Low-rise buildings – not a skyscraper in sight. Ford cars and electric trams. People dressed in clothes unique to their ethnicities. Rickshaws operated by a runner as the main form of transport for many. These were common sight in Singapore back in 1938.
This video, titled Singapore – Crossroads of the East, was filmed in 1938 and is part of the Travel Film Archive. The Travel Film Archive is a selection of films that were produced between 1900 – 1970 to showcase countries around the world. Each video gives us the viewer insight into the world of the past, a world that most of us today have never lived through and probably would never be able to fully understand.
It is amazing how much the country has changed since the production of the film a good 70 odd years ago. Being a sucker for all things of the past, I was most fascinated, yet saddened to spot places featured in the video that no longer exist today, for instance, the Raffles Square – an area surrounded by colonial buildings with Ford cars parked in the middle.
You may view the whole collection of Travel Film Archive videos on YouTube.
How different does your own country look?
Source: Travel Film Archive
