Edinburgh Zoo (1926)
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Description
Claude Friese-Greene's 'The Open Road' is available to buy on DVD at http://filmstore.bfi.org.uk/acatalog/info_6406.html Featured animals include Simba the lion, George the blue-faced mandrill, Sandra the Elephant, Derby the leopard and Bob the Chimp - seated on a chair. Starboard the polar bear (so-called because he was captured on the starboard side of a ship) once escaped from his enclosure to explore the zoo's rose garden before being frightened by the other animals into returning to his enclosure . The seals were rather more courageous and in one escape attempt were only apprehended when they had reached the nearby train station. This extract comes from Claude Friese-Greene's 'The Open Road' - originally filmed in 1925/6 and now re-edited and digitally restored by the BFI National Archive. Britain seen in colour for the first time was heralded as a great technical advance for the cinema audience - now we can view a much improved image, but one which still stays true to the principles of the colour process. The rather haphazard journey from Land's End to John O'Groats creates a series of moving picture postcards. Look out for shots containing the component colours - red and blue-green - such as when a little girl in a red coat and hat walks among peacocks in the grounds of a castle, and three girls with red curly hair pose by the sea at Torquay. The car is a Vauxhall D-type - considered a sporty model at the time. A long-distance journey by car was a relatively new concept, with none of the amenities en route now taken for granted. The visit to a petrol station shows smoking on the forecourt: no health and safety issues back then! The travelogue ends with a series of recognisable London landmarks. Much remains the same - one major exception being the volume of traffic on the roads. (Jan Faull) All titles on the BFI Films channel are preserved in the vast collections of the BFI National Archive. To find out more about the Archive visit http://www.bfi.org.uk/archive-collections -
Owner
BFI -
Source
BFI (Youtube) -
License
What does this mean? Standard Youtube License
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Further information
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TflDlUrjUDU
Resource type: Video
Last modified: 9 years, 11 months ago
Viewed: 415 times
Picture Taken: Unknown -
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