Johannesburg ~ 'City of Gold'

Johannesburg: City of Gold (1953)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

On of the final entries in MGM's TravelTalks series, this one here takes us to Johannesburg where a gold find put the city on the map and soon it became one of the biggest spots for gold hunters. We learn that natives of South Africa would try to work in the mines with hopes of earning a little money that they could then take home and live like Kings. We also hear a terrific story of a 2,520 oz. gold piece that was found there and we get to hear how the rocks are taken out of the mine and broken down. As is the normal case, the Technicolor is the real star here as some of the beautiful visuals of the city are the main highlight. The Sunday-Tribal dancers are another highlight.

This Traveltalks episode visits South Africa. This has not aged well. It talks about the natives and the races without talking about the underlying political situation. The tone and the message is very colonial. There is the gold smelting. It's always nice to see gold. Finally, there is the tribal song and dance. They talk about detribalized natives and it's all very tone-deaf.

History has not been kind to this episode, but it is fascinating to see the old colonial sensibility in this. They are very much rooting for the 'civilizing the savage' and the white settlers have modernized this tribal lands.

James A. Fitzpatrick sends the Technicolor cameras and Hone Glendinning out to Joburg, starting out with a discussion of the gold strike and the mines. Given the year it's hardly surprising that this is most of what he talks about, including showing the refineries and a big gold brick. Yet, despite Fitzpatrick's usual concentration on how diverse the city is, he can't help but tell us something about the men who work the mines, show us how they amuse themselves with their own song and dance, and offer the pious pledge that the shoddy houses these men live in are to be knocked down in favor of of better quarters.

Of course this was only five years after apartheid was instituted. Now we know it was going to get far worse before it began to get better.

The copy of this travelogue that plays on Turner Classic Movies is in very good condition.