TORONTO CANADA WWII STREET SCENES HOME MOVIE 72672

Support Our Channel : / periscopefilm
This silent home movie dates to 1943 and shows street scenes in Toronto, Canada. At the 1:19:00 mark you will see various buildings adorned with patriotic flags and bunting, and you will also note the lack of car traffic. During the war emphasis was put on the use of public transportation including the trolley cars seen in many shots in this film.
Motion picture films don't last forever; many have already been lost or destroyed. We collect, scan and preserve 35mm, 16mm and 8mm movies -- including home movies, industrial films, and other non-fiction. If you have films you'd like to have scanned or donate to Periscope Film, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us via the link below.
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFilm.com

[@murdochhenderson2811]

Born in TO in 1935- This is one fabulous memory - The beautiful old buildings- many now gone. Simpsons and Eatons display windows alive with animation at this time of year. The classy streetcars with charcoal heaters in winter. The beautiful theatres for film and live performances. The memory of Yonge St from Center Island cottages to the Jolly Miller at Hogs Hollow and everything in between. The "Bobbies"- hordes of pedestrians and all the excitement around Union Station with it's many tracks and the marvelous huge steam locomotives. Thank you to the film recorder.

[@genghisron8334]

Thanks to your generation for giving it all away to the 3rd world hordes. Enjoy your golden years, thanks for leaving us FILTH

[@nutlover3609]

The future is now old man! Btw you dead now? Your like 100 or something now

[@andrewmorrison85]

NutLover360 you’re a total ass hole and can’t even do math.

[@simban00]

Toronto was a really beautiful city. From what I understand it began changing slightly in the 60's and then drastically in the 80's to the ugly mutation it has become today. And the guy that commented above is a most Splendid example

[@BuffaloRunQH]

I so enjoyed seeing the old Toronto I grew up in. Born in Dec. 1944 it was still much the same, including the zoo and school excursions to High Park. It was a time when people even in big cities still had a sense of community and police officers were friendly and trusted. Thank you to the person who posted this, it was most enjoyable to watch.

[@weltarchiv4]

It was when Canada was still an Anglo/French Nation State and not that multicultural hellhole of today.

[@sweeterman9243]

Michael Semchison damn old person: TECHNOLOGY IS REAL

[@therealsulaco]

Thanks for the racist comment, weltarchiv4. You have really added something of value to the world.

[@zohaibkhan9376]

r u dead

[@jackblack704]

Say that to women/black/asian/native/gay people. I'm sure that 1944 was much better for them

[@BadLactose]

This is amazing. It's really cool being able to recognize certain locations and see how much it has changed.

[@bernicegrossman7160]

Thank you so much for posting this. I was born in Toronto in 1927. Brought back such great memories.

[@janeblake5083]

I agree - just looking at those photos, I remember mom and I doing a 'day trip' and having lunch with my aunt, who worked at the bank on Yonge St... I haven't thought of that in years. Yes.. such great memories.

[@beaner2907]

You've seen so much change in your lifetime. I bet you have so many great stories!

[@jonathanupton4858]

This was filmed in 1944. At 1:03 there is a car with a 1943 rear plate (orange on black), but these plates were used for two years. Single plates, too-- you won't see any front plates. I know this is 1944 because at 0:42, there is a motorcycle going by with an orange plate. Motorcycles received orange plates for '44, whereas cars and trucks had to reuse '43 plates, but they validated them with a windshield decal for 1944. At 0:55, the parked car and the incoming car both have rectangular decals in the lower driver's corner of the front windshield.

[@beaner2907]

Films like this are pure gold! Thank you for sharing!

[@timdella92]

Looks so peaceful. You could almost forget that other major cities in Europe and Asia are being destroyed at the same time.

[@72defender]

Thank you for sharing this wonderful piece of history.

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Love our channel? Help us save and post more orphaned films! Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Even a really tiny contribution can make a difference.

[@mentallarry]

Amazing footage!!

[@maydom04]

Almost surreal to see Toronto colour footage this old...very fascinating.

