Fancy a nice cheap 5,000 mile cruise in the Caribbean? Well look no further than this 1954 Fox Movietone CinemaScope production which will only set you back a mere £21.99, not thousands. No need to travel and the money saved on the cruise can be put to better use - like more movies!
The 15 day voyage depicted here departs from a distinctly chilly New York and visits the former French colony of Haiti (recently back in the news with a flood of American military 'tourists'), Curacao with some fine examples of Dutch houses, the splendid beaches of Trinidad, Martinique (the background to the Humphrey Bogart film, "To Have and Have Not"), the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas. The narration for once is informative and less banal than usual.
This was one of the 'Scope items given the big screen test at the 28th BFCC in 1994 it stood up surprisingly well being blown up to 34 foot wide. It is typical of the Movietone CinemaScope shorts that have found their way to 8mm in that the colour is slightly faded in places and the definition, while good, is not as super-sharp' as more recent releases. Some scratches and marks are duped in. Ignore them - this is a very nice 'Scope programme fitter.
|
Distributed by: Derann
Films. |
The above review was printed in Super Eight Film Review issue 31 from July 1995. |
This page was last updated 02 Dec 2002