Colombo Ceylon-1946: A Typical Busy Day In An Old Town

$149 · Editorial onlyDirect license: editorial use only. $149 flat from Stockfilm for documentary, news and educational use, plus internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.

Year1946
Decade1940s
LocationColombo, Sri Lanka
Duration5s
Price$149 USD

$149 · Editorial onlyDirect license: editorial use only

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

Before you add to cart: Editorial use only: documentary, news, educational, internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement. Checkout will only offer editorial, educational, internal and social/web scopes.

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

A Typical Busy Day In An Old Town — Clip Details

COLOMBO CEYLON-1946: A vibrant street scene unfolds in colonial-era Colombo, capturing a typical busy day in the 1940s. Vintage automobiles, including a white delivery truck and classic sedans, navigate the bustling thoroughfare. Pedestrians in period attire walk along the sidewalks, one holding an umbrella for shade. The architecture features ornate colonial buildings with arched windows and balconies, while a prominent white clock tower stands in the background. Shot on 8mm film, the footage displays natural color and film grain, offering authentic archival footage of mid-20th century urban life in Ceylon.

Licensing & Technical Details

Original Format: 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie
Resolution: 4K restored master (MP4)
License: Direct license: editorial use only Editorial use only: documentary, news, educational, internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.
Delivery: Instant Digital Download
Duration: 5s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 124755415

Rights & Clearance

$149 · Editorial only Direct license: editorial use only. Editorial use only: documentary, news, educational, internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.

Editorial use only; commercial use is not offered for this clip. Review the flags below for your editorial context.

People visible: Yes
Minors visible: No
Logos / trademarks: Yes
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 record not linked for this clip
Date: 1946 Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Date evidence: Catalog estimate based on source metadata and visual or technical evidence; no reel-level note is linked.
Location: Colombo, Sri Lanka Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Location evidence: Catalog estimate based on source metadata and visual evidence such as signage, landmarks, or terrain; no reel-level note is linked.
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.

Open Clip Documentation Record Request source information

Topics & Keywords

Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit: Useful for documentary or museum edits needing 1940s colonial-era Colombo street life from authentic 8mm home-movie footage.
Period detail: The clip shows mid-century cars, light-colored tropical dress, arched colonial facades, and a white clock-tower-like building that may show central Colombo in Ceylon.
Home-movie behavior: The camera observes passing traffic and pedestrians from a visitor's street-level viewpoint, preserving unstaged movement rather than arranged action.
What appears in frame: Visible elements include vintage sedans, a delivery truck, pedestrians, umbrellas, arched commercial buildings, balconies, shopfront signs, and a distant white civic-looking building.
Film character: The 8mm scan has soft focus, visible grain, variable exposure, and contact-sheet framing that gives the scene physical home-movie texture.
Edit role: An editor could use this as a brief establishing insert, street-life cutaway, transition, or memory beat for wartime and postwar South Asian urban context.
Historical context: The footage documents public movement through a colonial-built commercial district, showing everyday traffic, walking, and shaded street activity without identifying individuals.
Research note: People and at least one shop sign are visible, so copyright research should be separated from likeness, signage, and location-identification review.
Research search match: Matches searches for 1940s Colombo street scene, Ceylon home movie footage, vintage cars in Sri Lanka, colonial architecture, and 8mm urban travel footage.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with adjacent shots from the same reel, then with 1946 Colombo or Ceylon material, then with broader postwar street-life and colonial-city footage.

Still Frames From This Clip

1946 Colombo street view with a delivery truck passing colonial-era arched buildings and pedestrians near a white building in the distance. — A truck and cars move through a busy Colombo street lined with ornate arched facades.

A sedan passes through a 1946 Colombo street as pedestrians and an umbrella-holder move near colonial-era commercial buildings. — A dark sedan passes pedestrians under the shade of an umbrella on a colonial-era street.

Street-level 1946 Colombo view with pedestrians, a shaded umbrella, a bus or truck, and colonial-era arched architecture. — Pedestrians and vehicles share the street in front of arched commercial buildings.

A 1946 Colombo shop corner shows a jeweller sign above pedestrians, an umbrella, and a vintage car passing through the street. — Pedestrians pass a corner shop with a visible jeweller sign as a vintage car moves by.

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