originally thought to be from 1905 until David Kiehn (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. He checked when the cars were registered and even knows who owned them and when the plates were issued!. It was filmed only four days before the quake.

Bring back memories to all you oldies in this group??

[VJ]

Great film!

It was taken by camera mounted on the front of a cable car and you've just got to see the suicidal pedestrians, maniacal motorists, blind horse and cart drivers, and overall the almost unbelievably anarchical traffic chaos.

I suspect the lens to be longer than the normal length (i.e. 50mm lens for 35mm film). The reason for this is that some object pop up so close that I suspect it to be an optical effect (like when using a zoomlens), thus giving the impression that people and cars appear just in front.
I also wonder about the playback speed: it feels too slow... but then again it is going up very steep.

[Jammrock]

That is pretty cool. Four days before the quake, crazy.

[Elie]

WOW thats incredible, thanks for that!

Things observed...

1-The film felt a bit slow, I believe it was either slowed down from the typical speeds they used to run film at the time, or something else. It could be a few frames faster.

2-Everyone in that video wore a hat and it seems that the preferred fashion was dark clothing full three piece suits and stuff, very interesting especially during the summer.

3-Only saw maybe three women in the whole video, perhaps because men worked while women stayed home or shopped at that time.

4-No traffic lights, I guess it wasn't invented yet

5-Loved the cars at that time, I thought I saw a few Ford model T's and some other convertibles. Can anyone tell what they were?