Los Angeles: Wonder City of the West (1935)
*** (out of 4)
One of the best entries in the TravelTalks series takes us to Los Angeles where we learn about it's original days under control of Spain. From here we learn that the population grew from 50,000 to 2.5 million in just over a hundred years and that made it the fifth largest city in America at the time. From here we take a brief look at Pasadena before going to Hollywood Boulevard and then onto the movie studios. We get to see the front gates of RKO, Fox, Universal and of course MGM where we also get a brief look at their back lot. The real bonus of this short is taking a brief look at Disney and getting to see Walt Disney himself who shakes the hand of FitzPatrick and smiles for the camera. Overall this is a very entertaining episode with several wonderful highlights but the real star of the movie is MGM pushing some propaganda on people. At one point FitzPatrick's narration says that Hollywood is a "quiet, well behaved town with an exaggerated reputation." I don't know how any film buff won't laugh at that statement but considering the "panic" being brought on by various scandals, it's easy to see why MGM would throw that in.
*** (out of 4)
One of the best entries in the TravelTalks series takes us to Los Angeles where we learn about it's original days under control of Spain. From here we learn that the population grew from 50,000 to 2.5 million in just over a hundred years and that made it the fifth largest city in America at the time. From here we take a brief look at Pasadena before going to Hollywood Boulevard and then onto the movie studios. We get to see the front gates of RKO, Fox, Universal and of course MGM where we also get a brief look at their back lot. The real bonus of this short is taking a brief look at Disney and getting to see Walt Disney himself who shakes the hand of FitzPatrick and smiles for the camera. Overall this is a very entertaining episode with several wonderful highlights but the real star of the movie is MGM pushing some propaganda on people. At one point FitzPatrick's narration says that Hollywood is a "quiet, well behaved town with an exaggerated reputation." I don't know how any film buff won't laugh at that statement but considering the "panic" being brought on by various scandals, it's easy to see why MGM would throw that in.