Chicago Illinois-1957: Polar Bears And Black Bears Roaming In Their Cages At The

$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.

Year1957
Decade1950s
LocationChicago, Illinois, United States
Duration5s
Price$149 USD

$149 · CommercialDirect license: commercial and editorial use

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

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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.

Polar Bears And Black Bears Roaming In Their Cages At The — Clip Details

Shot on 8mm film in 1957, this vintage home movie captures a polar bear and a black bear roaming within their zoo enclosures. The footage, filmed through vertical metal bars, shows the large white polar bear moving slowly in its habitat, followed by a darker black bear walking across the enclosure. The grainy, slightly faded color and natural lighting suggest a candid, archival moment from a mid-century zoo visit. The setting appears to be a traditional zoo with stone walls and basic enclosures, offering a nostalgic glimpse into animal captivity during the 1950s.

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: 124936187

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 2302 · 8mm · 3″ reel
Original reel label: tw ross
Reel-level year note: 1957
Reel-level location note: morton illinois
Date: 1957 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: Chicago, Illinois, 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

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Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit: Useful for 1950s editorial or documentary requests needing visitor-shot zoo footage of bears in barred enclosures in Chicago.
Period detail: The vertical steel bars, stone wall, bare enclosure floor and faded 8mm color may show mid-century zoo display conditions.
Home-movie behavior: The clip has the candid value of a zoo visitor filming animals through cage bars rather than a staged wildlife scene.
What appears in frame: Visible elements include a polar bear, a darker bear, vertical cage bars, stone enclosure walls, hard ground, shadows and sunlit patches.
Film character: The 8mm image has soft focus, visible grain, uneven exposure and handheld framing that give it a home-movie archive texture.
Edit role: An editor could use this as a brief cutaway, zoo visit insert, captivity reference or memory beat within a mid-century sequence.
Historical context: The footage visually reflects a period zoo visit where large animals are viewed behind close vertical bars and masonry enclosure walls.
Research note: No people, faces, logos or audible music are indicated, but users should still review copyright status and any zoo-property context separately.
Research search match: Likely matches searches for 1950s 8mm zoo footage, Chicago bear enclosure home movies, polar bear cage film and black bear zoo cutaway.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with other shots from the same reel, then Chicago 1957 zoo material, then broader mid-century animal captivity or zoo-visit footage.

Still Frames From This Clip

A polar bear moves left behind close vertical cage bars in 1957 Chicago zoo home-movie footage. — Polar bear seen through the bars of its enclosure.

The polar bear passes behind the barred enclosure, with its white body partly cropped by the home-movie frame. — Polar bear crossing a barred zoo enclosure.

A dark bear, likely the black bear described in the clip metadata, walks behind cage bars in the Chicago zoo footage. — Dark bear moving across the barred enclosure.

Black bear seen in profile through cage bars.

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