Made by Eric Hall, this scenic travelogue documents a trip along the Apennine Mountains in Italy.   Title – Astride the Apennines Title – Photographed recorded and edited by J Eric Hall The film opens with a map of continental Europe is shown. The filmmaker’s wife, Mrs Hall, and a young man, presumably their son, consult a large paper map, following which a pointer on a map of Italy indicates a route down the west coast to Rome, then inland across the east and up the Adriatic coast....

Made by Eric Hall, this scenic travelogue documents a trip along the Apennine Mountains in Italy.   Title – Astride the Apennines Title – Photographed recorded and edited by J Eric Hall The film opens with a map of continental Europe is shown. The filmmaker’s wife, Mrs Hall, and a young man, presumably their son, consult a large paper map, following which a pointer on a map of Italy indicates a route down the west coast to Rome, then inland across the east and up the Adriatic coast. Postcards with various illustrations are seen, including a stone castle or gate, a girl carrying a jug on her head, and a round bottle of wine with two glasses. In Italy, women walk along a road with large copper jugs balanced on their heads. The pointer indicates Potenza, a town in southern Italy. From a hillside, the young man looks out across a valley at a mountainous region covered with trees. Ramshackle apartment buildings line a harbour where rowing boats are moored. Fishermen untangle nets along the harbour walls and holidaymakers relax in the sunshine. People swim, snorkel and paddle inflatable boats near a small jetty. Market stalls sell clothing and a large array of paintings, mostly landscapes. In mountainous countryside, the ruins of a small fort are surrounded by large blocks of white stone, probably marble. Men and boys carve the blocks in two using a wire run by a motor. The slabs are then polished using a buffer and the pieces loaded onto an ox-drawn cart. A selection of vases and ornaments is on display, and a stonemason carves a large figure, possibly of Jesus. Tourists visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the surrounding buildings. In the town, an array of colourful fruit is for sale from a street market.  In the countryside, a small village comprising modest houses and a church is built onto the hillside. A young woman smiles for the camera and a man tethers a cow to a tree. A vast landscape of rolling brown hills is seen, and carts drawn by oxen and donkeys go past carrying piles of hay. Bales are lifted into a hay loft by men using pulleys. Women fill large copper jugs from a public tap and carry back to their homes on their heads. Outside one house is a large, neat pile of logs and steps lead up steeply to more dwellings. In a central square, people chat and a man fixes metal items such as a saucepan. Mrs Hall looks at brass jugs and kettles for sale. A guidebook titled ‘The Sunny Adriatic’ is shown. In a harbour, large barrels of red sandy earth are filled by shirtless men and loaded onto a boat by a crane. Fishermen mend their nets while holidaymakers sail boats and small rafts and play on the beach. Mrs Hall strolls around the attractive flowerbeds and lawn of a small garden. From a moving car, views of the countryside whizz past. In one field, labourers load their harvest onto a large ox-drawn cart. Barges pass slowly along a river. A city gate in some disrepair and the corner of a castle battlement are seen. A man shows the area around Venice, to Padua in the west and Belluno in the north. Following some details of the city’s historical buildings, boats bob in the water by St Mark’s Square. The canals are seen from a moving boat, with their many small bridges and other gondolas. The main streets and squares of the city are thronged with people. A display of colourful glass ornaments is followed by glassblowers at work. A woman sits making lace while elsewhere a man has an easel set up and paints the view across St Mark’s Square. The film ends with another look at the canals and gondolas, Mrs Hall by the water’s edge and a gondolier asleep in his boat. Title – Astride the Apennines Title – The End