[@ripthereverb]

Thank you for posting Always fascinated with local history and to see in video form is so great!

[@yo-yotension4613]

I was born in Toronto in ‘60 what I believe it is the last era when you can walk the street early as eight years old and not be afraid. Visiting Young and Dundas going to Sam the Record Man and arcades as a teenager as early as 12. It will never be the same again, when Toronto turned to new era. PS please stop comparing Toronto with New York or any other city. It is a unique place and it’s deserves the recognition.

[@sheltv100]

Queen's Park has not changed one bit. The CIBC building was the tallest back then.

[@031219400]

Thanks for sharing! Incredible stuff here. I really liked the police officers interactions with the citizens. Very nice and jovial

[@031219400]

+Marvin Martian nah I swallow bro

[@simban00]

That's when the served and protected now they enslave and order.

[@OofusTwillip]

On February 14, 1943, Jack Benny did his radio show from Toronto. It's on KZbin, and mentions some of the places in this video. It jokes about the Royal York Hotel and Union Station, and the (now closed) tunnel between them. Plus references to the Royal Norwegian Air Force, that had its training base at Toronto Island Airport while Norway was under Nazi occupation.

[@markjohnson9969]

The last scene with the schoolchildren at desks outside looks like the Forest School in High Park. I checked it out during Open Doors, and apparently it was a secluded school for children with tuberculosis, or maybe by 1943 for sick/undernourished children

[@blueforrester8459]

fantastic footage. I've never seen colour film of Toronto streets this old. exactly what year was this filmed? early 40s? except for a few recognisable buildings like Queens Park, Royal York hotel and the old CIBC building, it's unrecognisable. Toronto has changed so much in such a short time also culturally as well

[@tdunph4250]

@ Blue Forrester Unfortunately, Toronto for the most part, especially the downtown cores, has transformed into a Ghetto

[@alextoronto5840]

@@tdunph4250 ghetto ? explain.

[@georgesachs1017]

Reminded me of the city I knew as a boy. The city was more like a British or Scottish city then and much less like an American city as it is today.

[@sandordugalin8951]

+George Sachs Holy shit, are you like 90 years old?

[@gazkinz1]

+Don Break Seems like you should go back to 1943 with foul views like that

[@thewhatorwhy]

+George Sachs Cayn we puhlese dew something aboyyut the eyyratating ayycent peopphul hayve tohhday? It sounds more American and Californian than the Californian accents!! Ughh. And I prefer Scottish to British aka English because that's where Toronto's coldness and stifling sense of morality and pleasantry comes from.

[@sandordugalin8951]

Lol, racists.

[@gatheringleaves]

Yeah it definitely has that sort of feel to it, even though I've never been there, even in modern times!

[@marc21091]

A better looking city 75 years ago in 1943 than it is today. At 1:10 the street scene shows the fashion of the time - the TV series 'Bomb Girls' in real life. Toronto City Police had British-type helmets and uniforms.

[@oreosplease4076]

This is so cool

[@maydom04]

Wow!, this ia a real gem, not too much colour film of early Toronto. Please don't misinterpret what I am saying, but Toronto sure was "Anglo city deluxe" back then...but there appears to be a little asian girl in the last 10 seconds. Also, why does Old City Hall look so dark and grimy, is that the natural stone colour.....it was only about 45 years old at that time. I love the documetary aspect of this film, just ordinary people going about their routines, and I enjoyed the kids playing also.

[@DesolationAngel101]

Toronto's Chinatown dates way back to the turn of the century and has a rather colourful history in what is otherwise a rather low-key city. In the early 1900s, Toronto became a popular destination for Chinese immigrants and the rapid growth of their somewhat insular community often alarmed the residents of Toronto, although you would never be able to tell from looking at the boys standing next to the Asian girl in the film. :)

[@stevestruthers6180]

This clip is particularly special and valuable because colour movie film in 1943 was quite expensive and relatively hard to get even for the movie studios. It wasn't something that the average amateur photographer would have been able to acquire easily unless they were well-heeled. A lot of the colour footage from this era is not very good, from a technical and image-quality standpoint, but this movie clip is quite good. It's interesting to see how the Royal York Hotel and Union Station (both are seen at the beginning of the clip) haven't changed very much. Yes, Old City Hall in Toronto does have a dark, almost grimy brick colour, it's always looked like that.

