The Open Road (1926)

The Open Road is an interesting travel piece of a road trip from Land's End to John O'Groats. Claude Friese-Greene started to record a car journey covering the length of Britain on film. Primarily considered as a perfect promotion tool for his emerging color film process, whereby alternate frames were tinted red and blue/green, Greene's journey brought the countryside to life, enlightening natural color to an audience used to black and white. Initially planned to be shown weekly in cinemas, the 26 short episodes were combined to form an exclusive documentary of life in Britain between the wars. Now digitally renovated by the BFI, this compilation of the highlights is a perfectly watchable flick. Opening in Land's End, Greene's journey takes in Plymouth, a hunt on Exmoor, the docks in Cardiff, and the pleasure beach at Blackpool. In Scotland, Greene records shipbuilding on the Clyde, the banks of Loch Lomond, and Stirling and Edinburgh Castles, before returning to London.