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Rare color film shows what London looked like in 1927

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Re: Rare color film shows what London looked like in 1927

#21

Post by chr15p »

parksy wrote: post #10

So... England won a test match? Jokes aside, it's a fascinating study into a world riding the wave of the industrial revolution; a strong sense of pride and optimism seemed to exist. It's saddening to think that basically all of the people filmed were affected in some way by the Second World War. It also brings mortality into focus to also think that the children pictured so carefree here are now either very old or d…

It struck me that the two women and a child at the Cenotaph at about 2'20" were quite possibly remembering husbands and fathers killed in the First World War (9 years earlier).

Yes a wonderful piece of film.

Re: Rare color film shows what London looked like in 1927

#22

Post by csomar »

I find this interesting. Even though we think our lives did change a lot with Technology; in appearance the change is minimal.

This is almost 100 years old. 100 years ago, there were cars, roads and buildings. After 100 years, there is cars, roads, and also buildings. There are certainly changes: The cars are more comfortable, there is traffic lights, the buildings are higher... But they didn't change the way our lives look completely.

I suspect the next 100 years will be quite similar. We'll have better cars (and maybe automated ones), faster trains, more glass buildings, but essentially, the landscape is staying the same.

Re: Rare color film shows what London looked like in 1927

#24

Post by thisiswrong »

parksy wrote: post #10

So... England won a test match? Jokes aside, it's a fascinating study into a world riding the wave of the industrial revolution; a strong sense of pride and optimism seemed to exist. It's saddening to think that basically all of the people filmed were affected in some way by the Second World War. It also brings mortality into focus to also think that the children pictured so carefree here are now either very old or d…

> a world riding the wave of the industrial revolution

> all of the people filmed were affected in some way by the Second World War

I can't agree with you more. But what makes me more sad is that it all seems to be slowly repeating itself right now. I mean we're currently riding the first ripple of the digital revolution... and war, fascism, and social unrest is back once again in the west - just under a less recognizable form.

The words from this song might be familiar to you. What's scary is that the speech makes so much sense in a present day context:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzxT7DNabB4

Re: Rare color film shows what London looked like in 1927

#25

Post by [deleted] »

ris wrote: post #20
Alexx wrote: post #9

That's fantastic, the very first shot is of my street, filmed next to the building I live in. I can't quite make out the sign on the building corner - but I'm pretty sure it's the exact same pub that's there now. It's also odd seeing trams in London.

What is your rent like?

[deleted]

Re: Rare color film shows what London looked like in 1927

#26

Post by tostitos1979 »

csomar wrote: post #22

I find this interesting. Even though we think our lives did change a lot with Technology; in appearance the change is minimal. This is almost 100 years old. 100 years ago, there were cars, roads and buildings. After 100 years, there is cars, roads, and also buildings. There are certainly changes: The cars are more comfortable, there is traffic lights, the buildings are higher... But they didn't change the way our liv…

I think the cars moved A LOT slower.

Re: Rare color film shows what London looked like in 1927

#27

Post by rfnslyr »

ris wrote: post #20
Alexx wrote: post #9

That's fantastic, the very first shot is of my street, filmed next to the building I live in. I can't quite make out the sign on the building corner - but I'm pretty sure it's the exact same pub that's there now. It's also odd seeing trams in London.

What is your rent like?

It's HN, I just assume everyone pays like 5k~ in rent.

Re: Rare color film shows what London looked like in 1927

#28

Post by csomar »

tostitos1979 wrote: post #26
csomar wrote: post #22

I find this interesting. Even though we think our lives did change a lot with Technology; in appearance the change is minimal. This is almost 100 years old. 100 years ago, there were cars, roads and buildings. After 100 years, there is cars, roads, and also buildings. There are certainly changes: The cars are more comfortable, there is traffic lights, the buildings are higher... But they didn't change the way our liv…

I think the cars moved A LOT slower.

That doesn't matter when you are inside the city. Also I already mentioned in my comment that things are getting indeed fast (I mean trains, planes, cars, the Internet...)

Re: Rare color film shows what London looked like in 1927

#29

Post by eddieroger »

I think the most interesting thing I took away from this video was the look of surprise and curiosity on the faces of people looking directly at the camera, specifically during the bit on Petticoat Lane. It may just have been the (for the time) large vehicle coming at them in the middle of the street, but I prefer to think that they'd yet to have seen a camera like this one, and didn't know what to make of it. I can't imagine seeing anything that would take me so by surprise these days - maybe one of the downsides to how small the world has become.

Re: Rare color film shows what London looked like in 1927

#30

Post by lmm »

japhyr wrote: post #14

I think the lack of lines in the road stood out to me the most. It seems this was a time of trying to figure out how to share the road with pedestrians, bicycles, vehicles, and other modes of transportation. We are still working on this, but seeing all those people in the streets with nothing but a traffic cop there to direct things made me very happy to have the rules of the road we have now. They aren't perfect, bu…

I've seen it argued that a road without those markings is much safer - it makes explicit that people are sharing the road and need to watch out for each other, rather than assuming that as long as they're in "their" part of the road they don't need to check.
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