Vistafjord Exclusive Cruises

From the collection of

Wessex Film and Sound Archive is based in Winchester. Providing the opportunity to see and hear history, the archive contains nearly 40,000 film, video and sound recordings relating to Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, ranging from late Victorian times to the present day. It includes both amateur and professional material, local newsreels, military and maritime subjects, as well as footage produced by individuals, businesses and organisations.

Vistafjord Exclusive Cruises

Wessex Film and Sound Archive
Southampton
1975-01-01
Sound
21m

Enjoy this kaleidoscope of images taken aboard the MS Vistafjord - for an exclusive holiday cruise setting sail from Southampton

This promotional film blends live-action with still montages to promote cruises aboard the Norwegian America Line's ship, MS Vistafjord. Every aspect of life onboard is covered as well as stops at various cruise destinations. The commentary is a dialogue between two narrators who together extoll the joys and benefits of an exclusive cruise on the Vistafjord as well as pointing out all the facilities onboard ship.

Launched in 1972 at the Swan Hunter shipyards on Tyneside, the MS Vistafjord was, at the time this promotional film was released, owned by the Norwegian America Line. A combination of cruise ship and ocean liner, her maiden voyage, in 1973, was from Oslo to New York and she was considered to be among the most luxurious cruise ships in the world. After a patchy profit record, Norwegian America Lines sold her to Cunard in 1983, with whom she remained until being sold to Saga Cruises in 2004. Sold again in 2014, her new owners plan to turn her into a floating hotel called Oasia.

Near Your Local Cinema

Local goods for local people! Screen advertising wasn’t all national brands and chain stores.

Purpose-built cinemas began appearing around Britain shortly before WWI, booming in popularity during the War and developing into the ‘picture palaces’ of the 1920s - when adverts jostled for space alongside newsreels before the main feature. Local businesses were quick to see the potential of a big screen and a captive audience to promote their wares.

While they didn’t have access to the budgets of the national brands, regionally-specific businesses had the benefit of that personal touch. Products and services evolved over time, but that scratchy ad for your local Indian restaurant, so integral to the cinema-going experience into the 1990s, had its roots in the booming entrepreneurship of the industry many decades before.