Voices of Venice

Like any long-running series, James A. FitzPatrick's Travel Talks short subjects changed over time. FitzPatrick's guiding principle in the beginning was to avoid topical comment - his viewers wanted to see pretty pictures, not social reality. Before television and feature films routinely brought us color images of faraway lands, the Travel Talks view of foreign countries was the one that predominated - in Switzerland there is chocolate, and in Holland people wear wooden shoes. In the early 1950s FitzPatrick altered his formula for a couple of installments, changing the series title to People on Parade. Instead of providing a personal narration, the soundtrack carries voices of foreigners describing their feelings for their country. The soundtrack for Voices of Venice (1951) is an audio montage of 'ordinary Venetians' talking about their family roots as they introduce the city's monuments. It's an interesting notion in the development of the documentary, in that no attempt is made at authenticity- the speakers are likely professional actors reading from a script, perhaps even affecting Italian accents. Yet we also hear bits of authentic audio recorded on location, in this case sounds of singing in a cathedral. Sandwiched between the artful views of gondolas and canal bridges are new comic asides with funny comments. As in a Tex Avery cartoon, an extended running gag shows an Italiano on St. Mark's Square trying without success to fasten the pants of a cute toddler. The Travel Talks format would soon be made obsolete by the rise of short subjects funded by governments and private companies. RKO travelogues of the mid-1950s pitched industrial and agricultural investment for South America, and a breezy featurette about the Italian coast south of Naples promoted specific tourist stops. Also, technological advancements made color filming on location available to everyone. Jack Cardiff 's spectacular 3-strip Technicolor short subjects were not cheap to produce. At least two extra camera assistants were required, along with a crew to manage the many boxes of heavy equipment. After the war, the series took advantage of Technicolor's ability to derive 35mm printing elements from 16mm originals. The shows were much easier to film, but the visuals weren't as pretty. A few years later when single-strip Eastmancolor became available to all, Travel Talks surrendered the field to more progressive producers.

By Glenn Erickson