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Trip to North Wales on the St Elvies (1902)

A steamship tour along the picturesque coast from Liverpool to the Menai Straits.

Non-Fiction 1902 14 mins Silent

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Overview

This unusually long Mitchell and Kenyon film is something special: an ambitious seagoing 'phantom ride' taking us through the mouth of the Mersey, around the North Wales coast and into the Menai Straits. It was one of the most widely seen of Mitchell & Kenyon's non-fiction films, screening around the UK in a successful break from their usual 'local films for local people' approach.

The St Elvies ran between Liverpool and Llandudno until 1902 - this film (or parts of it) may even show the ferry's final passenger voyage that September. A charming animated opening features the letters of the title dancing around to form the name of the first section. More intertitles appear throughout to indicate progress along the route (the final three sections of the film have no intertitles, suggesting that these sections may have been offcuts). Intertitles are very rare in Mitchell and Kenyon's surviving films, though we can't be certain that this is because M&K seldom used them. It's possible that these particular titles were added later (we know the film was still being screened some years after it was first shot). It's also possible that other films in the collection - which were found as negatives, rather than viewing prints - don't reflect the exact form in which they were originally seen by audiences.

Genres
Non-Fiction
Released
1902
Country
United Kingdom
Location
LiverpoolLlandudnoBangorMenai Strait/Afon Menai
Language
English

Subjects

St Elvies (steamer) Passenger ships Sailboats Rowing boats Steam launches Headlands Jetties Seagulls