San Francisco California-1939: Old Footage Of A Big Ship Harboring In A Bay

$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.

Old Footage Of A Big Ship Harboring In A Bay — Clip Details

Shot on 8mm film in 1939, this vintage home movie captures a large commercial ship harboring in a bay, likely San Francisco. The grainy black-and-white footage shows the vessel from a distance, its silhouette visible against a hazy sky. The film exhibits classic Super 8 characteristics—scratches, dust spots, and slight flicker—adding to its authentic archival quality. The ship remains mostly stationary, suggesting it is docked or anchored. This raw, unedited clip offers a nostalgic glimpse into mid-20th century maritime transportation and daily life in California.

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: 127270439

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

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Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit: Useful for 1930s maritime, California bay, harbor, or transportation sequences needing brief archival 8mm home-movie coverage of a large ship at distance.
Period detail: The distant vessel, black-and-white stock, and 1939 metadata may show late-1930s harbor traffic viewed from shore or another waterfront vantage point.
Home-movie behavior: The footage has a visitor-shot perspective, holding on the ship across hazy water rather than staging action or presenting a formal harbor survey.
What appears in frame: Visible elements include a large ship silhouette, two funnels, masts or rigging, hazy bay water, pale sky, frame edges, dust, and contact-print borders.
Film character: The clip carries an 8mm home-movie texture with soft focus, visible grain, dust specks, scratches, flicker, and uneven exposure across the frame.
Edit role: An editor could use it as a short maritime cutaway, harbor establishing insert, transition beat, or memory fragment in a 1930s California sequence.
Historical context: The view suggests everyday maritime presence in a bay setting, with the ship seen as part of the waterfront environment rather than a named event.
Research note: No people, faces, logos, or audible music are visible or flagged, but ship identity, location certainty, and copyright status still require separate rights review.
Research search match: Matches searches for 1939 8mm ship in bay, San Francisco harbor home movie, vintage black-and-white maritime footage, and 1930s commercial vessel cutaway.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with the same reel, then with other San Francisco or 1939 waterfront material, then with broader vintage harbor and maritime transportation clips.

Still Frames From This Clip

1939 8mm frame likely near San Francisco showing a large ship in a hazy bay, seen from a distant shore or waterfront viewpoint. — A large ship sits or moves slowly across a hazy bay in the opening frame.

Distant 1939 home-movie view of a large vessel in a bay, with funnels and rigging softened by haze and film grain. — The ship remains distant, its funnels and upper structure faint against the sky.

The vessel is framed low against pale water and sky, with visible 8mm texture.

Final contact-sheet quadrant is largely dark, with only faint film texture and minimal recoverable scene detail visible. — The last sampled frame appears mostly dark with little visible subject detail.

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