There's something about these videos that draws me in.

For me, they are kind of like time-window's that let me look directly into another era, and the sharpness of the video (and the addition of color and sound design) creates an immersion that draws me in to the point where I try to imagine what life was like for these strangers from another time.

Where were they going? Who are they? What where they thinking? What was important to people then?

Where they happier than people now?

Did they wonder about the future?

Did they find fulfilment before the end?

Will people from our future look back at our videos and wonder the same?

I expect maybe this kind of thing would be boring to many, but like I said, for whatever reason I find a certain fascination watching these, occasionally....

 

This is great. I love these types of videos. I literally brings you back as if you were there. 

Cheers, Pete

That was interesting, but less than 1/4th of the way "Around the World"... 

Yes they were happier than people now. Today surveys about if things are getting better usually turn out negative. Too much 'viewing with alarm' and too many people believe that some aspect of the world is going to collapse, etc. Things are going to hit the fan. Which leads to immoderate actions and reactions. Strife. Unhappiness.

People have forgotten what everyone used to know, the secret to life is don't worry, be happy. And if you see people marching in the streets and shouting, a good rule of thumb is to ignore them or do the very opposite of what they want you to do. 

Every study shows that people who aren't worrying about the issues on the news or about their life ...well they live longer, are healthier, and happier. 

41 minutes ago, Fielder said:

Yes they were happier than people now. Today surveys about if things are getting better usually turn out negative. Too much 'viewing with alarm' and too many people believe that some aspect of the world is going to collapse, etc. Things are going to hit the fan.

Those were the happy days between two "Things which hit the fan": World War 1 and the Great Depression. Perhaps they really believed WW I was "the war to end all wars".

It's amazing what can be done now with old films, the way they can tease out details.  Things like being able to clearly see reflections on shiny surfaces.

A really outstanding documentary I saw was "They Shall Not Grow Old", which shows film from WWI.  The first clip is the trailer for the documentary and the second clip shows how they went about restoring and filling in all the details to bring the soldiers and their environment to life.

 

 

 

Now that was fascinating. Thanks for sharing!

Angel Eyes from the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is up to no good in 1920 Paris (4:02)

 

I think one of the reasons I find this so interesting is that as one who grew up in New York city, there were/always hints and remnants of these times right in plain sight, if one is looking.

Many "classic" buildings and even neighborhoods remain, and as a kid I remember bare spots on the street where hints of the apparently once-common cobblestones could (and sometimes still can) be seen.

There were also places where buried, bare steel rails could still be sighted peeking through patches of worn asphalt, sparking the imagination regarding the trolleys that might once have graced the streets....

And of course pictures of relatives from the times, always seeming so dressed up and formal, as even in these movies it appears absolutely nobody appeared on the streets in anything but a suit and tie and wearing a hat....

 

 

White Star Offices

The White Star Line office after the Titanic sinking in 1912. Now a Subway restaurant (lower Manhattan).

 

230 Grand Street

Peanut seller in 1900 in Little Italy.

 

McSorley's Old Ale House

 

Elizabeth Street Tenement (were they really happier then?)

Here's a video of a trip down Market Street in San Francisco days before the earthquake.

Noel

 

 

10 hours ago, dmwalker said:

Perhaps they really believed WW I was "the war to end all wars".

I suppose they did and in a way we believed WW2 would be "the war to end all wars".  But we had a happy 5 years before the shock of Korea.  WW2 ended in May of 1945 and Korea started in June of 1950.  And it seems like it's been one war after another ever since.

Noel

I love that kind of stuff.  The before and after photos are particularly interesting.  There are some of 1930-40s Germany during the war and it's crazy to see.  A guy does them with a then and now on video.  One of them still had their eagle emblem cut out in the concrete and it made me wonder if they didn't realize it was there to remove it.

The part of old photos and videos, being a nurse, is the fact that a lot of medical problems meant a quick death for many.  An example is hypertension.  High blood pressure was not treatable with oral medication until about the early 50s.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt was given a clean bill of health with a BP of 220/110, and he suffered a number of vascular complications due to a lack of treatment.  Same for infections.  Look how many of us would be dead without certain antibiotics and other similar agents.  I don't think their time on the planet was much better at all, likely harder.

Edited January 22, 20233 yr by Orlaam

9 hours ago, Orlaam said:

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was given a clean bill of health with a BP of 220/110

Good Grief!  Mine runs almost half that.

Noel

London when the Queen was still alive!

1898 to 1902 footage, Victoria died in 1901.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlWIq2fNdAM