300 M.P.H. Road (1961)

Point of view M/S from a moving car as we approach the M1. We drive onto the motorway as commentator says "But on these new wide roads one gets no sensation of speed, and even at 75 miles an hour you might well be cruising"; C/U of a man's shoe in the car, pressing the accelerator to the floor.

Point of view M/S from the car of the almost empty motorway again as commentator says "So let's try it at 300 miles an hour". The film speeds up so that we zip along at a tremendous rate in the middle lane, passing a few cars and lorries; and honking the horn so a truck moves out of our way. L/S from a bridge as we see traffic speed past.

M/S at a service station as our car (an Austin A55 Cambridge Mark I) pulls up and is filled with petrol by a girl in a balaclava; this is all still in speeded up time. C/U of the petrol pump meter spinning round, then our car drives off again.

More motorway speeding shots; commentator says "There are 180 bridges on the M1 and as we can see, even at this speed, they don't interfere with the driver's vision" - presumably this was a concern in early motorway days. We come to the end of the motorway (sign is seen) and the driver puts his foot on the brake.

Fade into high angle daylight M/S of Piccadilly Circus at normal speed. Point of view M/S from the front of the car as the film is speeded up again as we zip around Eros, and appear to narrowly miss crashing into several black taxi cabs - help! High angle M/S of Piccadilly Circus, this time the scene is in fast motion; fade out.

Note: Possibly a modern 1961 version of the famous film of a speeded-up train journey from London to Brighton.
FILM ID:135.02

A VIDEO FROM BRITISH PATHÉ. EXPLORE OUR ONLINE CHANNEL, BRITISH PATHÉ TV. IT'S FULL OF GREAT DOCUMENTARIES, FASCINATING INTERVIEWS, AND CLASSIC MOVIES. http://www.britishpathe.tv/

FOR LICENSING ENQUIRIES VISIT http://www.britishpathe.com/

British Pathé also represents the Reuters historical collection, which includes more than 136,000 items from the news agencies Gaumont Graphic (1910-1932), Empire News Bulletin (1926-1930), British Paramount (1931-1957), and Gaumont British (1934-1959), as well as Visnews content from 1957 to the end of 1984. All footage can be viewed on the British Pathé website. https://www.britishpathe.com/