Kuttner’s unedited film ran about 14 minutes. It was (almost) one continuous shot of the trip down Market Street, from around 8th Street to the turnaround at the Ferry Building.
There are two different prints of Kuttner’s film on the internet. The first can be found at http://www.archive.org/details/TripDown1905 and has very crisp picture quality. Unfortunately, several sections of film have sprocket hole problems that cause the picture to roll. And roll. And roll. Needless to say, this becomes annoying very quickly. The ending is also missing.
The other print, which can be seen at http://www.sfmuseum.org/loc/trip.html has the ending intact, but the picture quality is poor.
The version you are about to see here is a composite of those two prints. The rolling-picture sections have been edited out, and the ending has been reattached. In addition, the film is no longer silent; a ragtime musical track has been added. This new version clocks in at just over five minutes.
You’ll see what few cars there are zigging and zagging all over the road. A horse-drawn wagon leisurely pulls away from the curb, directly into the path of an oncoming cable car. A young man rides east on his bicycle (while looking west), narrowly misssing a startled pedestrian. Kids chase after cars, attempting to hop onto the back bumper. And pedestrians dart back and forth across Market Street’s 125-foot width, having never heard of a crosswalk.
Suddenly the traffic on 21st century Market Street doesn’t seem so bad!
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ABBREVIATED VERSION OF KUTTNER'S FILM
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