Springtime in the Netherlands

James A. Fitzpatrick sent his Technicolor camera to Holland "where people literally worship flowers", doubtless sacrificing stray cats and tourists to them. He stayed at home, naturally, so he could perfect such natural and casual phrases as "the profusion of floral plants that are always an inseparable part of even the most humble homes in Holland." Rolls off your tongue, doesn't it? Now say "Rubber baby buggy bumpers" three times fast.

If you can ignore Fitzpatrick's shouted commentary -- which I recommend, but find impossible to do myself -- you will discover that the transfer of this short subject that plays on Turner Classic Movies is, alas, a bit blurry, making those vast fields of tulips look blotchy.

Tulips take center stage in this James A. FitzPatrick Traveltalk short focusing on Holland, the land of tulips.

We glimpse a profusion of floral landscapes surrounding various homes in Holland; a floral parade through the center of town; scenes of windmills and a variety of tulips, both originating in Holland sometime during the 15th century; and how it takes five to ten years to cultivate certain bulbs.

The colorful landscapes dominate the film which is really a salute to the tulip industries of Holland.

Summing up: Well photographed in Technicolor, it's a storybook, picture postcard view of Holland of the sort that invites tourism.

Springtime in the Netherlands (1950)

*** (out of 4)

Good entry in James A. FitzPatrick's TravelTalks series takes us to Holland where we learn about windmills and tulips. With the windmills we learn that they were created in the 16th century with the watermill being the first used to get water from the marsh lands. The majority of the running time is devoted to the tulip and if you ever wanted to know the history of the flower then you're going to get it here. We learn that in Holland people worship the flower and many children's first words are to the flower. We learn about the various ways they are grown, where they are believed to come from and we hear about a rare version that takes 5-10 years to bloom with each one selling for over $1,000. This is a pretty good entry in the series for a number of reasons but it certainly doesn't hurt that the subject matter is so interesting. I'm not a flower person but I found this detailed history to be quite entertaining. It should go without saying but the real highlight is the Technicolor and it's a real benefit here especially towards the end of the movie when we're in a field where various colors of the flower are growing and the different images really jump off the screen.

TravelTalks goes to the Netherlands. Of course, it starts with tulips and windmills. This post-war country has regained most of its beauty although it's easy to do that with fields of flowers. The flowers also allows the screen to bath in vibrant colors. It feels very calming and it feels joyous. It looks like one oil painting after another.