Switzerland the Beautiful (1934) User Reviews

beautiful colors and snowy peaks

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 30 July 2022]

TravelTalks goes to Switzerland. Apparently, it's all peace and beauty. I have no problem with that although FitzPatrick can't stop talking about people's ethnicity. They visit Lucerne and then Geneva, where the League of Nations and the Red Cross are based. The colorful flowers serve to show the film's color palette. I love these old Technicolor films with their gaudy colors. There is an old beauty to it. Switzerland is a beautiful place and this episode captures that.

Something struck him hard when the snowy peaks are shown. This is indeed a time capsule. Sure there are changes to the buildings and the cars. Those are not the most compelling changes. Some day soon, the snow is going to go away. Films like these serve to show what's been lost.

Their flag is a big plus

[nickenchuggets · 8/10 · 28 December 2021]

An interesting series I have known about for a long time is Traveltalks, but despite this, I have never done a review on one. IMDB does not have a single page for the series as a whole, so I have no choice but to review each individual one. Directed and filmed by James Fitzpatrick, Traveltalks gives viewers the opportunity to see different parts of the world from their television screens, and it is all filmed in wonderful Technicolor. Even for the 30s, a lot of them still look vibrant and well done. This first entry in the series takes us to Switzerland, which is famous for its chocolate, watchmaking, and neutrality. Despite having a military and being well armed, the Swiss have avoided being in a war for centuries. Although it is quite short, at only 8 minutes, this episode gives a good overview of what it means to live in switzerland. Amazing shots of the alps are displayed, as well as all the different kinds of colorful flowers that are native to the country. We then visit Geneva, which is where the international Red Cross was founded in the 1800s. The symbol for the Red Cross is (surprisingly) a red cross on a white background, and is the internationally recognized symbol for healing and longevity. I never really thought about this, but the Red Cross' flag is just a swiss flag with the colors inverted, which makes sense. The film also goes over the natives of switzerland, who are primarily of italian, german, and french extraction. German is the most spoken language, with 80% of residents using it. We also see how adept the swiss are at woodcarving and making clocks, and their proficiency in the latter is beyond repute. Even though it isn't mentioned, the swiss also make extremely well made firearms (even back in the 30s when this was made), which is hardly surprising due to their ability to produce items such as watches, which have very finely tuned moving parts. Apart from all this, the film doesn't go on for too much longer. As stated, it's only 8 minutes, but it is a good enough introduction to switzerland. It also serves as a good starting point for a series I have always wanted to discuss in great detail.

Switzerland is mostly famous for cheese and chocolate . . .

[pixrox1 · 7/10 · 7 November 2020]

. . . but there's almost no mention of either commodity during SWITZERLAND THE BEAUTIFUL. Is that to say that the plot of this film is as full of holes as Swiss Cheese? Maybe. Perhaps it would have taken more of an effort to arrange a fascinating tour of a cocoa manufacturing facility or a cheese wheel plant than simply pointing a camera out the window of a tour bus to catch glimpses of glaciers, wildflowers, grazing cattle and colorful houses, or wander city streets pointing the viewfinder up to gape at tall buildings. And why the hush-hush treatment of the infamously nefarious Swiss banks of the 1930's? Who can guess what the self-styled "Voice of the Globe" was thinking (if anything)?

Simply Amazing!

[reader4 · 10/10 · 27 September 2010]

I always get a kick out of watching these Traveltalks, both because they usually have some interesting stuff that I haven't seen before, and also because they're a fascinating cross between naiveté and propaganda.

This one amazed me, however, because of the photography.

I didn't even know they had 3-color Technicolor in 1934!

It turns out this was the first year for live (rather than animated) Techicolor. But it might have been shot in the 1970s. Or any year up to the advent of the CCD camera. I have seen many photographs in National Geographic that didn't look any better than the flower closeups in this short film. And the sky and the water are such vivid shades of blue.

Shot after shot are absolutely gorgeous!

I thought it must be the restoration, but on a closer look, I don't think it was restored, at least not digitally. There are still lots of little white flecks that pop up all through it.

This picture should have won an Academy Award for best cinematography!

TravelTalks

[Michael_Elliott · 26 September 2010]

Switzerland the Beautiful (1934)

*** (out of 4)

Early entry in MGM's Traveltalks series is one that really stands out in terms of quality. James A. FitzPatrick takes us to Switzerland where we learn four million people live. We learn that it's a mixture of German, Italian and French folks with more than 70% of them speaking German. We learn how the Roman Empire was pretty much held at bay back in the day and we learn other special things about the Swiss Alps. We learn that the villagers take pride in their window designs and we see countless flowers that take special form during May and June. Visually speaking this here is without question one of the most beautiful entries I've seen from the series. The Technicolor was always a major plus no matter where they visited but that's especially true here because the blue waters are just downright jaw-dropping in their beauty. The print was in very good condition, which is another major plus but I must admit that you probably could have shot this thing in B&W and it would have been just as beautiful.

Switzerland is making the world safe for Democracy . . .

[oscaralbert · 8/10 · 7 November 2020]

. . . the self-proclaimed "Voice of the Globe" assures America five years before the Blitzkrieg made the best use of key components provided by Henry Ford and Prescott Bush to overrun Europe. The vast majority of the Swiss population (70%) are German-speaking Prussians, closely cooperating with incipient Axis of Evil Italians and Vichy French Quislings to defang the League of Nations in Geneva, this brief documentary informs us. Viewers are promised during SWITZERLAND THE BEAUTIFUL that this Alpine Utopia has plenty of room for wild flowers, glaciers, colorful houses, clocks, cattle and watches--but apparently none for Jews, who are not mentioned even once. As this short was being filmed, Jews were filling Swiss banks with large deposits. Bankers turned over half of this loot to the Fuhrer to enable him to gas account holders and kill Americans, while the Swiss money men happily pocketed the other 50% of this Blood Money as their payment for enabling History's Bloodiest Genocide. One can assume the follow-up to SWITZERLAND THE BEAUTIFUL was filmed in Hades, and entitled ROAMING AROUND THE NETHERWORLD WITH HELL'S BELLES.

Lots Of Wildflowers

[boblipton · 5/10 · 7 November 2020]

James A. Fitzpatrick sends Ray Fernstrom to run the Technicolor cameras to.... well, guess where to show his Traveltalks audience some lovely shots and a lot of very blue skies.

Fitzpatrick spent a lot of the early episodes of his long-running MGM travelogue shouting out his random facts in long-winded words, and this one certainly is one of his shoutiest. Still, the copy that plays on Turner Classic Movies is in very good condition and is a pleasure to look at.... with the sound turned way down.