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Author Topic: "California Highways": 1936 color film?! (FOUND!)  (Read 6317 times)

Kniwt

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"California Highways": 1936 color film?! (FOUND!)
« on: February 28, 2012, 11:17:27 AM »

I'm slowly making my way through the archives of CH&PW, and I came across this intriguing item from the October 1936 issue:

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ACCLAIMED by movie critics as one of the most beautiful all-color motion picture travelogues ever produced, "California Highways," depicting the progress of road building in this State from the days of the Franciscan mission padres to the present time, had its premiere showing at the Alhambra Theater in Sacramento on the night of October 6 before two capacity audiences.

Conceived as a means of informing the people of California of the splendid system of State highways that has been made possible by the bond issues they have voted and the gas tax which they willingly pay, the picture was made by the Division of Highways with the approval and co-operation of Governor Frank F. Merriam and Earl Lee Kelly, Director of the Department of Public Works.

... Photographed in colors, the beauty spots of the Golden State which may be seen from State highways make a film of unrivaled charm. The scenes pictured range from rugged mountain regions to the desert country of southeastern California and present a variety of topography unequaled in this country.

... Modem sections of highways with the various road signs for the protection of motor and pedestrian traffic are shown in scenes taken at Santa Ana, Santa Monica, Los Angeles and other southern California points, where automobile traffic is exceedingly heavy. There are shots of Hollywood Boulevard, the beaches and beach highways of Los Angeles, San Diego Bay, across which lies Coronado, famous playground, all of which reveal how the modem highways of the State handle the congested traffic that uses them.

So, that got me to thinking ... does this film still exist anywhere? I've never seen it discussed, and the youtubes don't yield anything. I suppose it's likely that the film stock rotted away to nothingness, but is it too much to hope that there's a preserved copy sitting somewhere in the archives in Sacramento?
« Last Edit: February 29, 2012, 03:30:57 PM by Kniwt »
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flowmotion

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Re: "California Highways": 1936 color film?!
« Reply #1 on: February 29, 2012, 01:23:28 AM »

You might want to check here:
http://www.archive.org/details/prelinger

There's also several other libraries and archives which collect old 'informational' films.
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Kniwt

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Re: "California Highways": 1936 color film?!
« Reply #2 on: February 29, 2012, 09:24:46 AM »

Continuing into the February 1937 issue of CH&PW, I found a little more information about the number and distribution of prints:

Quote
SINCE its premiere showing in Sacramento on October 6, four months ago, the all-color film, "California Highways," portraying pictorially the history of road building in this State from the days of the Franciscan friars to the present, has fully justified the time and money expended in its production by the Division of Highways.

... In order that as many Californians as possible may be afforded an opportunity to view the film, the Department of Public Works has obtained four 35-millimeter copies of the film suitable for exhibition in theaters and several sets of 16-millimeter films which may be used by civic clubs, fraternal orders and similar organizations.

This makes me somewhat more hopeful that a copy might survive somewhere, perhaps not within Caltrans. The usual online library searches don't appear to produce anything.
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J N Winkler

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Re: "California Highways": 1936 color film?!
« Reply #3 on: February 29, 2012, 09:49:07 AM »

I'd suggest saving that particular page of CHPW as a JPEG and attaching it to an email to the Caltrans Library (which is based at Caltrans HQ in Sacramento) to ask if a print of the film is still in storage and also whether a transfer to video or digital format has ever been made.  Caltrans has long had a History Librarian whose responsibility it is to curate historical materials like the construction photo archive, though I don't know whether this position has survived recent staffing cutbacks.
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"It is necessary to spend a hundred lire now to save a thousand lire later."--Piero Puricelli, explaining the need for a first-class road system to Benito Mussolini

Kniwt

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Re: "California Highways": 1936 color film?! (FOUND!)
« Reply #4 on: February 29, 2012, 03:14:03 PM »

Thanks to an extraordinarily prompt reply from Caltrans, I can happily report that the entire film has just been posted online! About to watch it now.

Not a valid vimeo URL
« Last Edit: February 29, 2012, 03:31:18 PM by Kniwt »
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NE2

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Re: "California Highways": 1936 color film?! (FOUND!)
« Reply #5 on: February 29, 2012, 04:28:26 PM »

No wonder the state is going broke if they actually help people :)

7:10 suicide lane pass
« Last Edit: February 29, 2012, 04:36:56 PM by NE2 »
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pre-1945 Florida route log

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empirestate

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Re: "California Highways": 1936 color film?! (FOUND!)
« Reply #6 on: February 29, 2012, 05:50:44 PM »

Heh..."the highest altitudes on the continent"...I'm pretty sure Alaska has been discovered by 1936! And poor Oregon and Washington, whose Pacific coastlines constitute nothing more than "almost to Canada".

Looks like the back side of a US highway shield at 13:00.
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J N Winkler

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Re: "California Highways": 1936 color film?! (FOUND!)
« Reply #7 on: February 29, 2012, 06:16:28 PM »

This is indeed impressive turnaround on the part of the Caltrans Library.

At 25:43 I spot a group of senior officials which I think includes C.H. Purcell (center, in dove-gray three-piece suit) and G.T. McCoy (right, smoking a pipe).
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"It is necessary to spend a hundred lire now to save a thousand lire later."--Piero Puricelli, explaining the need for a first-class road system to Benito Mussolini

Kniwt

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Re: "California Highways": 1936 color film?! (FOUND!)
« Reply #8 on: February 29, 2012, 06:21:41 PM »

Looks like the back side of a US highway shield at 13:00.

Definitely. The only shield that I spotted completely in the clear was a bear-49 at 17:50. There might be another one in the background at 18:00, but it's tough to tell for sure.
« Last Edit: February 29, 2012, 06:23:38 PM by Kniwt »
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kkt

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Re: "California Highways": 1936 color film?! (FOUND!)
« Reply #9 on: March 01, 2012, 01:05:22 AM »

That's awesome!  Thanks to the Caltrans Library for posting it, and to Kniwt for requesting it.  I see the railroad bridge over El Camino on the S.F. Peninsula, though it was not identified in the film.
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