Oroville California-1938: The Passage To 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
LocationOroville, California, United States
Duration6s
Price$149 USD
Collection1938 Oroville California

$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.

The Passage To The River — Clip Details

Shot on 8mm film in 1938, this vintage home movie captures a dramatic road journey through rugged mountain terrain in Oroville, California. The footage shows a winding asphalt road cutting through rocky cliffs, approaching a dark tunnel entrance. The scene is bathed in a distinctive purple-blue tint, characteristic of aged Super 8 film, with visible grain and slight motion blur. The camera moves steadily forward, creating a sense of anticipation as it heads into the tunnel. This archival clip offers a nostalgic glimpse of mid-20th century American road travel and infrastructure.

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: 6s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 127264161

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 1153 · 8mm · 5″ reel
Original reel label: bucks lake,lake tahoe,emerald bay,martins lodge
Reel-level year note: 1938
Reel-level location note: california
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: Oroville, 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 context Open Clip Documentation Record Request source information

Topics & Keywords

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Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit: Useful for documentary or museum edits needing 1930s California road-travel footage with a mountain tunnel approach from an 8mm home-movie source.
Period detail: The paved two-lane road, simple center line, rocky cut, and tunnel entrance may show rural Northern California infrastructure as filmed by a 1938 home-movie traveler.
Home-movie behavior: The clip preserves a visitor-shot moving viewpoint from a vehicle, emphasizing the experience of approaching a tunnel rather than a staged scenic composition.
What appears in frame: Visible elements include a paved mountain road, white lane marking, rocky cliff walls, a dark tunnel portal, roadside shadows, and a brief view toward water or rock below.
Film character: The footage has dense 8mm grain, purple-blue color shift, soft focus, gate edges, and slight motion blur that register as physical-film texture.
Edit role: An editor could use it as a travel insert, approach shot, geographic transition, or memory beat before entering a tunnel or river canyon sequence.
Historical context: The view situates road travel within rugged California terrain, showing how a home-movie camera recorded landscape and infrastructure from inside a moving vehicle.
Research note: No people, logos, or brands are visible, but users should still review copyright status and any location or property implications separately.
Research search match: Research matches include 1938 Oroville California 8mm road tunnel footage, Depression-era California travel home movie, and vintage mountain road approach.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with adjacent shots from the same reel, then with Oroville or 1938 California road footage, then with broader mountain travel and tunnel approach scenes.

Still Frames From This Clip

1938 Oroville-area home-movie frame showing rugged rock terrain and a pale strip that may be water or roadside surface. — Rocky terrain appears before the road tunnel approach becomes clear.

1938 Oroville, California road view approaching a dark tunnel entrance through rugged rock walls. — The road runs between rocky cuts toward a tunnel portal.

Vehicle-perspective 8mm frame from 1938 showing a mountain road nearing a tunnel in Oroville, California. — The moving camera draws closer to the tunnel mouth.

Late-frame view of the 1938 Oroville road approach, with the tunnel portal ahead and rock faces on both sides. — The road continues toward the dark tunnel opening.

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