John Brown Shipyard on the Clyde, Glasgow, Scotland (1926)

Shipbuilding on the Clyde. There would usually be hundreds of workers on the ship, the small number of men featured here suggests this may have been filmed during a lunch break.

This extract comes from Claude Friese-Greene's 'The Open Road' - originally filmed in 1925/6 and now re-edited and digitally resto This extract comes from Claude Friese-Greene's 'The Open Road' - originally filmed in 1925/6 and now re-edited and digitally resto 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:

• Open
• Road
• travelogue
• Clyde
• Glasgow
• Shipbuilding
• John
• Brown
• Shipyard
• Steel
• Dockyard
• Docks
• Industry
• Merchant
• Navy

[scottbrown2001]

my great great great grandfather that came to america was named john brown i'm a shipbuilder thats neat'

[Landulphcounter]

@SDC05061956

Your right it was called staging in the yards. I started scaffolding in Devonport dockyard in 1975 and that is what we called it. I'd forgotten that! Back then we wern't called scaffolders, we were known as the tubular party. We only put in a single handrail, no toeboards and no ledger or sway bracing. I often wonder how it stayed up!!

[bigchappy1970]

its sad to see this industry now gone

[SDC05061956]

John Brown built a tanker called Lumen for Holt Tankers in 1925.

The work scaffolding (it was more normally called 'staging' in the yards) was very typical of the sort of work place that was tolerated well into the second half of the 20th Century - no protection rails let alone kick boards. No 'scaftags' and in winter it was icy and dark up there.

[cta1boy]

the ship onboard video should be scraped now..1924, if her registered on 1926, its mean no ship ever operated anymore from this date.

[weebarry668]

I used to labour on that yard when i was 16 on a FPSO called the Bleo Holm for a company called Bluewater.. my Da was on the project management team and i worked for an English company called Pipex...Best job i ever had, i miss it so... now its a college.... cant think of a more befitting tribute.

[SteffanLlwyd]

Brilliant!

No ear protection!!!

[DADRENO]

These films are a brilliant look into the past!

I think -

They were steel plates.

The ship would be watertight before the paint was added.

Shame there's no sound track though but.

Thanks again.