Phantom Ride through Southport (1902)

A headlong tram ride passing Southport's finest emporia.

Filmed from the open platform of what seems to be a tram, this is a somewhat speedy version of a favourite early film form, the 'phantom ride' - a journey shot from some kind of moving transport, usually a train or tram. As it passes, the camera takes in the drapers, milliners and provision merchants who populated the genteel arcades of the Lancashire seaside resort.