One of two stunning 16mm home movies shot by Ward Harris in the 1930s, this color film shows scenes of the U.K. including Scotland as it appeared before WWII. Harris was an Edison Mimeograph dealer in San Francisco in the late 1920s and an avid collector of things related to Thomas Edison. His famous collection included phonographs, batteries, light bulbs and other electrical equipment including Edison toasters, etc. and was so large that at one point an inventory revealed it had 50,000 items. Unfortunately with his death in the 1950s the entire collection was dispersed. This film and its companion are the only ones of a series of films made by Harris that apparently survived. This is a silent film but we have reason to believe that Harris originally narrated the films, perhaps even using Edison mimeographs to record his narration.
The film begins with shots of the London-based ocean liner “The Duchess of Atholl” which was sunk by a U-boat in 1942. Four crew members were lost and two crew members and two passengers were injured. Harris’ trip however, made before WWII was apparently uneventful, and after a bunch of shipboard antics (2;41) including a pillow fight contest on a beam, the ship arrives in Belfast, Ireland (3:53).
At around 17:10 the film starts coverage of Scotland.
At 26:34 a traverse of Loch Lomond is made by a paddle wheel vessel.
We could use the help of some UK folk to identify other sights in this film!
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
