Ferry at Ballachulish, Scotland (1926)
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- čas přidán 25. 06. 2008
- Prior to building of the bridge the ferry was the only way to cross Loch Leven. This scene shows the ferry going from North to South rather than south to north (the direction fo the journey), presumably to show a view of the hotel in the distance.
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)
To buy the DVD click here - www.bfi.org.uk/filmstore
All titles on the BFI Films channel are preserved in the vast collections of the BFI National Archive. To find out more about the Archive visit www.bfi.org.uk/archive-collect...
glad to see this,I went over it as a child ,I have photos that my dad took ,.thanks
Best clip ever and its good to see the ballachulish hotel where i am working at the moment,I do remember the ferry before the bridge was completed
As a family we went back there this year (2010), but I remember the (much newer) ferry in the mid 70s, when the bridge was being built.
This, however, is film from a couple of years before my mother was born in Ballachulish...she took the ferry, maybe this one, in the 30s and 40s to go to Fort William schools and shopping.
The drive around the loch, via Kinlochleven was beautiful but long and winding.
Many thanks to the uploader
My grandfather worked on the Ballachulish ferry up until the 1950's or 60's and must be on this film as my dad was born in 1928 when the family lived in Onich. My grandmother worked in the Ballachulish Hotel.
Wonderful! There is a bridge here now,but I miss the ferries all the way up the west coast as far as Kylesku with the single track roads.
I was at Kylesku last week and looking for the former ferry crossings and slipways; the one on the northern side is no longer accessible. When I turned off the main new road, I came to a locked gate with CCTV. Does that mean this part of the old road down to the slipway is no longer a right of way? Can such become private?
Great video. The quality is exceptional given that is was apparantly shot in 1926. Good to see the Ballachulish Hotel on the other side but the Highland cow clip looks like an addition as the building on the far side is unrecognisable to me.
Thanks to Terri for sending me this.
What an adventure! I would have died of fear!
Really cool
I live in Colombia, we still have this kind of ersats ferry. Actually, worse.
Considering the era that ferry with its pivoting bed looked pretty good to me.
I wonder how many motorists made this journey north in the twenties?
This video is a wonderful view into the past.
Very few motorists would have made this trip then. The car itself would have been worth the equivalent of maybe two detached houses, and most working-class people rarely left their home area, unless they were soldiers, or emigrating, like a lot of my family. Their holidays would be at a seaside resort fairly close to home, again like my father's family. In the summer the Highlands were mainly full of southern English rich people, sometimes very rich indeed.
Thank you for posting this ,often wondered how it looked .People older than me [No offence here ] there was a bit of A wait for this service ,or you had to drive round the lang way.
The Ballachulish Ferry was the scene of an important incident in the plot of Freeman Wills Crofts' crime mystery "The Groote Park Murder". Although fictional, Crofts' novels were always set in real places and always with plenty of real-life detail. Having just re-read the Groote Park story (set partly in South Africa and partly in Scotland) for the nth time, I'm fascinated to see the scene of this incident - at about the time it (supposedly) took place.
I've made this crossing many, many times. It's a bridge now!
@ILUV74 You had to drive all the way round by Kinlochleven.
Ferry at Ballachulish, Scotland [1926]
it is
What a better world:/ Scotland before it was
I don't think it is 1810's I think it's 1920's
Near Ballachulish is the site where James Stewart was hung after being found guilty by a Campbell jury for the murder of "The Red Fox".
now
and