British Pathe

Bristol

BRISTOL FASHION (reels 1 & 2)

Commentary by Sir Michael Redgrave:

Ship out at sea. Cut to assorted shots of deck scenes and workers. Small boat draws along side. The River Pilot climbs on board the ship and meets the captain. Various scenes and faces of people inside...

Bristol

BRISTOL FASHION (reels 1 & 2)

Commentary by Sir Michael Redgrave:

Ship out at sea. Cut to assorted shots of deck scenes and workers. Small boat draws along side. The River Pilot climbs on board the ship and meets the captain. Various scenes and faces of people inside inside the Bridge. On shore in the lighthouse a signal man flashes a light and records the ships arrival. The captain watches as the ship is pulled along by a power tug. The view of the Avonmouth docks from the ship and many views from the quayside as the ship moves down the Bristol Channel. Another boat draws along side and the River Helmsman climbs aboard. View of Pill, the creek village where the Bristol Pilots live. Fisherman and two boys in Pill bay. Several views and aerial shots of a large red barge being pulled by a tug. Historical photograph of ship on the Avon. Commentary talks in detail about the history of shipping in the Avon since Roman times

Historical re-creation of oarsmen in period costume rowing the tug boat.

18th century re-creation sequence (sync-sound): House exterior. Inside, a young boy and mother at the Spinet. His father and a colleague discuss digging a new channel for the Avon to avoid trading going to Liverpool. They point at a map of the proposed new channel. Commentary tells of the 18th century society of Merchant Venturers who instrumented the dock system under the scheme of William Jessop

(Present day): Views of the dock system and the harbour section known as City Docks. Scenes of ships arriving being pulled by tugs. Street sign "Welsh Back". Various close-ups of men at work on the ships. Commentary discusses the differences between City Docks, Portishead and Avonmouth which are planned and run as a whole and the only major municipally owned port in the UK. Shots of unloading cargo, painting ropes etc. Aerial view of the Bristol harbour and the floating docs. Aerial view of traffic in the city centre. Shots of Bristol's other river, the man-made Frome and an etching from the middle age. Shots of ship hulls, cranes and dockers at work. Tobacco arriving by lorry and unloaded by dockers. Ship building scenes and man welding. Aerial view of the freight train depot next to City Docks and Portishead across the river. CU a naval captain. Crane unloading refrigerated cargo into the ship hull. Cut to old paintings of sail ships in the harbour. Cut to the church of St Mary Redcliffe. Interior shots of the stained glass windows depicting saints and ships. CU the face of a priest.

Recreation footage of 1497: the sea and the sailor John Cabot (a Bristol sailor who set out to discover the mainland of America in 1947).

(Present day) Modern jets landing on an airfield. Another jet is pulled onto the runway. Various close ups. The plane takes off. CU the pilots face. Aerial views of the city and beyond: The Cabot Tower, a floating harbour, Clifton Gorge and the bridge next to it, Portishead (the third of Bristol's dock systems), Avonmouth, the Royal Edward dock, and factories in the Port trading estate. Cut to several lorries carrying timber. Mix to speeding train, mix to car trasporter on the motorway and barge on the canal. Landscape with cows. Various shots from the building of the Severn Bridge and workers. Cut to Clifton Suspension Bridge. Several beautiful shots from varying distances. Cut to bust of Samuel Plimsoll. Architecture around Bristol (several shots). Early examples of film projectors. Commentary mentions the names of various famous Bristol initiators

Historical recreation shots: man playing Isambard Kingdom Brunel, sketching in the hillside. CU sketch of the Clifton suspension bridge (designed when he was 25). Brunel on horseback and looking through architectural instrument. Cut to tunnels and bridges on the Great Western Railway (by Brunel) seen from the front of a train. Brunel surveying the land. The commentary discusses Brunel's genius and creative imagination which conquered rail, sea and road transport.

Sync-sound acting sequence: Two students decide to see the sights of Bristol: View of the Clifton Suspension bridge as they walk down the hillside, the Merchant Venturers' coat of arms. Almshouses (frequented by Edgar Allan Poe). Christ Church and its ornamental clock face. The "Nails" outside the Exchange in Corn Street (where the expression "cash on the nail" comes from). The "Llandoger Trow" Inn and a man with a handlebar moustache. The Theatre Royal (oldest theatre in the country), exterior and interior shots. A rail of costumes, sets and theatre items in close up. Cut to street lights, and the Bristol night sky (very dark).

Cataloguers Note: Beautifully shot with wonderful lighting and colours