[@steveallan2339]

Coal dust is the cause of the grime.

[@maydom04]

@@steveallan2339 thanks, that makes sense.

[@entertain402]

ah don't worry about so called racist comments...race is a fact of life..i remember in the early 70's scarboro, there was only 1 family of negros in our neighbourhood, and the family was virtually identical thought different ethnically; they were from africa, and the short father used to come to our grade school and help with teaching 'high jumps; he also took turns driving the boys to their hockey practice (catholic house league) early saturday mornings in the winter; i remember because he smoked, it was so early it was still dark, and i can still see his hands steering and holding a cigarette inside the car, with probably just his front window down a bit for air cuz it was freezing winters...children see race and they don't see it at the same time; prejudice is taught by evil people, but its not inside children's hearts

[@DanielHendrickson]

At 2:01 you can see The Soldiers' Tower at the University of Toronto. The Soldiers' Tower is a carillon and clock tower at the University of Toronto that commemorates members of the University who served in the World Wars. You can also see the Memorial Wall on the far left which is inscribed with the names of those that fell in the Great War. Attached to the Soldiers' Tower is Hart House, a major centre of student life.

[@bladder1010]

Very nice!

[@meusatrumtempestas]

It is a truly heartbreak to see what Toronto has become today.

[@mariocapistran7526]

One of the top 12 cities in the world?

[@zico739]

What, interesting?

[@StornowayCG]

What's wrong with it?

[@tdunph4250]

@ Laundrew There has been TOO MUCH change TOO FAST in Toronto and Canada, and North America in the last 20+ years and as a whole, society can't handle it.

[@tdunph4250]

@ TurfWar I think your KZbin name itself could explain some of what is wrong with it....Think about it

[@katydidnt3906]

No rampant obesity back then.

[@googleisretarded7618]

Go to a Canada Day event tomorrow and you will find a celebration of other countries, but not Canada. It will be as if the historic Canadian nation captured in this film never existed.

[@TheBlueyedblond]

I went to a Canada Day celebration a few years back. It was mostly Filipinos singing and dancing to their own culture. If not for the Canadian flag, I would never know it was Canada Day,

[@lupusdeum3894]

Damn, I remember most of this including those cattle and I haven't lived there for over 59 years! THANKS

[@JaneBreau]

Where were the cattle?

[@lupusdeum3894]

@@JaneBreau @3:35

[@brianmaclean7485]

@@JaneBreau Must be either the Riverdale Zoo (now Riverdale Farm) or the High Park Zoo. Probably the latter as there's adjacent footage of the Forest School in High Park.

[@johnkennedy3970]

nobody was overweight...they ate real food.

[@mtlicq]

That's right ! They ate all kinds of food, without a thought, no war on carbohydrates, people ate bread & potatoes & cake & rice & butter & sugar & peanut butter & fruits & no diet foods at all, and obesity was rare.

[@MoeGreensRightEye]

2:22 the best toys were ones like this

[@mtlicq]

that character acts like Dracula

[@glen6945]

TKS DAD AND UNCLE FOR COMING BACK FROM WW2

[@cinthia9602]

Neat

[@imannonymous7707]

the greatest generation really cool footage

[@hypno73]

Something it had back then was class...people were different, today we let in rift raft that has taken over like a cancer.

[@sheltv100]

We here in Canada do have our share of racist devils.

[@sebastianjames7423]

clearly we also had viscous racists like you back then too, just a matter of time before they die out and we can finally live with some peace

[@genghisron8334]

The whites are the ones being replaced. Look how much nicer it was then.

