St Michael's Mount, Cornwall (1924)

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)

For more information about 'The Open Road' see http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/openroad/

To buy the DVD click here - http://www.bfi.org.uk/filmstore

You can watch the whole of 'The Open Road' and 1000 other complete films and TV programmes from the BFI National Archive free of charge at the new BFI Mediatheque - http://www.bfi.org.uk/mediatheque

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• BFI
• St
• Michael's
• Mount
• Cornwall
• 1920s
• travelogue
• landmark
• nature
• culture

[hAodha]

I'm sure, whilst strolling in the sand, that they exchanged witticisms about how funny the scene will look on line in 85yrs time!

[DayTripperLennon]

i love this old footage! I wonder if those people walking here ever thought that they would be viewed on the internet.

[MrThreeLions]

Beautiful part of England

[DayTripperLennon]

@paul1967uk haha, not too much, but just enough ;) haha.

[verapamil07]

I am here ONLY because of the Aphex Twin .

[paul1967uk]

@DayTripperLennon LMFBO you sure were TRIPPING when you made that comment.

[Conkern65]

@Necromanticman Yes, "Mt. Saint Michal + Saint Micheals Mount".

[Necromanticman]

Aphex Twin named a song after this place :D

[FillionDollarSmile]

@DayTripperLennon No.. Because back then... Nobody knew there was going to be the Internet :)

[MinuteMaidPremium]

theres not a single black person in marazion

[sirpieater]

was great to see this place it is were i was born a grew up the village is called marazion known to be the oldest town in england.

[hampers1988]

im a local lad lived here all my lfe, lol its not as bad as it sounds lmao...... i swear st michaels mount isnt that big anymore lol..........talk about coastal erosion this sorta footage really wakes you up!