RARE VINTAGE 16MM FILM - CHILDREN IN 1930s CHINA - CHINESE FAMILY LIFE
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:14665092 |
Amazing rare vintage 16mm film - CHILDREN OF CHINA 1940 - Sound family life cine
This is the holy grail educational on China. Much sought after. The silent double perf versions is much treasured, despite it's propensity for fragility. This is the even better single perf print on more robust sound stock.
Beautifully shot. They don't make informative, educational films like this any more.
Encyclopedia Britannica take a bow.
And props to L.C.Goodrich.
The life in t...he day of a rural village in western China. From domestic activities to school to recreation, it's all here. Filmed in the late 1930s, released in the West in 1940.
A fantastic film on the Children Of China.
BEGINS
Early morning.
A bustling street scene.
The wealthy are carried in sedan chairs.
But most go on foot.
Carrying incredibly large and heavy loads.
Elderly men and women.
Livestock.
Baby rams are led through the village.
People wheel goods on carts.
Off to market?
Boarded up shops are opened as the town comes to life.
Great graphics on the shop sign.
Vegetables on sale.
Into scales to be weighed.
Saws cut wood at a nearby lumberyard.
Grandfather Li is a well known farmer.
The land has been in the family for generations.
His sons now till the land.
Mai Lun, sister-in-law draws water from a well.
It will be boiled before drinking.
Inside the farmer's wife is cooking.
By charcoal fuelled fire.
Li Shu Ming brushes his teeth.
Then washes hands in enamel basin.
Filled with water from the well.
His sister and cousin are playing with a baby.
It's their duty.
Grandmother Li looks on.
She knits a jacket for her grandson.
Food is brought in.
Time for breakfast.
Everyone helps themself from the centre.
Hold rice bowls in left hand and chopsticks in the right.
They down lots of cups of tea.
After eating father leads out his lazy water buffalo to the fields.
His son and helper grab tools and follow.
They pass a holy shrine to the gods of the fields.
The children head off to school.
They call for a friend on the way.
Almost all the children at school are girl guides or boy scouts.
They wear their guide and scouts uniforms to school.
Reading is the first class of the day.
Today's topic: loyalty to parents.
A boy begins to read.
While he is in class, his father a rich silk merchant does his accounts with an abacus at work.
A girl pupil's father is busy in his mill sifting grain.
Another boy's father is an instrument maker.
He is busy carving wood for flutes, violins and lutes.
The fathers of most of the children are farmers.
More tilling of fields.
And readying land for planting by using a hoe.
A woman brings a welcome pot of tea for her husband in the field.
In the afternoon grandfather Li hires a scribe to write a letter for him.
Grandfather never learned to write.
While he does this, at school his grandson is learning to write.
Calligraphy.
He writes 'Little Kingdom'
This is what China means.
Which is odd as China is not very little.
Oustide it's time for play.
A version of hopscotch for the boys - chalk markings on tarmac.
Girls are skipping.
Then it's home-time.
Children flood through the school gates.
Two boys do not know what to do next.
One wants to swim, the other wants to play chequers.
They decide by stone, paper, scissors.
Chequers wins so they head indoors and get the board out.
Grandpa heads back home from the village scribe.
His son leads the water buffalo home.
Father does family shopping in the evening.
He buys some salt from a store on the way home.
The cashier's till is a woven basket hung from above.
Coins are just tossed into it.
Very stylish.
The baby is put to bed.
Mother is in the kitchen cooking the evening meal.
The children wait in the dark courtyard listening to a neighbour's violin.
It gets darker.
Night falls over the hills and plains of China.
ENDS
16mm. Black & white. Sound. 400ft.
A fantastic glimpse into a little recorded time. Beautifully shot, elegant pacing and insightful but non-intrusive narration throughout. Grab this gem of a film while you can. A much sought after reel. Even more so in this sound version.
NB: NB: There is an interference issue on the sound so there is background noise during the narration. Though, if you have read this far you are probably here for the incredible images, not the wooden, English narration. Also, there has been a mark created on the print that is evidence by a tiny 'flare', it's at at the very bottom of the screen for most of the reel. This is so low down in the frame it does not detract from the enjoyment of this amazingly rare China cine reel. Please see images below for print quality. Has lines and wear commensurate with age. All adds to the period charm. Some pictures may seem blurred but this is due to my camera not having a super fast shutter speed to take stills of fast moving film images. The film is not blurred when projected. The freeze frame has been used for some images but the projector lamp dims when on freeze frame so the images in the photos will appear brighter when projected by you at speed. Also, any spots in the image are on my camera lens, these will not appear when you project the film. Grab this rare as hen's teeth gem while you can. SOLD AS IS, NO RETURNS.
