Skip to content
Stockfilm logo
Search
Home / Clips / ...
Full catalog export
Skip to content
Stockfilm logo
Search
Home/Browse/California USA-1953: Red Desert Landscape with Mountain Butte

California USA-1953: Red Desert Landscape with Mountain Butte

$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.

  • Year1953
  • Decade1950s
  • LocationCalifornia, United States
  • Duration5s
  • Price$149 USD
  • Collection1953 California

$149 · CommercialDirect license: commercial and editorial use

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

Boards
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.

Red Desert Landscape with Mountain Butte — Clip Details

Shot on 8mm film in 1953, this vintage home movie captures a vast, arid desert landscape under a clear blue sky. The foreground features reddish-brown sandy slopes with sparse vegetation, leading to a distant plateau and a prominent mountain butte on the horizon. The footage exhibits classic Super 8 grain, color shifts, and slight camera movement, offering an authentic slice of mid-century American desert scenery. This archival clip evokes nostalgia and is ideal for documentaries, historical content, or retro-themed projects.

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
123345892

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 1398 · 8mm · 6″ reel
Reel-level year note
1953
Reel-level location note
california
Date
1953 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
California, 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 contextOpen Clip Documentation RecordRequest source information

Topics & Keywords

  • australia
  • no trees
  • no plants
  • blue sky
  • barren landscape
  • red
  • painted
  • desert
  • mountain
  • butte
  • plateau
  • distance
  • buildings
  • landmarks
  • california boston
  • 1950s home movie footage
  • vintage 8mm film
  • California desert
  • red painted desert
  • mountain butte
  • arid terrain
  • Super 8 home movie
  • 1953 archival footage
  • retro film
  • classic home movie
  • vintage travel footage
  • American West
  • desert scenery
  • nostalgic footage
  • 8mm film grain
  • historical footage
  • old film
  • documentary footage

Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit
Supports 1950s archival requests for establishing or transition shots of an arid California desert landscape in documentary, museum, education, or period-context edits.
Period detail
The visible content offers few date-specific clues beyond the supplied 1953 home-movie metadata, with open desert, sparse scrub, reddish slopes, and distant plateau forms under clear sky.
Home-movie behavior
The clip carries an unstaged traveler viewpoint, observing the broad desert from a roadside or overlook with simple handheld framing rather than a composed scenic production setup.
What appears in frame
Visible elements include red-brown desert slopes, pale dry flats, sparse low shrubs, a blue sky, distant mesa-like ridges, and a dark film-frame border from the scan.
Film character
The 8mm scan shows soft focus, visible grain, mild color shift, exposure variation, and slight handheld movement that place the view within a mid-century home-movie record.
Edit role
An editor could use this as a brief desert establishing insert, route transition, geography cutaway, or memory beat between travel or western-landscape sequences.
Historical context
The footage documents a mid-century private-camera view of an undeveloped arid landscape, emphasizing terrain and distance rather than identifiable people, buildings, or events.
Research note
No people, logos, or private property are visible in the provided frames, but copyright status and location identification should still be reviewed before use.
Research search match
Useful for searches such as 1953 8mm California desert landscape, vintage home movie red desert butte, and mid-century arid plateau travel footage.
Archive pairing path
Pair first with adjacent footage from the same reel, then other 1953 California travel views, then broader 1950s desert, road-trip, or western-landscape material.

Still Frames From This Clip

1953 California 8mm frame showing an arid red-brown slope, scattered scrub, pale desert flats, and a distant plateau beneath clear blue sky.
A reddish desert slope drops toward pale flats and a distant plateau under open sky.
1953 California home-movie frame with reddish foreground terrain, scattered desert scrub, pale flats, and a low butte or plateau on the horizon.
Reddish desert ground and sparse vegetation lead toward a low landform on the horizon.
1953 California 8mm view across a red desert slope, a pale wash at the lower edge, scattered scrub, and distant flatlands fading into low ridges.
A pale wash borders the red slope while distant flat desert stretches toward low ridges.
1953 California home-movie frame looking over a broad arid plain with scattered shrubs, pale flats, a distant ridge line, and clear blue sky.
The view opens to a broad desert plain with pale flats and a low horizon line.

Visually Similar Clips

← Previous in archiveCalifornia USA-1953: Arid Brown Hills Under Blue SkyNext in archive →California USA-1953: Desert Field Under Blue Sky
Stockfilm logo

Real 8mm and Super 8 home movies restored for documentary, agency, museum, and production work. Preserving family film since 2015, and built to stay online for the next hundred years.

