by Hecce 8 Replies latest social entertainment
Rare film footage of people and life in Folkestone UK from 1904. Some of the scenes are too brief but there is some excellent footage of people leaving church and later people promenading on the boardwalk by the sea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_FW7A6jLBE&feature=youtu.be
Awesome! I do question the date. Was 1904 movie technology capable of doing that?
1904. My mum & dad hadn't been born. Both had older siblings. Bread was apx 1d (1 penny) a loaf. Petrol hardly existed. Cars were utterly quaint and much was still horse-power. No anti-biotics, chlorophorm used in child birth.
airplanes were open cockpits and made of wood and canvas linen. It was 5 years away for the keel to be laid for a massive cruise liner.. RMS Titanic.
Thanks for putting this up.
Wow, this is fascinating! I can imagine my grandmother ( just 4 years old at the time), as one of those tiny children appearing in the film, maybe on a family holiday. It is a wonderful and rare glimpse into the past. Thank you so much for this Hecce
Yes, to me this was really impressive. As to the date I am just going by what is listed by Youtube; if not 1904 should be pretty close.
It seems 1904 is pretty close. At about 0:35 there is a poster outside the Police Station with the headlines JAPAN and RUSSIA in bold underneath.
There was a major war between Japan and Russia in 1904 and 1905 when the Japanese blockaded and defeated the Russian Navy at Port Arthur Manchuria.
Also the switchback/roller coaster shown at the end was designed by an American called Thompson who patented gravity switchback rides (early roller coaster) famously at Coney Island, New York and throughout Europe.
The one at Folkestone was built/opened in about 1888 - 1891 and closed in 1919/20.
The open topped car/bus/coach (shown with its very early number plate D285 ) - an early form of charabanc - also fits the Edwardian timescale.
The swimwear seems a little less cumbersome than the Victorian era too and fits in with the Edwardian (1901 - 1910) period.
Looks as though 1904 is spot on to me.
freddo: from your comments it seems that you might be local or very familiar with the area, the clues that you noticed are quite revealing.
Thanks
I have to question whether the sound is original to the film footage.
On Youtube the description is as follows ....
Very old film of Folkestone in Kent, South East England. Set to a natural rate and added in sound for ambiance. It's too bad so many of the shots in this film are so brief but it's an amazing document nonetheless
Hecce:
I'm not too familiar with Folkestone except the docks when using it to take a car across to France before the Channel Tunnel was built in the 1990's.
However - all popular seaside towns in England had/have a similar feel to them - piers, attractions, bathing costumes etc. Edwardian England up to WW1 was the heyday.
The poster for Japan/Russia caught my eye and I did a bit of googling on the rest.
Finkelstein:
As you state - on the Youtube version it notes somewhere that the background noise has been added and that the speed made more realistic (otherwise I guess everyone would be walking at 5 mph!)
So the original - as all films back then were - was silent.
