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The Open Road (1926)

To motor through Britain with Friese-Greene from Land's End to John O'Groats: 

In 1924 Claude Friese-Greene (cinematographer and son of moving-image pioneer William) embarked on an intrepid road trip from Land's End to John O'Groats. He recorded his journey on film, using an experimental colour process. Entitled The Open Road, this remarkable travelogue was conceived as a series of 26 short episodes, to be shown weekly at the cinema. 

The car sets out from Land's End and the first startling image is that of the artist Lamorna Birch at work in Lamorna Cove. St Michael's Mount and St Ives follow before arriving at Plymouth. The journey continues through South Devon depicting picture postcard villages and seaside resorts, then on to Exmoor where a hunt is in progress, Wells Cathedral and the beach at Weston-super-Mare.

In Cardiff we see the city centre from the top of a tram, a student rag and the Docks. Cardiff Castle shows a fine example of Claude's use of red and blue-green subjects to illustrate the colour process - the little girl in a red coat and hat climbs steps where peacocks wander into shot. In direct contrast, the mining villages provide a means to experiment with time-lapse photography.

The Wedgwood Pottery provides the only internal sequence in the film - the potter at his wheel and the ladies at work in the painting room.The Pleasure Beach at Blackpool provides fascinating images of the popular resort, followed by the more robust activities of the climbers at Borrowdale.

In Scotland Claude celebrates the art of the weavers at Kilbarchan before moving on to the industrial heart of Glasgow (featuring shipbuilding on the Clyde), the shores of Loch Lomond, Stirling Castle and the harbour at Oban. A wonderful panning shot of the bay then leads into close-ups of the fish market and the herring girls at work.

We reach the most northerly point of the journey at John O'Groats, with an elderly gatekeeper showing the way up to the entrance of the famous John O'Groats Hotel. 

'These beautiful novelties will make your audience gasp with wonder and keep your patrons talking about them for weeks.'

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