This is the holy grail educational on China. Much sought after. The silent double perf versions is much treasured, despite it's propensity for fragility. This is the even better single perf print on more robust sound stock.
Beautifully shot. They don't make informative, educational films like this any more.
Encyclopedia Britannica take a bow.
And props to L.C.Goodrich.
The life in t...he day of a rural village in western China. From domestic activities to school to recreation, it's all here. Filmed in the late 1930s, released in the West in 1940.
A fantastic film on the Children Of China.
BEGINS
Early morning.
A bustling street scene.
The wealthy are carried in sedan chairs.
But most go on foot.
Carrying incredibly large and heavy loads.
Elderly men and women.
Livestock.
Baby rams are led through the village.
People wheel goods on carts.
Off to market?
Boarded up shops are opened as the town comes to life.
Great graphics on the shop sign.
Vegetables on sale.
Into scales to be weighed.
Saws cut wood at a nearby lumberyard.
Grandfather Li is a well known farmer.
The land has been in the family for generations.
His sons now till the land.
Mai Lun, sister-in-law draws water from a well.
It will be boiled before drinking.
Inside the farmer's wife is cooking.
By charcoal fuelled fire.
Li Shu Ming brushes his teeth.
Then washes hands in enamel basin.
Filled with water from the well.
His sister and cousin are playing with a baby.
It's their duty.
Grandmother Li looks on.
She knits a jacket for her grandson.
Food is brought in.
Time for breakfast.
Everyone helps themself from the centre.
Hold rice bowls in left hand and chopsticks in the right.
They down lots of cups of tea.
After eating father leads out his lazy water buffalo to the fields.
His son and helper grab tools and follow.
They pass a holy shrine to the gods of the fields.
The children head off to school.
They call for a friend on the way.
Almost all the children at school are girl guides or boy scouts.
They wear their guide and scouts uniforms to school.
Reading is the first class of the day.
Today's topic: loyalty to parents.
A boy begins to read.
While he is in class, his father a rich silk merchant does his accounts with an abacus at work.
A girl pupil's father is busy in his mill sifting grain.
Another boy's father is an instrument maker.
He is busy carving wood for flutes, violins and lutes.
The fathers of most of the children are farmers.
More tilling of fields.
And readying land for planting by using a hoe.
A woman brings a welcome pot of tea for her husband in the field.
In the afternoon grandfather Li hires a scribe to write a letter for him.
Grandfather never learned to write.
While he does this, at school his grandson is learning to write.
Calligraphy.
He writes 'Little Kingdom'
This is what China means.
Which is odd as China is not very little.
Oustide it's time for play.
A version of hopscotch for the boys - chalk markings on tarmac.
Girls are skipping.
Then it's home-time.
Children flood through the school gates.
Two boys do not know what to do next.
One wants to swim, the other wants to play chequers.
They decide by stone, paper, scissors.
Chequers wins so they head indoors and get the board out.
Grandpa heads back home from the village scribe.
His son leads the water buffalo home.
Father does family shopping in the evening.
He buys some salt from a store on the way home.
The cashier's till is a woven basket hung from above.
Coins are just tossed into it.
Very stylish.
The baby is put to bed.
Mother is in the kitchen cooking the evening meal.
The children wait in the dark courtyard listening to a neighbour's violin.
It gets darker.
Night falls over the hills and plains of China.
ENDS
16mm. Black & white. Sound. 400ft.
A fantastic glimpse into a little recorded time. Beautifully shot, elegant pacing and insightful but non-intrusive narration throughout. Grab this gem of a film while you can. A much sought after reel. Even more so in this sound version.
NB: NB: There is an interference issue on the sound so there is background noise during the narration. Though, if you have read this far you are probably here for the incredible images, not the wooden, English narration. Also, there has been a mark created on the print that is evidence by a tiny 'flare', it's at at the very bottom of the screen for most of the reel. This is so low down in the frame it does not detract from the enjoyment of this amazingly rare China cine reel. Please see images below for print quality. Has lines and wear commensurate with age. All adds to the period charm. Some pictures may seem blurred but this is due to my camera not having a super fast shutter speed to take stills of fast moving film images. The film is not blurred when projected. The freeze frame has been used for some images but the projector lamp dims when on freeze frame so the images in the photos will appear brighter when projected by you at speed. Also, any spots in the image are on my camera lens, these will not appear when you project the film. Grab this rare as hen's teeth gem while you can. SOLD AS IS, NO RETURNS.
