By Glenn Erickson
A Wee Bit of Scotland
Brief Synopsis
This short film focuses on the history, culture, and people of Scotland.
Cast & Crew
Read More
James A. Fitzpatrick
Narrator
Nathaniel Finston
Music
James A. Fitzpatrick
Producer
James Mayfield
Music Composer
Virgil E. Miller
Cinematographer
S. D. Onions
Cinematographer
Film Details
Genre
Short
Documentary
Travel
Release Date
1949
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.
Distribution Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.
Technical Specs
Duration
9m
Synopsis
This short film focuses on the history, culture, and people of Scotland.
Film Details
Genre
Short
Documentary
Travel
Release Date
1949
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.
Distribution Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.
Technical Specs
Duration
9m
Articles
A Wee Bit of Scotland -
Travel for leisure was once a luxury reserved for the wealthy. Since the middle 1800s touring "travel authorities" gave presentations about far-off places with strange names, accompanied at first by lantern slides and then projected photographs. Movie entrepreneur James A. Fitzpatrick began by producing silent short subjects about famous authors and composers, but hit big with his Fitzpatrick Traveltalks series, which became an MGM tradition for almost twenty-five years. Each one-reel short would announce its exotic locale: Japan in Cherry Blossom Time; Springtime in the Netherlands. With the addition of Technicolor in 1934, the Traveltalks series became even more popular. Billed as "The Voice of the Globe," Fitzpatrick limited his narration to easygoing generalities, a good match for his pleasant postcard-like images from tourist destinations. 1949's A Wee Bit of Scotland doesn't tax the formula, taking the visitor to the famous Culloden Moor battlefield, to Loch Ness with its monster legend and to the towns of Inverness, Perth and St. Andrews. Viewers didn't receive social comment or deep insights about life in the rural Highlands, but in the years before Television brought the world into average homes, they could see what distant lands looked like, and in bright color as well.
By Glenn Erickson
By Glenn Erickson
A Wee Bit of Scotland -
Travel for leisure was once a luxury reserved for the wealthy. Since the middle 1800s touring "travel authorities" gave presentations about far-off places with strange names, accompanied at first by lantern slides and then projected photographs. Movie entrepreneur James A. Fitzpatrick began by producing silent short subjects about famous authors and composers, but hit big with his Fitzpatrick Traveltalks series, which became an MGM tradition for almost twenty-five years. Each one-reel short would announce its exotic locale: Japan in Cherry Blossom Time; Springtime in the Netherlands. With the addition of Technicolor in 1934, the Traveltalks series became even more popular. Billed as "The Voice of the Globe," Fitzpatrick limited his narration to easygoing generalities, a good match for his pleasant postcard-like images from tourist destinations. 1949's A Wee Bit of Scotland doesn't tax the formula, taking the visitor to the famous Culloden Moor battlefield, to Loch Ness with its monster legend and to the towns of Inverness, Perth and St. Andrews. Viewers didn't receive social comment or deep insights about life in the rural Highlands, but in the years before Television brought the world into average homes, they could see what distant lands looked like, and in bright color as well. By Glenn Erickson
