more Saigon 1940's film reel clips
I tried to identify the locations, but many clips were less than a second and my eyes just aren’t that good. I left blank the locations I couldn’t identify. If you know any places I missed, please be kind enough to list them in the comments.
0:00 Starts off with a destroyer in a bay or perhaps up the Saigon river which separates District 1 from Districts 2 and 4.
0:07-0:16 shows what Nguyen Hue looked like before it became a tourist walking street. This was the center of taxation for the region where you would pay your taxes before unloading at the Messageries Maritimes docks in District 4 for distribution around Southern Indochina.
0:16 Bến Thành market in District 1
0:21 the exterior gate of the Presidential Palace
0:25 The Saigon Opera House
0:29 Hotel Continental
0:30 the street through the parks as you approach the Presidential Palace
0:51 Saigon had a fully functioning public rail system
0:56 Chinatown
1:01 Nguyen Hue walking towards the Ho Chi Minh People’s Committee Building
1:07 Countryside
1:16 Chinatown
1:37 Negotiating with street vendors
1:41 Political Independence sign, the Independence movement was strong after the Japanese left but before the French returned. This movement built momentum until the battle of Điện Biên Phủ when the French left. We see some political graffiti along with what appears to the inspection and clean up of a bombed out building.
2:02 Political poster of Ho Chi Minh which says “President Ho Forever”
2:15 This appears to be another bombed building.
2:24 The restoration of the French flag flying over a government building.
2:35 A quick glimpse of Notre Dame Cathedral