[@DavidYoung-je8mf]

@@sheltv100 you do realize that indigenous tribes had no problem trying to wipe out rival tribes

[@sheltv100]

@@DavidYoung-je8mf That is a white man's lie.

[@sarahjuliet9923]

is this film available as public domain footage that I can splice and use in a school film ?

[@revelationthe7sealsarecrac981]

Its all downtown Toronto I saw the court house bay and queen, saw yonge and queen, the hotel on front, union station

[@kylairene24]

the little girl at 4:04 in the pink shorts and white shirt looks very much like my grandmother. she was born in 1933 in toronto. is there any more info on that part of the video?

[@PeriscopeFilm]

+Kyla Irene No, we wish we had a time machine that could tell you...

[@fatih2017]

+Kyla Irene It's the High Park Forest School, if that helps.

[@kylairene24]

+lolsome dove thanks! i'll ask family and see if thats where she went :)

[@Teabone3]

That would be incredible if it was your grandmother

[@tiento8378]

Thanks for upload. Looks like Britain the police uniform

[@erics9754]

Canada was like England back then even in the early 60 and 70s before our traitor goverment sold us out.

[@englishman9020]

I thought Canada would look like america but really it looks more like the UK.

[@maestroCanuck]

@Red-Pill Bulgaria True, and as a life long Canadian I can tell you this country was better in the past. Even in the 1980s. Seriously. We lived a sweeter life here. This video is a wonderful look back at a past Canada that was the best Canada. Ironically, in wartime. I grew up in the 1960s and 70s with people just like those in this video. Life here was better then on many levels. We need to rid ourselves of our current establishment.

[@kknig7874]

Didn't see my Mon at Young and Queen, noticed most men are in Uniforn. Thing have changed in 80 years.

[@user-uk8lx4ub4t]

How nicely dressed people used to be compared to now.

[@Three60Mafia]

Jaywalking everywhere! Do not fear moving metal objects!

[@ddicin7759]

I didn't know that colour film was available to amateur filmmakers back then. Of course, there was Technicolor for hollywood movies but I would have thought that color film would have been beyond the reach of the average working stiff. Honestly, they should have kept the old look of the downtown; more coherent than the mishmash of styles you see today. Toronto should have continued using Stone and brick building materials at grade level. Glass and steel makes the place look sterile and cold.

[@stevestruthers6180]

You can be sure, though, that the colour film that was available for amateurs would have been quite expensive to buy and process, to say nothing of fairly hard to get. The Technicolor film that the movie studios used was quite complicated to shoot and process and that's one reason why most movies and films between 1935 and 1955 or so were released in black and white.

[@lazyorangehousecat9164]

Can I go back there, please?

[@spinach1999]

@2:35 in is that the home at 16 St. Vincent S that belonged to HH Holmes?

[@kenlompart9905]

No, I looked it up and the Vincent st home is bigger and seems to have a second story, same style though.

[@glen6945]

oooohhhhyes

[@michaeltroster9059]

I was born in Toronto in 1941, but left for professional reason in early 1972. Toronto was a great city then; not so sure now.

[@derick3482]

oh it's wonderful right now even better in some respect however it has a new name BROWNTOWN

[@GeorgesRecord]

nothing like it...

[@gatheringleaves]

It all seemed rather British, I say

[@minnah.k]

Well, it kinda was since Canada used to be colonized under Great Britain.

[@googleisretarded7618]

@@minnah.k We were a British nation in North America. That's how Canadians at the time thought of the country. It was part of our national identity.

[@wilfredruffian5002]

Sometimes "progress "is an illusion.

[@tdunph4250]

It's pretty amazing looking at all the character that these old buildings had in Toronto back then. Now all the condos and other building all look the same. All glass and cheap looking. Toronto has pretty well become a dump nowadays. Back then it had class and people had respect for each other.

[@barrybebenek8691]

What a beautiful city this once was. Green spaces. Open space. Compared to the concrete, violent, lifeless dead, shit-hole Toronto is now. Thank you for this video of the past. 🇨🇦

[@franki3Ru550]

How do they make it coloured?

