San Francisco’s 'F' Market Line Pt. 1 (DVD-R) > Reviews
These DVDs are an in-depth review of a tramline which is still flourishing, the ‘F’ line in San Francisco, a heritage tramway utilising an array of PCC cars painted in various colour schemes representing various American systems, some long since abandoned, together with ‘Peter Witt’ cars bought from Milan.
Part One deals with the original route from 17th/Castro, down Market Street to the Transbay Terminal and Part Two the extension to the Embarcadero and Fisherman’s Wharf. We also ride to the depot at Balboa Park and time is taken to show the famous cable cars in operation. The commentary is very informative and includes the history of the PCC fleet in each of the systems depicted and the origin of the car being filmed.
We are told that a total of seven hours of film was taken which was edited down to the 2 hours depicted on the final result. I feel this could have been edited down to one DVD, possibly longer than one hour but certainly not two. The cameraman spends more than 5 minutes at some of the stops filming the cars passing which seems unnecessary, and sometimes boring, and there is a need for some further editing, mainly of street names.
As someone who has ridden the line, it brought back pleasant memories of my visit. If you are interested in PCC cars, anything to do with American tramways or are about to visit San Francisco, then I would suggest you purchase these DVDs as they are well presented despite my criticism.
RBM.
Return to information page
