1950s film about Aberdeen Scotland, “The Silver City”, Travelogue/Holidays F554 a,

A short film produced by Anglo-Scottish Pictures Ltd, for the “Films of Scotland Committee” in the 1950s…I suspect 1955. This covers many aspects of the town, and local area, I think in order to promote the town as a holiday destination. I hope it was a warm day for the beach shoot!

This is another film that I was asked if I could look at again. This time because my projected version of about 4 years ago had red faded quite badly. So I have had a bash at bringing the colour up. Not perfect by any means, but this is enough of an improvement to bother posting up.

Frame by Frame scanned from the original 16mm footage at 2048×1536 resolution.

Credits:
Narration: John R. Allan
Writer: John R. Allan
Produced by: Anglo-Scottish Productions Ltd
Produced for: The Films of Scotland Committee
No other credits appear.

[Applause] [Music] they come by air sweeping down out of a clear sky over the Clean City with its shining Granite tows into the sun young come to honey and the heavily disguised gentleman behind the [Music] whiskers they come by train and discover the city with the smell of the sea in its [Music] streets and here’s the family father mother George Donald hurrying away to the beach they come by sea Sailors on the ships of all Nations making landfall at abedine often Scandinavians Fair haired and blueeyed like this one and the sailor’s life’s not all Adventure not when the mates [Music] around but in aine there is pleasure and adventure for everybody the clear skies the brilliant blues and greens of the Sea The Sands the wandering white clouds Brilliance and color the games and the lter of children new life for people from old tired cities and always behind it the traffic of the deep [Applause] Waters A’s father of construction work with the boys while mother rests all the ships go out and the ships come in for ab is a big city of nearly 200,000 people a busy town and a lot of its traffic is on the sea the ships come in heavy with [Music] caros a Sparta grass from the Mediterranean phosphates from North Africa Timber from the [Music] Baltic unless a great port for the white fish the abine trollers Gather in the Harvest of the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean and of course the Gs are always [Music] [Applause] [Music] there now the trollers on the right and that’s a ground feeling as you go sailing into the harbor piloted by the GS back from the deep sea fishings it’s abine it’s home it’s been a hard trip but we certainly brought back something the fish market where the harvests of the sea brought the land acers and Acres of fish and on the roof the Gs are waiting for the breakfast too lazy to go out and get it for themselves it’s a busy place and a noisy one the shouts of the porters the salesman auctioning the fish the acres and Acres of fish a hard life to trolling but once you’re import a cup of tea does put you in a good humor and maybe gives you a taste for something stronger later on when the work on the ships is done the city is wide open for pleasure from the castle gate along Union Street the center of the town and then all around the granite towers and the spires reaching into the blue arch of the sky so very much to explore [Music] [Applause] [Music] and the Scandinavian sailor off the ship he can look about him to see what he can see statues if that’s his taste it maybe wouldn’t have been Robert bus’s taste he preferred of course something a little warmer than still [Music] and there’s the remarkable game the game of drafts that combines Sunshine fresh air exercise and intellectual [Music] effort looks like a small girl in a great [Music] hurry and flowers flowers everywhere and father who’s a bit of a gardener he thinks there really must be something in this abedine son even the cyclists get down to look at the flowers and the park is really the place for the family father and mother can sit down and rest even mother can relax and for the boys there’s the Ducks to feed and if you want to go to Sea in shallow water the Boating Pond can be as wide as the ocean although not as deep and if they do have a shipwreck they won’t even get dirty clean [Music] sport cricket on the abadin Sha ground Australians against Scotland [Applause] is George thinking to be a test player now oh Australia must be batting now this is a game but this is hard work at the Quarry where they dig the granite [Music] [Music] it’s very skilled work to split the stone along the vein of the Rock The Shining Stone the hard stone that abine Masons on the art of working the silver stone that abine’s built up as a Marshall College which is a part of the university to which students come from many [Music] countries Marshall College is one of the biggest Granite buildings in the world could you ever make a cake like that darling and it’s a great craft to be able to carve such Exquisite details out of such very hard Stone and St Nicholas KK with the exact Mason work you can spend a quiet hour under the trees and listen to the bells and begin to realize that though abedine is new it is also very old yeah the village of fitty a real Fisher Village built in squares so all the houses have the backs to the wind and inside the squares there are flowers and children and color young children and old games for the war Tower which of course has nothing to do with William Wallace but is just the type of an old Scots House of the 17th century no he’s not William Wallace maybe an effigy taken from St Nicholas kirkyard but he seems very much at home in this old part of the Town provis SK a wealthy Merchant’s house beautifully restored as a museum by the Town Council maybe the young couple wonder if they can get two rooms [Music] there and in the old town over the hill down through the years King’s College founded 450 years ago but always gay with students some of them wearing the Scarlet gown and occasionally gay with marriages in the summertime to be married in the chapel is a privilege of graduates if you can get nothing else out of a college course you may get this at least the old townhouse delightfully prim and proper and Beyond it among the trees the cathedral where the clock is measuring all time away time time that has flowed away in abedine as the dawn has flowed under the brig of bgy the bridge over which people have come to abine from the country for 600 years this is indeed the quieter end of [Music] time but abine although a big town has always won foot in the country or in this case two wheels west of abine is charming romantic Highland Country the D Valley with The Shining River the Blue Hills the silver Birches and the mountains away to the West brilliant color the Swift river running down under a highback bridge with the mountains behind it [Music] [Music] but on every side the Heather the purple header and soft West winds blowing over with the high tang of the heads and the long Prospect of the Moes and the Heather with the traces of ancient men Brar castle like a medieval fairy tale and cfis Castle high above the river white and turreted a treasure of Scots bonial building the home of the burets for 600 years and open for all to see appears the sailor come exploring and even more fascinating on the inside the Iron Work of the door and the tower room with the Arts and the crafts of centuries and above the mantle piece the horn given by Robert the Bruce to Alexander Barnett along with the ls of CIS in [Music] 1323 from floor to ceiling kis is full of history on D side the past and the present live together just 2 hours from the town of abine and the old and the new come together again in the Highland Games meetings at the Bo and Brar traditional games and sports and elegances graced at Brar by the royal family and Residence at [Music] model the fire and the grace of the traditional daners and the traditional dress Clan Chiefs the of the north with the feathers in his bonnet [Music] the heavyweight throws the hammer and that’s a game for Champions and here’s another back in abine where the team are sometimes Champions and sometimes well maybe not but it’s always 90 minutes excitement on the Saturday afternoon and all have found each other friend for a day or a [Music] week and when the sun sets as it must set even in abedine the city becomes yet more beautiful and tomorrow will be a new day for pleasure a [Music]