Calling on Colombia

TravelTalks goes to Colombia. I don't know why this short insists on starting with talking about race relations. There are beautiful buildings and old new world vistas. It's literally talking about bananas. There are working paddle boats and sailing vessels. The narration is dated as always. It's a postcard from history.

Calling on Columbia (1940)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Another nice entry in James A. FitzPatrick's TravelTalks series. This time we visit Columbia where we learn about a wide range of topics including Simón Bolívar, how a person's race doesn't make them different and how the majority of people are Roman Catholic. From here we visit Cartagena, which is considered one of the greatest achievements ever made in regards to a man-made defense item. Just seeing how incredibly large the top of this wall is is quite amazing and it shows why it made those attacking it in the pass impossible. We also hear about the rainy season, the local markets and the rubber, cotton and coffee that is sold. Overall this here is a pleasant entry in the series that has a lot more stories than what we're usually told. That's certainly not a negative thing because all of the stories are quite interesting as are the visuals. As you'd expect, the Technicolor is what really makes the images stand out and especially that brilliant Cartagena defense wall. Fans of the series will certainly want to check this one out.

I think that's how you spell it. I can't be sure. There seem to be too many 'o's in Colombia. They might have decided to save one of the 'l's here to use on llamas.

Anyway, on to the usual review of the movie for which James A. Fitzpatrick sent the Technicolor cameras to Colombia under the supervision of -- checks credits -- Robert Carney, to shoot Baranquilla and Cartagena. I know it's a small country on the map, but surely there's more to the country than two towns and a dock. The capital has docks and a fancy hotel. The former citadel is what they call 'picturesque', which means run down.

The copy that plays on Turner Classic Movies survives in pretty good shape.