James Fitzpatrick's Travel Talks

I discovered James Fitzpatrick’s Travel Talks on TCM where they played as filler between films. I loved them all a great deal since they showed the normally black and white world of the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s to be alive with color.

The Travel Talks were independently produced by Fitzpatrick. They were released in one form or another over a period of twenty years with the last being done for Paramount in their Vista Vision process. Almost 300 shorts were produced and now the Warner Archive has released 3 sets with 60 films on each of them.

I don’t know where to begin or what to say other than this set is really cool. Watching the films is very much the cliché of taking a trip into another place and time. Fitzpatrick's films transport us in a way that many other similar films never do. We see places that you don't really see in other films of the period. For example his films made after World War 2 show the towns and cities in ways that other films don't- they are damaged places that are alive. There is no stentorian narration to talk about loss or the cost of the war-it's simply this is how things are- alive and vibrant.

I think the reason that Fitzpatrick’s films work as well as they do is they never feel staged. Where most other travelogues of the period feel like they were always focused on some event the Travel Talks are about local color and life as it is. The films feel as if the film crew just showed up and started filming and then then things happened or didn’t. Sometimes we’re just left with the beauty of the land. You never know what you are going to get and that makes the films all the more special.

I love these films a great deal. When I got the discs I put the first disc on to see what they looked like and found myself three hours later contemplating starting the second disc.

Yea these sets are those kind of time losers.

These are sets where you say you're going to nibble and find you've had a meal. I love these films because they blend together to be something special. For however long I watch I drift away and the world becomes something far away. Its a vacation in one's living room.

These are some of my favorite DVDs of the year. Highly recommended

In Transit (2015) Tribeca 2015

IN TRANSIT is one of the final projects worked on by Albert Maysles. Working with several other people they document Amtraks Empire Builder the busiest long distance run in the US between Seattle and Chicago.  The film blends trips in either direction into one long journey.

An American version of IRON MINISTRY which played at The New York Film Festival last year this is little more than an observational look at three days on a train. We see how various people pass the time and interact. In a few cases people, a conductor from the mid-west in particular, are interviewed.

How is it?

Much like a trip across the country, full of great things to look at and a mixed collection of people.Some people you completely understand why the camera focused on them (the pregnant mother and the shutterbug), Others we are left to wonder where the rest of the conversation is (the two people above) since we seem to have come in the middle of something.

While most definitely worth seeing on a big screen, this is light confection compared to some of Maysles other films.

Cinerama:SEARCH FOR PARADISE (1957)

One of the more spectacular of the Cinerama films SEARCH FOR PARADISE has Lowell Thomas and two military men touring the Central Asian mountains on the way to the coronation of King Mehendra of Nepal. The idea is to explore possible places for paradise on earth.

While having more of a plot line than some of the other Cinerama films, this one feels like its a real trip, this is also the least hurried. Things happen as our guides tour the region before them.While this unhurried nature doesn't always work (SOUTH SEAS ADVENTURE is too leisurely and rambling,) here the slower pace works, I'm guessing because even though we are taking our time we are in constant motion.

The motion is supplied by several kick ass sequences such as the opening Parachute jump, the drive along a narrow road with a cliff to our right and the trip down the Indus River. Best of all is the fact that even some of the sequences lacking motion are so spectacular you appreciate having the time to just sit an take them in.

This is one of the best Cinerama films released and I can't thank Flicker Alley enough for putting it out.

Cinerama: SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD (1956)

Lowell Thomas sends the Cinerama cameras around the world to see the modern versions of the Seven Wonders of the World. Its a spectacular trip and makes for one of the best Cinerama films ever produced.

I don't know what to say but this film is great and the restoration by Flicker Alley is amazing. Its so good that when it was done I started the DVD all over again.

The wonders we see run the gamut from temple in Japan, the Taj Mahal, the Holy Land, Africa, Angel Falls,  to the wonders of AMerica. There are several stunning sequences including a runaway train in India, a flight into a volcano and some other things my poor little brain didn't register.

This is spectacular and the only thing better than cracking the DVD open for another go round would be getting the chance to see this on a big screen.

One of the best Cinerama films.

South Sea Adventure (1958)

Last of the Cinerama travelogues is a trip to the South Seas. We get a trip to Hawaii, various islands, Australia and New Zealand. in a film that's full of great visuals but low on excitement.

There is nothing really wrong with South Seas Adventure, the imagery is stunning (the flying sequences are amazing), the narration by Orson Welles is suitably pithy and the  film feels like you're on vacation. The problem for me is that unlike the other Cinerama films I've seen this one is a little too laid back. There aren't too many moments of excitement. Outside of some flying sequences the only excitement in the first half is the bungee jumping that closes it out. The second half is more engaging however the two real you are there sequences the car race and the amusement park ride are much too short (though I suspect the amusement part sequence was cut short lest the audience lose their lunch)

Is it a bad film, no, its actually quite good, it's just low on the excitement scale.

I should point out that the film's DVD/Blu-ray release is amazing. Not only do you get the film with commentary (if you so desire) but you get a great half hour interview with Saul Cooper who was a publicity man for the film who talks about the film and the Cinerama process, a 20 minute making of from the period and the real jewel of the DVD a six minute Cinerama commercial for the Renault Dauphine. The Renault piece really knocked my socks of as we see how a car is put together. It made me wonder what Ron Fricke or Godfrey Reggio would have done with the process.