San Francisco California-1939: Passenger Ship and Cargo Vessels in Harbor

$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.

Year1939
Decade1930s
LocationSan Francisco, California, United States
Duration6s
Price$149 USD
Collection1939 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.

Passenger Ship and Cargo Vessels in Harbor — Clip Details

Shot on 8mm film in 1939, this vintage home movie captures a hazy harbor scene in San Francisco, California. Large ships, including a prominent passenger liner and cargo vessels, are docked or anchored in the water. The view is framed by overhead power lines and a dark foreground, with a large industrial building and a bridge visible in the distance. The footage exhibits classic Super 8 grain, scratches, and a monochrome aesthetic, evoking a nostalgic, historical atmosphere of mid-20th century maritime activity.

Licensing & Technical Details

Original Format: 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie
Shot details: Black & white
Resolution: 4K restored master (MP4)
License: Direct license: commercial and editorial use
Delivery: Instant Digital Download
Duration: 6s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 127270251

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 1166 · 8mm · 5″ reel
Original reel label: may
Reel-level year note: 1939
Reel-level location note: california
Date: 1939 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: San Francisco, 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

ships
dockyard
sea
bridge
cargo
vessels
sailing
transportation
SAN francisco california
1939
1939 San Francisco harbor
vintage 8mm film
Super 8 home movie
historic ships
cargo vessels
passenger liner
maritime history
archival footage
black and white film
film grain
old footage
1930s transportation
naval history
vintage documentary
editorial use
nostalgic clip
classic film
8mm footage
old California

Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit: Useful for 1930s documentary or museum edits needing a brief San Francisco harbor view with ships, dock structures, and bridge infrastructure from 8mm home-movie footage.
Period detail: The frames show a monochrome 1939 harbor scene with steam-era vessels, overhead utility lines, industrial waterfront buildings, and a truss bridge visible in the distance.
Home-movie behavior: The camera holds a distant visitor-shot view from behind a dark foreground edge, suggesting an observational home-movie glimpse rather than staged maritime coverage.
What appears in frame: Visible elements include large ships on the water, dockside buildings, overhead wires, a truss bridge, hazy bay atmosphere, and dark frame edges from the shooting position.
Film character: The clip has soft 8mm grain, light scratches, slight haze, and uneven exposure that give the harbor view a physical home-movie texture.
Edit role: An editor could use this as a short establishing insert, harbor cutaway, period transition, or memory beat between broader San Francisco or maritime sequences.
Historical context: The footage places maritime activity and bridge infrastructure within a hazy urban waterfront setting without identifying specific vessels or events from the frames alone.
Research note: No people, logos, or readable brands are visible, but copyright, vessel identity, infrastructure, and location claims should still be reviewed for the intended use.
Research search match: Matches searches for 1939 San Francisco harbor 8mm footage, vintage dockyard ships, Bay Area maritime home movie, and prewar waterfront bridge views.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with adjacent shots from the same reel, then other 1939 San Francisco harbor material, then broader 1930s maritime, dockyard, and bridge infrastructure footage.

Still Frames From This Clip

1939 San Francisco harbor view with ships on hazy water, dockside structures, overhead lines, and a dark foreground frame edge. — Large ships sit or move in a hazy San Francisco harbor view framed by wires and dockside structures.

1939 San Francisco waterfront seen across hazy water, with large vessels, a dock roof, utility lines, and dark film-frame borders. — A distant waterfront view shows ships near the dockyard under overhead lines in hazy light.

San Francisco harbor footage from 1939 showing ships and dock buildings through haze, crossed by utility wires and film scratches. — Ships and dockside buildings remain in view as the home-movie camera holds on the harbor.

1939 San Francisco harbor view with a dark truss bridge span in the foreground and hazy water beyond. — A truss bridge span cuts across the harbor view, replacing the earlier ship-centered composition.

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