This travel film by Eric Hall documents a long journey to see a historic Turkish bridge in Mostar, Yugoslavia, stopping to take in the sights of Balkan cities such as Sarajevo and Ljubljana along the way. The film opens with a series of bridges. The first spans a canal, possibly in Venice, and is being crossed by several pedestrians including one sailor. Next is a bridge over a wide river with two square towers along it, and the final bridge is a small wooden one over a brook shaded by...

This travel film by Eric Hall documents a long journey to see a historic Turkish bridge in Mostar, Yugoslavia, stopping to take in the sights of Balkan cities such as Sarajevo and Ljubljana along the way. The film opens with a series of bridges. The first spans a canal, possibly in Venice, and is being crossed by several pedestrians including one sailor. Next is a bridge over a wide river with two square towers along it, and the final bridge is a small wooden one over a brook shaded by trees.  The commentary notes that the filmmaker’s interest in bridges may have been aroused by this last bridge, which is a packhorse bridge near his home in Yorkshire. A map is then shown with the location of Mostar, Yugoslavia, and an illustration of the bridge which is the subject of the film. Title - Journey to a Bridge The blue, white and red stripes and red star of the Yugoslav flag are seen, alongside a guide book for the city of Mostar. Title – Produced by J Eric Hall Mary Hall, the filmmaker’s wife stands overlooking a vast plain, her headscarf blowing in the wind as she takes photos. Her husband Eric, the filmmaker, gets out of the car. On a map of Europe, a pencil indicates a route down to Trieste.  In a harbour, a man leans over the edge of his boat to clean the outside. A steamship is seen at anchor and elsewhere in the harbour, wooden crates of fruit are unloaded. A steam train goes under a bridge surrounded by green countryside. On a dusty road, a horse drawn cart with three people riding in it trundles along and men lead horses carrying wicker baskets up the road. The pencil on the map indicates a route to Ljubljana, Zagreb, Banja Luka, Travnik, Sarajevo and finally to Mostar. The road winds through a valley flanked by rolling green hills. Guidebooks are seen for Yugoslavia, followed by the location of Ljubljana on the map. In Ljubljana, pedestrians cross a large open square in front of a grand building with large columns. Trams go past behind the square. Spires are seen above smaller buildings. An ornamental fountain has statues of male figures carrying jugs from which streams of water pour.  The Halls’ car is parked at the side of the road, nearby which a family of two adults and four children weeds their field. A woman is seen carrying a large wicker basket on her back. In another field, four women wearing brightly patterned skirts and headscarves work the ground using hoes. A car drives along the deserted road, with pine forests and mountains in the distance. The location of Zagreb is shown on the map. A woman in a summer dress walks towards modern apartment blocks surrounded by unfinished roads. On a small hill known as the Upper Town, the spires of Zagreb’s gothic cathedral can be seen, surrounded by round towers and fortress-like buildings. In the centre of a large square is a column topped with a statue of the Virgin Mary. The streets are busy, with many women carrying wicker baskets.  A man pushes a large trolley piled with wooden crates of tomatoes. At the open market square, women sell their produce from sacks and baskets, including mushrooms, onions, grain, bread, vegetables and wicker baskets. Most women have their hair tied back in a scarf.  The pencil indicates a route from Zagreb along the motorway that connects the city to Belgrade.  In a small village, whose streets are more dilapidated than in the city, women stand in doorways and one looks in a shop window. The commentary notes that from here on in the journey, Turkish influences in dress and general atmosphere became much more noticeable. On a country road, a woman drives a horse-drawn cart. Four children ride with her and one girl holds up a newspaper. Away from the road, a small boy sits barefoot in the grass. Other carts go past along the road and one driver winks to the camera. A white church can be seen across a field in the background. In Banja Luka, diners sit at tables outside a hotel on a covered patio area with white columns along one side. A poster advertises a musical concert. People bicycle and stroll past a large grand building with statues of female figures above the doorway. A sign reads “Narodna Biblioteka”, meaning “National Library.” Groups of women and girls, some in traditional dress, pose for photographs. Shop signs are seen in both Cyrillic and Latin scripts. Men sit under umbrellas and shine shoes. Mary Hall walks down a street with a large white 16th century mosque behind her, the tall minaret of which is black and pointed at the top. Another mosque of similar design is seen. Mary Hall inspects the doorway, which is decorated with Arabic calligraphy above it. Signs point to Banja Luka in one direction and Jajce in the other.  Cars drive along a rough dirt road in a valley and Mary Hall pauses by the roadside to take a photo of the river at the bottom. Further downstream, the fast, wide river turns a wooden waterwheel. Piles of logs sit by the mountainside and a man feeds one into a small furnace built into the rock face in order to make charcoal. Illustrations are seen of people on rafts on the river, followed by the view over the River Pliva, on which float small waterwheels attached to huts which house small sawmills. Near the town of Jajce, the river tumbles over a huge waterfall. On the road out of the town, a flock of sheep crosses the road and three small children appear, who the commentary notes had driven their sheep into the road in order to stop the car and ask for some sweets. A small hut near the river houses a simple water turbine, after which a huge waterfall is seen from above. Illustrations are shown of traditional folk dances. Near the river, local people in national dress dance in circles, with the women wearing white skirts with red or black waistcoats and embroidered headscarves. The men wear similar outfits with trousers and black caps.  Women in similar dress walk up a road and an elderly woman spins wool yarn from a distaff as she walks. Her nimble hands are seen close-up as she works. Elsewhere, a younger woman sits on a blanket in the shade doing the same. A family is seen sitting in the garden outside their simple house. The town of Travnik is seen on the map. On the hillside behind the settlement, large white letters spell out the name of the Yugoslav President, Tito. People are seen walking and cycling along quiet streets and another mosque of similar design to those in Banja Luka is seen, with a bell tower next to it.  On the map, the location of Sarajevo is indicated. An outdoor market is seen from behind a low wall with metal railings. Behind the market is a large mosque with green domes and a black-tipped minaret. The carpeted inside of a mosque is briefly shown. Vendors sell handmade pottery at a small market near the crumbling walls of an old building. Copper jugs and pans are for sale outside a shop in a small street. The details of a fine hand-beaten copper plate and a coffee pot are shown.  The Gavrilo Princip Bridge is seen from a distance and the commentary relates Princip’s part in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914. Mary Hall takes in her surroundings and a set of footprints are seen in the concrete pavement, marking the spot from which Princip took his shot.  On the road out of Sarajevo, men drive horses along the dusty track. A deserted village is seen crumbling on one hillside. A graveyard with carved tombs is seen and the commentary notes that they were left by the Bogomils, a religious sect who lived in Bosnia hundreds of years earlier.  The River Neretva is seen from the banks. A man in a patched coat holds up a bottle of water before carrying on up the road. On the outskirts of Mostar is a modern steel bridge across the river. From the old town, the old Turkish bridge which the filmmaker had come to see is visible. Mary Hall sits outside a café and drinks fresh lemonade. At the top of steep stone steps is a white stone Orthodox church on the hillside overlooking the town. Near the old bridge are houses painted red, green and purple. The steep arch of the old bridge is shown. The copper plate and coffee pot are seen again atop a map of Yugoslavia. The film ends with further views of the bridge and of people swimming in the bright blue river below, as well as sailing motor boats. Title – Journey to a Bridge Title – Produced by J Eric Hall Title – The End