Glimpses of Australia (1939)

5/10

SnoopyStyle21 October 2023

This TravelTalks short starts at Bondi Beach with a parade of lifeguards. They drive through the suburbs of Sydney. They visit the Blue Hills. Australia is about the size of the United States with the population of New York City. They show a few of its precious rocks. They take the train to Melbourne.

This is fine until James A. FitzPatrick insists that Australians are a credit to that branch of the white race. The dated phrase brings this to a screeching halt. I don't know this Prime Minister and I hope he's not some crazy politician. The constant referencing to the white race gets really annoying. Sure it's a different time, but I just can't.

3 out of 6 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

5/10

caucasion look at 1930s australia

ksf-217 November 2018

Warning: Spoilers

This one highlights several places in Australia. First, a parade of lifeguards, where they march down the beach at Bondi... give life saving demonstrations, and each group proudly shows off their bathing suits and flags. Then we're off to Blue Hills, a scenic area that has always has a blue haze, with rock formations and cliffs. Story of a valuable stone, which turned out to be opal. When I was there years ago, one hears the announcement "Genuine Opals, two DOLLAHS!" just everywhere. Then the trains are highlighted, on the way to the modern city of Melbourne, highlighting the tall buildings, fire department, We bump into Prime Minister Lyons of Australia, who happens to have twelve children; i guess he didn't have any other hobbies. There are numerous mentions of the "white paradise", which was a pretty self centered statement, but clearly it was a different time. and the gardens of Victoria, with all the fancy people walking around. That about wraps it up for a quick look at australia. A quick highlights tour, shown on Turner Classic now and then.

2 out of 5 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

5/10

Glimpses Of 1939

boblipton1 June 2019

James Fitzpatrick takes his middle-class audience yearning for a taste of the exotic and Technicolor to some standard tourist spots in Sydney and Melbourne, then on to some beauty spots in Australia's Blue Hills. Hone Glendinning, who traveled far and wide to shoot the pictures that would be edited and then ruined by Fitzpatrick's banal, stentorian maunderings, offers his usual high standard of work.

I note that, yes indeed, Fitzpatrick narrates this movie like a White man born in 1894, making a movie about a land that was 90% Caucasian for an audience that was also 90% Caucasian. That's because he was that, not a 2019 Woke Hipster. It's certainly good to keep that in mind when viewing this 80-year-old short film, yet I find it odd that the the major takeaway is that 80 years ago, people thought differently.

I'm as annoyed by Fitzpatrick as anyone else, but it's for his narration's inanity offered through a bullhorn.

1 out of 5 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

1/10

Hooray for the "white race!"

pacificboy14 April 2013

TCM tacked this short onto the end of "The Sundowners" (set in Australia) to fill out the time allotted for the movie. It was filmed in 1939 and looks and sounds like it. So I'm enjoying a typical 30s cheese-filled travelogue when the narrator starts expounding on the success of the segment of the "white race" that settled Australia. Moments later, he explains how devotion to the home and family contributes to quality of life in this "white man's paradise." I've been around a while, so I know that we see through a progressive filter these days, but...wow. It's a little shocking to hear it laid on so thick in a ho-hum travelogue, and doubly so in a TCM broadcast.

9 out of 20 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

8/10

Time well spent in Australia!

robsmithjr7 June 2019

Here's another of Fitzpatrick's "Glimpses of..." A series that would be beneficial for today's movie crowd to learn of other locations in the world. One thing fascinating about this 8 minute short is that it is in color. Something nearly otherwise non-existent in those days. And what color! More bright and cheerful than most all films out today!

There's a neat view of residential Sydney circa 1939. There's also the sites of the Blue Hills, Australia's Grand Canyon. I love the view of downtown Melbourne architecture and the street car.

Lots of information that still applies to today. Do you know how much smaller Australia is compared to the United States? Do you know what gem was first found and mined in Australia? What was Melbourne best known as?

Lots packed into 8 minutes and well worth spending the time to view.

3 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

User Reviews

See also

Opinion

Details

Storyline

Did You Know?

Photo & Video

Related Items

User Lists

Recently Viewed