A mostly delightful collection of cinerama visit to exotic places, highlighted for me by the jeep ride through the Himalayas (given an interesting pronunciation that I'd never heard by narrator Lowell Thomas) in the country of Nepal that is quite rugged and dangerous. The aerial shots leading to the range are at such a strange angle that I didn't really see much from that perception, but happily changed when they got to the ground. The rugged road is a nice journey that the viewer can take from a much more comfortable spot, and once the destination is reached (the end of the road), the viewer gets to join a bunch of Nepalese children for a day of school. It made me think of the musical version of "Lost Horizon", and I expected either Liv Ullman or Bobby Van to come out and sing a lesson to these adorable kids.
But that doesn't happen. There's instead songs of varying themes from unseen baritone Robert Merrill, not all that good, his voice a bit shrill with the songs chosen. A royal wedding in the local big city gets barraged with anti-communist propaganda by Thomas, a rather eye rolling moment that only briefly disturbs the narrative. The third part is a bit of American propaganda as it deals with Air Force drills only of interest to students in military history. I found that this was a good place to start spinning my wings and move onto something else. Probably impressive on a big screen but without a plot, boring on video. Last quarter not quite paradise with Thomas's preachy narration definitely agenda driven.
But that doesn't happen. There's instead songs of varying themes from unseen baritone Robert Merrill, not all that good, his voice a bit shrill with the songs chosen. A royal wedding in the local big city gets barraged with anti-communist propaganda by Thomas, a rather eye rolling moment that only briefly disturbs the narrative. The third part is a bit of American propaganda as it deals with Air Force drills only of interest to students in military history. I found that this was a good place to start spinning my wings and move onto something else. Probably impressive on a big screen but without a plot, boring on video. Last quarter not quite paradise with Thomas's preachy narration definitely agenda driven.