Edinburgh Zoo (1926)

Claude Friese-Greene's 'The Open Road' is available to buy on DVD at http://filmstore.bfi.org.uk/acatalog/info_6406.html

Featured animals include Simba the lion, George the blue-faced mandrill, Sandra the Elephant, Derby the leopard and Bob the Chimp - seated on a chair. Starboard the polar bear (so-called because he was captured on the starboard side of a ship) once escaped from his enclosure to explore the zoo's rose garden before being frightened by the other animals into returning to his enclosure . The seals were rather more courageous and in one escape attempt were only apprehended when they had reached the nearby train station.

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/

You can watch the whole of 'The Open Road' and over 1200 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
• Open
• Road
• travelogue
• Scotland
• zoo
• Edinburgh
• penguins
• elephants
• chimpanzees
• polar
• bears
• toucans
• baboons

[flaudsy]

The man feeding the monkeys is my Great Grandad! How cool is that!

Elaine Faulds

[rosieh101]

Yes it was! It opened in July 1913.

[bawbags1000]

This short clip was more entertaining than a whole day at the Zoo these days......would have loved to have seen it in it's full glory i.e. before health and safety went mad.

[joanne2483]

Eh - It is brillian robblac! dont diss!

[robblac]

awsome..wish it was as good now..sadly it is not :>(

[feckingbillgates]

The red/cyan is just from the limitations of the colour printing; you can tell by the fact it only happens where there is rapid motion. It wasn't filmed with a 3D camera or you'd have red/cyan "ghosting" throughout the film.

[dizz2456]

jnbnghty6

[123greengiant]

Actually i was at the zoo today it opened in 1909:)

[reddya45]

WTH?The zoo wasnt even open in 1926!

[yeoldddrpro]

amazing film amazing that color film technology came out so early

[sendtothefunnyfarm]

Ha ha seals made it to the train station. That must have been an odd sight.