[@PeriscopeFilm]

It was shot in Kodachrome color

[@bright_decision407]

The people don't look that much different from people in America.

[@derick3482]

looks like England

[@TorontoBoi]

Meanwhile, population increased 550% since then, but we have the exact same infrastructure and road & and sidewalk widths. Time to modernize Toronto.

[@sizone]

+Truth Monger ... what, Like mississauga, with 8 lane-wide roads? How'd that work out? Cant get anywhere there in under 30-45 minutes, and there's not much there to go to cuz its all full up in the same space as the city of Toronto with 1/3rd the number of people. Well done.

[@canman5060]

Back to the time when people spoke English with a totally foreign British accent !

[@zico739]

夜神月 No, it’s not.

[@Alsatiagent]

The accent is a little older than you think. Xenophobia, for most, is history.

[@bobbykiriakidis9753]

Love this. Amazing how sooty our buildings were during that era. Great that over the years we recognized our errors and stopped using coal

[@lifeishard7363]

Today we are completely modernized and rich one of top global cities

[@maydom04]

big deal

[@frankdiscussion2069]

lol... now it's a steaming cauldron of human waste

[@frankgarrett242]

We used to be a proper country.

[@miskatonicalumni5612]

Not a thing looks the same in 2023.

[@iorek4149]

Not a single brown or yellow face in sight. How the mighty have fallen.

[@Dman34565]

that's racist

[@mtlicq]

There was a lovely oriental girl at 4:02, probably Chinese because in 1944 Japanese Canadians were already in Canadian concentration camps. Now we have more lovely oriental people, adding intelligence to our country, and brown added heart and talent too.

[@zico739]

Mighty? Toronto was nothing special back then. Get over yourself, bigot.

[@entertain402]

the mighty were mighty alright...you got that part right, but then it all goes downhill...cheer up, you can always interbreed with the mighty

[@microtechmachineshop]

now look at toronto a giant dump

[@maestroCanuck]

Sure is, I won't set foot in that city if I can help it. Sad really, it was far better previously.

[@mtlicq]

????????

[@zico739]

Toronto is a leading world city now. Back then, it was fringe and irrelevant.

[@glen6945]

dontmatter the date we are allcanadians

[@timyumichuck9262]

Diversity is our strength

[@erics9754]

Lol.

[@adey88splace]

And undoing...

[@letsif]

It's depressing to read some of the racist comments here, where there are those who take any opportunity, to find ways to spew hatred.

[@EricLehner]

What you call "hatred" is appreciation for an earlier time when the political class was loyal to the interests of the community, rather than deciding to transform society, permanently, into something altogether different, without permission. The transformation is the greatest betrayal in Canada's history, and is just part of a pattern across the Western world. Liberal extremists have hijacked society - and plenty of good people are not happy about it.

[@sebastianjames7423]

No single group of immigrants "decided" to change society, hatred is in no way "appreciation", only bad people and vicious racists are upset at multiculturalism. Can't wait for the racists to die out so we can live in peace.

[@MrFreeGman]

It's more depressing to live in Toronto and contrast it to this video. Our parents sold us out for cheap labour and ethnic food, and brainwashed everyone to believe it's a good thing that we're devolving into a third world country. Diversity is our strength! Why you ask? Shut up you evil racist bigot and give more of your hard earned money to your new neighbours so that they're in a good position to replace us when we die off.

[@erics9754]

Then the Japanese must be the most racist as they have kept a mostly homogenous society and their culture intact. I guess European built countries do not get that right. Sorry this video proves Canada was not multicultural is was groups of Europeans who built it. People looked a lot happier then.

[@erics9754]

Be careful what you wish for.@@sebastianjames7423

[@thewhatorwhy]

Looks as cold, ugly and monstrous as Russia. Spanish architecture ... is what we need. It would be a breath of fresh air and ... COLOUR!!!

[@thewhatorwhy]

Marvin Martian huh?