Cleveland Ohio-1938: A Tugboat Moves Slowly Along the River

$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
LocationCleveland, Ohio, United States
Duration5s
Price$149 USD
Collection1939 Cleveland Ohio

$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.

A Tugboat Moves Slowly Along the River — Clip Details

Shot on 8mm film in 1938, this vintage home movie captures a classic tugboat moving slowly along a river in Cleveland, Ohio. The grainy black-and-white footage shows the boat navigating past a tree-lined bank, with a city skyline and a prominent clock tower visible in the background. The scene is framed by a dark vignette, typical of Super 8 home movies, evoking a nostalgic, historical atmosphere. The boat's steady movement and the calm water create a peaceful, timeless moment of early 20th-century urban life.

Licensing & Technical Details

Original Format: 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie
Shot details: Black & whiteSlow motion
Resolution: 4K restored master (MP4)
License: Direct license: commercial and editorial use
Delivery: Instant Digital Download
Duration: 5s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 125780358

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 1001 · 8mm · 5″ reel
Reel-level year note: 1937-1938-1939
Reel-level location note: Cleveland
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: Cleveland, Ohio, 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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vintage 8mm film
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old city skyline
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nostalgic footage
editorial use
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slow motion
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home movie footage

Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit: Useful for 1930s urban river transport sequences, Cleveland establishing material, or documentary cutaways showing industrial waterfront movement from home-movie footage.
Period detail: The tugboat, low river railings, hazy skyline, and distant clock tower support a late-1930s city waterfront reading without identifying a specific landmark.
Home-movie behavior: The camera watches from a fixed riverside vantage as the tugboat passes slowly, preserving an unstaged visitor or resident view of daily river traffic.
What appears in frame: Visible elements include a tugboat, calm river water, foreground railing, leafy tree branches, a curved dock fixture, hazy buildings, and a distant clock tower.
Film character: Black-and-white 8mm texture shows soft focus, visible grain, gate vignetting, slight exposure variation, and a contact-sheet feel from the scanned film frames.
Edit role: An editor could use this as a quiet insert, waterfront transition, industrial city cutaway, or memory beat between broader Cleveland or transportation scenes.
Historical context: The clip places a working boat within a city river setting, suggesting everyday urban infrastructure and waterborne activity rather than a staged public event.
Research note: No people, children, logos, or clear private-property details are visible, but users should still assess copyright status and any location or vessel-identification needs.
Research search match: Likely matches searches for 1938 Cleveland river footage, 1930s tugboat home movie, black-and-white 8mm waterfront, and urban transportation archive.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with adjacent shots from the same reel, then other 1938 Cleveland views, then broader 1930s river, harbor, tugboat, or industrial city material.

Still Frames From This Clip

1938 Cleveland home-movie frame showing a tugboat approaching along a river, with foreground railing, tree branches, and a hazy city backdrop. — A tugboat moves into view along the river, framed by railings and overhanging trees.

Black-and-white 8mm frame of a tugboat on a Cleveland river, seen through dark frame edges with trees and a faint skyline behind it. — The tugboat passes slowly across the river with the city skyline faintly visible beyond.

The tugboat comes into side profile as a distant clock tower appears through haze.

Black-and-white 8mm frame of a tugboat centered on a Cleveland river, with foreground railings, tree branches, and a hazy clock tower beyond. — The tugboat continues past the camera, centered against the river and distant city backdrop.

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