Cape Cod Massachusetts-1956: A Road Trip With The Rita Mersk Ship

$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.

Year1956
Decade1950s
LocationCape Cod, Massachusetts, United States
Duration5s
Price$149 USD
Collection1956 Cape Cod Massachusetts

$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 Road Trip With The Rita Mersk Ship — Clip Details

Shot on 8mm film in 1956, this vintage home movie captures a road trip through Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The footage begins with a forward-moving view down a multi-lane highway, showing cars traveling under an overcast sky. The scene transitions to a large cargo ship, the RITA MERSK, navigating a narrow waterway, with lush green hills and coastal homes in the background. The film exhibits classic Super 8 grain, color fading, and slight blurriness, evoking a nostalgic mid-century American travel experience.

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: 125304209

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: 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 1039 · 8mm · 5″ reel
Original reel label: jones beach,hyde park,cape cod
Reel-level year note: 1956
Reel-level location note: hyde park, cape cod
Date: 1956 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: Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 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: Useful for 1950s Cape Cod travel, highway approach, and maritime commerce inserts in documentary, museum, education, or editorial productions.
Period detail: The footage shows mid-century road travel and a cargo ship marked RITA MERSK, with 1956 and Cape Cod supported by the supplied clip metadata.
Home-movie behavior: The camera records from a traveler’s viewpoint, first through a vehicle windshield and then from shore as a passing ship moves through a waterway.
What appears in frame: Visible elements include a divided highway, distant cars, overcast sky, narrow waterway, cargo ship, wooded hills, shoreline homes, and film-frame borders.
Film character: The 8mm scan carries soft focus, visible grain, muted color, exposure variation, and gate edges that signal amateur home-movie origin.
Edit role: An editor could use this as a travel transition, maritime cutaway, coastal memory beat, or brief establishing insert for 1950s New England movement.
Historical context: The clip visually connects automobile tourism with working coastal waterways, showing leisure travel and cargo traffic in the same home-movie sequence.
Research note: The ship name and funnel marking are visible brand or vessel identifiers, so trademark, vessel identity, and underlying copyright review may be needed.
Research search match: Researchers may find this under 1956 8mm Cape Cod road trip, mid-century Massachusetts highway footage, or RITA MERSK cargo ship home movie.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with adjacent shots from the same reel, then other 1956 Cape Cod material, then broader 1950s road travel or cargo ship footage.

Still Frames From This Clip

1956 Cape Cod road-trip footage shows a soft forward view down a divided highway with cars ahead and flat roadside land. — A traveler’s windshield view looks down a multi-lane highway during the road-trip sequence.

A soft 8mm frame shows the road trip continuing along a broad Cape Cod highway, with one car visible ahead in the distance. — The highway sequence continues with sparse traffic and open roadside landscape.

Cape Cod footage shows a large cargo ship moving along a narrow waterway, backed by trees, shoreline homes, and low hills. — A cargo ship passes through the waterway as the home-movie camera watches from shore.

The cargo ship RITA MERSK is visible in the waterway, with its name on the hull, a marked funnel, trees, and coastal homes behind it. — The ship’s name, RITA MERSK, is visible as it travels past the shoreline.

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