Eternal Prague (1940-1949)

Music: Antonin Dvorak and Bedrich Smetana. Commentary: Laurie Lee. Speakers: Beatrix Lehmann, Walter Hudd. Produced by Jiri Weiss.
River flowing through Prague, Czechoslovakia. Shots of the city. Bridges, buildings, street scenes, religious buildings, cars driving the streets. Cathedral. Top shot of details of towers and turrets. Stone devils, cockerels and gargoyles. Views of the city from the cathedral. Courtyards, gardens, statues, archways, stone staircases, colonnades. Holy man walks through a courtyard. View of the river and its bridges. Steep steps into the old town. Elderly woman walks through a narrow street. Children run along in a back street. Children play a board game outside. A woman with a washing basket walks down to the river. Men fish from a bridge. Shops in the old town. Market. Moving shot of the stalls, women and men buy things. Balloon seller. Young boys play instruments in the street. C/U of fruit and meat in a butcher's shop window. Stalls selling shoes and statues. Women in traditional dress. Man carries a tray with many pints of beer Shots of buildings near the cathedral. Clock face with moving figures on the hour. One of the statues is a skeleton. New building under construction. Other modern buildings shown. Tram moves through the street. Lido by a rock face - man dives from a high board. Statue of St Wenceslas. Shots of busy streets, trams, shoppers, cars, various shop fronts, cafes etc. Two men sit on a high roof. Shot from their point of view. Sculptures of "Day" and "Night". Man lights streetlights with a long pole. Voiceover speaks of the Nazis and of how the Czechoslovakian people's vengeance has "smashed without pity" previous aggressors. "Her rivers swept their corpses to the sea."
Note: poetic voiceover placing the Nazi threat to Prague in context of the city's long history.
FILM ID:1835.06
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British Pathé also represents the Reuters historical collection, which includes more than 136,000 items from the news agencies Gaumont Graphic (1910-1932), Empire News Bulletin (1926-1930), British Paramount (1931-1957), and Gaumont British (1934-1959), as well as Visnews content from 1957 to the end of 1984. All footage can be viewed on the British Pathé website. www.britishpathe.com/

[@zdenekhodousek5048]

Awesome, like a story.... almost unreal.

[@DopravniPoradce]

I doubt the years. Seem more like the pre-1939 footage. Amongst all, the cars drive on the left side, which was true only before 1939. And the footage shows no swastikas and german troops, which would be present after 1940.
I guess that the 1930-1939 would be closer to reality. For example the St. Wenceslas Church (at 6:16) was completed at 1930.

[@laussrensen4541]

I believe you're right. It was probably used as anti Nazi propaganda after the invasion - but also the astronomical clock is definitely pre-war, as it was damaged in May 1945

[@samuelfleischmann5710]

There is a very False claim in the opening. Czechs did not plan nor build Prague. Others did.