On a short professional trip to the Agfa Gevaert factory in Antwerp in May 1972 to view some new X-ray equipment, film-maker Dr. Frank McDowelll shot some truly beautiful footage. In Antwerp he explores the neon-lit city and lingers on some glinting diamonds in a jewellery shop. Panoramas from the observation lounge of his hotel scan the city skyline. On a sight-seeing trip to Ghent he visits the Gothic Cathedral of St Savon and the River Lys. Visually, the highlight of the trip is Bruges, particularly a boat-trip around its network of canals lined with step-gabled houses, patrician palaces and spires. 

In Belgium 1972, McDowell’s keen eye seeks out detail in every location -aerial shots of gleaming planes, construction sites, heraldic banners fluttering on medieval streets, delicate lace in a shop window, schoolchildren sketching in a quiet square, a bicycle gliding along by the canal, and the endless avenue of trees leading back through Knokke to the coast where the keen sailor scans the marinas and docks of Zeebrugge and Ostend. The final shot of the film shows the landing gear of the plane as he touches down on the runway, home once more.

Dr. Frank McDowell