Archive Watch

The March of Progress (1945)

1945 · Ephemeral film · 20 min

Synopsis

A locally made film on the opening of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, which has been modified with added material. Panoramic view of San Francisco / scene of old sailing vessels / bridge under construction / spinning cables / building roadway / opening day / Mayor Rossi cutting the golden link / first motorcade over the new bridge / scenes of toll plaza -- and various exits and entrances / Parade on Market Street with cut-outs of bridge towers along the way / evening parade / fireworks at Fisherman's Wharf • 50:06- 1:37:26 Nice, long semi-circle pans of sprawling San Francisco. • 3:02:96- 3:37:45 Good shaky aerial pan of the Bay Bridge (right after it was built) and Yerba Buena Island. • 4:17:95- 4:30:35 Two nice shots of the toll booth at the Bay Bridge. The second is more interesting—men stand on top of the booths while tons of cars come through. The cars (and some motorcycles) zig zag as they try to find a lane. • 4:37:47- 4:45:53 Nice reflexive moment. A camera man stands on top of a car shooting the other cars as they come across the bridge. worth noting: There are many shots of a parade going down Market Street. (7:02:30- 8:01:82) • 8:13:51- 8:26:33 Interesting images of Chinese parade floats—a dragon and Chinese women dressed in silk kimonos. "

Uploader's description on archive.org

Details

Running time
20 minutes
Collection
Prelinger Archives
Internet Archive item
0027_March_of_Progress_The_03_35_22_00

Reviews on the Internet Archive

★★★★ · Women bus drivers! · Spuzz · 2016-02-14

After a brief rundown of SF's history, we hit the main focus of the film, San Francisco's transit system. Not a bad overview here, just finishing up, timewise, when the war started.