Explore

  • Browse
  • Project footage
  • Curated Collections
  • Top 100 Clips
  • Comedies
  • By Decade
  • Archive Index

By Decade

  • 1930s
  • 1940s
  • 1950s
  • 1960s
  • 1970s
  • 1980s

License

  • Licensing Guide
  • Marketplaces
  • Compare Sources
  • Request Footage
  • AI Training Data
  • FAQ

Create

  • AI Clip Analyzer
  • Rough Cut Builder
  • Footage Brief
  • Can You Show It?
  • Project Boards
  • Filmmaker Tools
  • Documentary Grant

For Professionals

  • For Archival Producers
  • APA Member Benefit
  • Archive Integrity
  • Visual Memory Index
  • Archive Methodology
  • Licensing Guide
  • Submit a Production Brief
  • Contact Stockfilm

Learn

  • TimeFly: A Fly Brain Watches 1963
  • Blog
  • Visual Memory Index
  • AI Restoration Research
  • Case Studies
  • Resources & Guides
  • How We Preserve

About

  • About Us
  • Speaking & Interviews
  • Press Kit
  • For Librarians
  • The 100-Year Commitment
  • Partner Program
  • Contact
  • Careers

Follow

FacebookXLinkedInYouTube
© 2026 Stockfilm, 2823 Callan Ct, Broomfield, Colorado 80023, USAFor AI AgentsDigital DeliveryReturns & RefundsPrivacy PolicyTerms & ConditionsCompliance

Discover Related Footage

Same Location, Different Era

More from United States across other decades

California USA-1953: Coastal Road with Ocean View from Vehicle, Trinidad and TobagoCalifornia USA-1953: Coastal Road with Ocean View from Vehicle, Trinidad and Tobago1961 · California, United States$149 · CommercialLynbrook New York-1971: Decorated Christmas Tree with Wrapped PresentsLynbrook New York-1971: Decorated Christmas Tree with Wrapped Presents1971 · Lynbrook, New York, United States$149 · CommercialLynbrook New York-1971: Christmas Gifts and Toys Arranged on TableLynbrook New York-1971: Christmas Gifts and Toys Arranged on Table1971 · Lynbrook, New York, United States$149 · CommercialLynbrook New York-1971: Girl in Stroller with Wrapped Presents on ChristmasLynbrook New York-1971: Girl in Stroller with Wrapped Presents on Christmas1971 · Lynbrook, New York, United States$149 · Commercial

Same Era, Different Location

1950s footage from around the world

Tecate Mexico-1953: Town Buildings with Old Crow and Tecate SignsTecate Mexico-1953: Town Buildings with Old Crow and Tecate Signs1953 · Tecate, Mexico$149 · Editorial onlyLe Mans France-1954: Man Carrying Flag at Le Mans Grand PrixLe Mans France-1954: Man Carrying Flag at Le Mans Grand Prix1954 · Le Mans, France$149 · Editorial onlyLe Mans France-1954: Spectators Monitoring Car Preparation at Le MansLe Mans France-1954: Spectators Monitoring Car Preparation at Le Mans1954 · Le Mans, France$149 · CommercialLe Mans France-1954: Workers Loading Supplies from TrailersLe Mans France-1954: Workers Loading Supplies from Trailers1954 · Le Mans, France$149 · Commercial

Most Similar Clips

1950s footage also from United States

Surfer Rides Longboard at Waikiki BeachSurfer Rides Longboard at Waikiki Beach1955 · Hawaii, United StatesPond51951: Italian-American Family Sharing Dinner Together1951: Italian-American Family Sharing Dinner Together1951 · Newark, New Jersey, United StatesPond51954: Statue of Liberty and New York City Skyline1954: Statue of Liberty and New York City Skyline1954 · New York City, United StatesPond5Scenic Highway Drive into St. LouisScenic Highway Drive into St. Louis1950 · California, United StatesPond5

You May Also Like

Clips with similar subjects and themes

1967: Harbour Bridge Arches over Sydney Harbor1967: Harbour Bridge Arches over Sydney Harbor1967 · Sydney, AustraliaPond51967: Highway Traffic Below Sydney Skyscrapers1967: Highway Traffic Below Sydney Skyscrapers1967 · Sydney, AustraliaPond51967: Crowded Street in Brisbane1967: Crowded Street in Brisbane1967 · Brisbane, AustraliaPond5Perth Australia-1967: Tropical Coastline and Sandbar from AbovePerth Australia-1967: Tropical Coastline and Sandbar from Above1967 · Perth, Australia$149 · Commercial