New York USA-1938: A Glimpse Of A Big Town Coming Through Thick Fog

$149 · CommercialDirect license: commercial and editorial use. $149 flat from Stockfilm. Royalty-free worldwide license for commercial and editorial use, delivered as the restored 4K master.

Year1938
Decade1930s
LocationNew York, United States
Duration5s
Price$149 USD

$149 · CommercialDirect license: commercial and editorial use

$149 USD flat · royalty-free worldwide · 4K restored master (MP4)

Need 10+ clips? Send your brief and get a curated shortlist →

Stockfilm licenses the rights identified in the applicable agreement. Additional use-specific review may be required. See the Licensing Guide and Archive Integrity.

A Glimpse Of A Big Town Coming Through Thick Fog — Clip Details

Shot on 8mm film in 1938, this vintage home movie captures a hazy, atmospheric view of New York City through thick fog. The skyline emerges as a ghostly silhouette across a body of water, with indistinct buildings and a distant ferry or boat visible. The footage exhibits classic Super 8 grain, scratches, and age marks, conveying a sense of mystery and nostalgia. This archival clip offers a rare glimpse of the city's early 20th-century architecture and urban landscape, perfect for historical documentaries, editorial content, or nostalgic storytelling.

Licensing & Technical Details

Original Format: 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie
Resolution: 4K restored master (MP4)
License: Direct license: commercial and editorial use
Delivery: Instant Digital Download
Duration: 5s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 123038487

Rights & Clearance

$149 · Commercial Direct license: commercial and editorial use. $149 flat from Stockfilm. Royalty-free worldwide license for commercial and editorial use, delivered as the restored 4K master.

No recognizable people, logos, or music are flagged. Lower-risk for commercial use, subject to your own review.

People visible: No
Logos / trademarks: No
Audible music: No

Flags come from automated catalog metadata, not a legal opinion. The source is an original 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie reel. For high-stakes commercial use, request a full rights review.

Source & Documentation

Source reel: Reel 1921 · 8mm · 3″ reel
Original reel label: vacation,rutledge,marble quary
Reel-level year note: 1938
Reel-level location note: elyria ohio,gordham new york
Date: 1938 Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Date evidence: Catalog estimate. A reel-level note shows the same year, but the clip-to-reel link is itself a catalog match, so this is not counted as independent confirmation.
Location: New York, United States Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Location evidence: Catalog estimate. A reel-level location note is linked, but the clip-to-reel link is itself a catalog match, so this is not counted as independent confirmation.
Licensing route: Direct license available from Stockfilm

Confidence labels are defined on Archive Integrity. Fields without a recorded value are shown as not recorded rather than assumed.

View source reel context Open Clip Documentation Record Request source information

Topics & Keywords

Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit: 1930s New York 8mm skyline material for documentary inserts, atmospheric city openers, or archival transitions about urban scale and weather.
Period detail: The frames may show a distant New York waterfront skyline in 1938, with large masonry-looking building silhouettes softened by fog across the water.
Home-movie behavior: The clip has a visitor-shot perspective from across the water, holding on the city as fog obscures the skyline rather than staging a formal view.
What appears in frame: Visible elements include fog, open water, faint skyline silhouettes, a low boat or ferry shape, dark film borders, dust marks, and soft horizon lines.
Film character: The 8mm scan shows pale exposure, heavy haze, visible grain, scratches, dust, gate edges, and slight framing variation as part of its physical-film texture.
Edit role: Editors can use it as a brief establishing cutaway, memory beat, weather transition, or visual pause before clearer New York city material.
Historical context: The view gives a restrained home-movie record of a large city seen from a distance, where weather and water shape the urban impression more than street detail.
Research note: No people, logos, or readable brands are visible, but location and any identifiable buildings should be independently checked for editorial or property concerns.
Research search match: Useful search matches include 1938 New York fog skyline, 8mm waterfront city view, vintage home movie New York harbor, and foggy urban silhouette footage.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with adjacent shots from the same reel, then with New York 1938 waterfront material, then with fog, skyline, harbor, and urban travel footage.

Still Frames From This Clip

1938 New York home-movie frame showing a hazy waterfront skyline emerging through fog across open water. — A faint city skyline appears through fog across the water.

1938 New York waterfront view in thick fog, with faint building masses and a possible low boat on the water. — Fog softens the waterfront buildings and a low vessel-like shape.

Fog-obscured New York skyline across water, with a darker low boat or ferry-like silhouette in the foreground distance. — A low vessel-like silhouette passes below the fog-muted skyline.

Late frame of the 1938 New York view, with fogged waterfront buildings and a low boat-like form near the right side. — The skyline remains faint as the boat-like shape sits near the right edge.

Visually Similar Clips