Last Updated on 01/14/2014 by Felix Esser
In 1927, during the Roaring Twenties, many were making history in the old town of London. The first transatlantic phone call was made from New York, Christopher Stone became the first British DJ after presenting a record program with the BBC, the first ever Women’s World Chess Championship took place, and Alfred Hitchcock’s silent movie “The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog” was released.
That same year, cinematographer Claude Friese-Greene, who returned to London the year before after an 840-mile road trip through England filming his failed travelogue film, “The Open Road,” captured images of the city and its residents in color in a breathtaking film entitled, “London in 1927.”
Eighty-five years later, filmmaker Simon Smith got a hold of the old footage and decided to retrace Friese-Greene’s steps. In an attempt to show just how much (or how little) the city has changed, he recreated the old shots, but with London as it is now, and set the two footages side-by-side.
The result is a nostalgic video, accompanied by Pachelbel’s Canon in D, that proves that the old town really hasn’t changed all that much. Despite its few modern additions like the egg-shaped tower, the Gherkin, London is still pretty much the same–from its easily recognizable landmarks to the hustle and bustle of the shoppers in Petticoat Lane to its inhabitants going about their business. That is, at least, on the outside.
Check out the video after the jump.
Via Photoxels
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