Film of picturesque Venice in Italy from 1963

This vintage home movie features a standard 8 film which was taken in the picturesque city of Venice in Italy sometime during the year 1963.

Venice in Italy is a very popular tourist attraction these days((Well, it is at normal times )) and this was obviously the case in the past because this is the third film on Vintage Home Movies which has featured that city. The other two films were taken in 1954 and 1970, and so this film sits chronologically nicely between those two having been filmed in 1963.

The film is good quality, having retained a lot of its original colour and definition although the conversion to digital has marred that slightly. It is part of a longer film of a caravan holiday a family took, which also included footage taken on the Lakes of Italy and some shots passing through a tunnel in the mountains on a railway.

Still shots from Venice in Italy

Here are some stills taken from the film which shows the general good quality of the images on this standard 8 film.

Film of Venice in Italy from 1963

The film starts with some quite standard shots taken from the water in Venice showing the very famous buildings and bridges of that city. These sights are so well known that I had to do no Internet research at all to find the location the film was shot in – during the opening few moments it is completely obvious where the cameraman was.

As the film progresses, it’s apparent that the photographer has featured the architecture and sights of Venice in this film rather than their family. There are a few shots of the children, naturally, but the majority of the film concentrates on the buildings and sights of the city. The film is augmented by this, and more so because the photographer seems to know how to take a good movie film; there are long pans and no jerky movement which mar some of the more amateur efforts.

An interesting aspect of the film is that the photographer also features the shopping district of Venice, which I don’t think I’ve seen before in a vintage home movie. This brings home the fact that this is not just a tourist destination – people live, work and shop here as well.

The only other element which would have enhanced the film would have been sound – it would have been great to hear the hustle and bustle of the city and the orchestra playing in the gallery captured at the end of the film to get a real sense of what the original visitors found all those years ago.