This film is part of the C.H. Wood collection and chronicles the journey of a newly built Valiant car from the factory in Australia, across Europe, and finishing in Land's End in Cornwall. Title-Valiant Journey A Castrol Film. Title-Produced with the co-operation of Chrysler Australia, Ltd. The film begins in a Chrysler factory where men are working on the bodies of the cars. They are sanding and soldering the bodywork, lowering the body onto the engines and finally painting and washing...

This film is part of the C.H. Wood collection and chronicles the journey of a newly built Valiant car from the factory in Australia, across Europe, and finishing in Land's End in Cornwall. Title-Valiant Journey A Castrol Film. Title-Produced with the co-operation of Chrysler Australia, Ltd. The film begins in a Chrysler factory where men are working on the bodies of the cars. They are sanding and soldering the bodywork, lowering the body onto the engines and finally painting and washing them. The voiceover says the Valiant car is being washed and cleaned for a journey across Europe. The scene changes to Pathenos in Greece with the Acropolis visible on the hill and the town spread out below it. There are lingering shots of tourists wandering around the ancient ruins and then a shot of many boats tied up in the harbour. There are more scenes of the countryside, the locals, people wandering along the seafront and then the Valiant driving onto a ferry and heading to Italy. A glass blower is in his workshop making pieces with the help of his assistant. The voiceover says that master glass blowers make glass items for museums or even for our own sitting rooms. There is a brief shot of a shop full of glass objects. Next to Venice where the gondoliers sail by with customers in their gondolas; the shots are taken from the land as well as from the water. The voiceover says the Rialto Bridge is where Shakespeare wrote about the merchants. Many commercial gondolas sail by or tie up at the side of the water to unload their goods. There is a shot of the Valiant driving out into the countryside and the voiceover says that not everything is `la dolce vita' for the peasants; there are shots of old houses, people riding horses in a field and a man and a boy picking grapes. There are further shots of an old woman washing clothes in a river and some other women wading through the water with heavy baskets on their heads. On the island on Capri tourists and locals wander around the busy streets, while there are also shots of the vernacular train that links the harbour and the hills. In the following scene the Valiant is parked with Vesuvius in the background and this is followed by shots of Pompeii; the voiceover gives a constant history of the places mentioned. The following shots are taken at the Tivoli gardens where there are lingering shots of a huge `waterfall circus' and the gardens which are full of people. In the next section the Valiant drives across the Alps and into Switzerland. There are shots from above looking down at the winding roads and shots of hikers walking across bridges. Then the Valiant drives into Zurich where the voiceover talks about the world's most sophisticated shopping street- Bahnhofstrasse. Following this the Valiant drives to France where the scene opens with a wide shot of a huge estate at the end of a long, driveway. Then there is a shot from one end of the long, tree-lined road looking back at the huge house. There is also a shot of Chateau Chenonceau with its arches reaching across the river and some lingering shots of a village and the surrounding countryside. The scene cuts to a sports ground, which the voiceover says, will hold the 24-hour Le Monde Sports Car race. There are people in the stands and wandering around the grounds as well as lots of advertising for Castrol and Firestone. The car owners do the last checks and polish the cars before the race. The shots are taken from the spectators' stand and follow the drivers as they run over to their cars that are parked on the track and then race to get ahead. There is a point-of-view shot taken from the driver's seat as the car is racing along the track. Suddenly the shot changes so that it is a regular car and it is on the street of Paris. There are shots from the top of the Eiffel Tower and the other well-known sights. The scene changes to England where the Valiant is driving along Piccadilly Circus in London; it passes all of the famous sights. A huge crowd of spectators have gathered at Buckingham Palace to watch the Queen Mother come out in a carriage, whilst Queen Elizabeth rides behind her on a horse. There are some shots of a very busy Kensington Market including many stalls, customers, vendors and the local area. Then the location changes to the countryside with shots of pigs and farmer stacking bales of hay. The final shots are from Plymouth where visitors wander around the shop and the harbour and can take the car ferry to an adjacent village. Finally the Valiant arrives at Land's End where a sign points out to sea in different directions. Title-Photographed by Lloyd Buchanan, Edited by John Richardson and Peter Cleever, Commentary by Wilfred Thomas Title-Produced by Llyod Buchanan Studios Melbourne-Australia for Title-Castrol