Going Places
Going Places is a short film from ca. 1952 released on 16mm. It is held in the Prelinger Archives collection.
Industrial film about the logistical problems that rush
hour traffic jams pose to cities, and how well-designed public transportation / mass transit systems can solve these problems. Good 1950s car traffic. Filmed in Los Angeles, New York City (NYC), and possibly elsewhere. Many jump cuts, color is muddy.
[On-screen timecode].
00:00:00:00 CU "caution - children at play" street sign. 00:00:02:00 Boys in street playing pepper baseball game, playing catch
and riding bicycles.
00:07:00:00 Two boys slowly riding bicycles in street crash in head-on
collision; the two boys angrily shove each other as other
children watch. [Bicycle accident, children fighting].
00:00:40:00 Car traffic on busy street, two shots. 00:00:46:00 CU old-fashioned 1950s streetlight, a green "Go" sign is
lowered and a red "Stop" sign is raised.
00:00:49:00 Car accident / crash: POV car sppeding toward rear-end
collision with another, and impact; the two driver men
yell out of their windows, get out and angrily argue with
each other; CU the angry mouths of the two arguing men.
00:01:11:00 Careless pedestrian man walks across street while reading
newspaper, oblivious to the cars that stop sort of running
him over.
00:01:36:00 Montage of reverse-motion / backward motion (film is
printed in reverse): car driving backwards, VS; motorcycle
cop driving backwards; dropped shopping bags fly back up
into man's arms; girl jumping rope backwards; man walking
backwards; etc.
00:03:27:00 ZO family washing its 1950s car in driveway. 00:03:37:00 TD the George Washington Bridge to the bumper-to-bumper
rush hour commuter traffic crawling across; a few other
shots of bumper-to-bumper traffic on highways probably
leading into NYC. Good shots.
00:04:03:00 TD EXT facade of "Prudential" office building. 00:04:17:00 Architect / engineer works on a technical drawing at
drafting table with a grease pencil / China marker.
00:04:41:00 VS slow-moving and bumper-to-bumper traffic on busy city
streets and highways, at least one shot is of the West
Side Highway in NYC; PAN shots of parking lots filled to
capacity are inserted here and there. Good shots.
00:04:58:00 Demolition man pushes down on plunger; construction site
ground explosion.
00:05:53:00 Car traffic on city street drives slowly past CAM, CU LA. 00:07:18:00 NYC subway: two "GG"-line (now the "F" and "G" lines)
subway trains going into and coming out of tunnel at one
end of the Ninth Street Subway Viaduct bridge in Brooklyn,
a short stretch of above-ground subway track.
00:07:57:00 Bus stops at city corner, a few commuters get on and off
the bus; CU hand dropping token into the fare box; bus
riders take their seats.
00:08:42:00 Montage of buses, trolleys / streetcars and one shot of a
short commuter train on city streets; one of the buses
says "Kings Highway" on it - Brooklyn / NYC scenes?
00:09:58:00 A bus moves through a car wash. 00:10:15:00 Public transportation dispatcher control room. 00:10:28:00 Passengers and engineer in above-ground commuter train,
VS.
00:10:43:00 LA trolley / streetcar on city street turning a corner
past CAM.
00:11:01:00 VS man driving his convertible car down traffic-congested
city street; CU various street signs which he passes.
00:13:05:00 HA car pulls into parking spot. 00:14:00:00 VS buses driving on city streets, one says "Kings
Highway", another looks like it says "Holland Tunnel" -
NYC?
21:30:04 CU Trolley operator 21:30:09 Trolley operator POV Tracks, controls 21:31:05 CU Traffic sign - Keep to Left 21:31:06 CU Traffic sign - Keep to Right 21:31:07 CU Traffic sign - Do Not Enter 21:31:11 Driver POV - One Way sign 21:31:13 Driver looking confused 21:31:16 Cartoon of overlapping street signs * 21:31:27 Driver getting out of car in front of "Dead End" sign * 21:33:20
Traffic Jam| Going Places | |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Academy Productions |
Production company | Academy Productions |
| Distributed by | Academy Productions |
Release date | ca. 1952 |
Running time | 17:00 |
| Language | English |
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