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

Great film, thanks for sharing. Around the end of the 19th century there was talk of progress and maybe even a Utopia for the 20th century. Things got ugly with WWI in 1914, and it didn't get better.

I wonder how many people in this Sight Seeing Car could have imagined that 108 years later, they would be the "sight". And people from all over the world would be seeing them on electronic devices as small as your palm.



What will they think of us 100 years from now?

Here's another home video, made one year earlier in 1905.

"The young ladies from Miss Knapp's Select School have an outing at Coney Island, NY in 1905." Warning, you may see brief glimpses of uncovered ankles and feet.

The rhythm of the people is far different than it is now. Observe how the men take full strides as they walk without their knees bending so much. Everyone is on their way to do an important thing. No hustlers or anyone out to make a quick buck. Traffic is very slow and disorganized. The calm peacefulness of the city is not far removed from the cadence of the country because, well, the city is young.

originally posted by: 727Sky
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...