Egypt Speaks

Being the world's only Afro-Eurasian country (that is to say African geographically, but Mediterranean and partly Middle Eastern culturally), Egpyt has occupied a special place in history for thousands of years. This short film goes over some worthwhile sights the country has to offer as of the early 1950s and how people are transitioning into the modern day while living in such an old place. In fact, the film is mostly centered around the inhabitants, not the nation in question. Firstly, we see Fitzpatrick sitting outside Alexandria, (where a band is playing) and he's interviewing an egyptian who works at a Generals Motor plant. The guy says the attitude towards foreign industry in egypt is positive and he is happy to work there. Egypt's most popular college sport is football (not the American one), and we witness a game taking place at King Farouk University. Named after the reigning monarch, whose brother-in-law was the Iranian Shah Reza Pahlavi. Over 20 thousand people attend colleges in egypt, including women, the latter being a new addition to the privilege of higher education. We're then introduced to a talented professional horsewoman who can also speak 7 languages. Her father is the director of one of the most prestigious hospitals in egypt. Around halfway through, the film switches perspectives and shows us the egypt known to the Romans and Cleopatra from millennia before. People are seen walking about in rural areas with unpaved roads, riding on camels, and using boats on a small river. Lastly, we see a military officer named Ibrahim Mustafa, who honors egypt's former British colonial masters by having the men under his command play british marching songs. Strangely, there's even quite a number with bagpipes. Hardly something you'd imagine when thinking of this place. Because this short has James Fitzpatrick as the narrator, I was surprised to learn it's not Traveltalks. The poster may say it is, but there was already an installment of that series that had egypt's monuments and history as its focal point. This one I don't find as interesting because the things shown are really similar to any other country you might find in the west. The guy in the beginning even says he's happy to contribute to foreign industry, and Fitzpatrick says later on if this keeps up, egypt's modernization might erase the country's ancient history forever. This would be a huge loss not just for them, but for world history in general. I just thought it was weird how the military is willing to adhere to the songs and traditions held by those who invaded them.

This is kind of a weirdo. Certain internal and external evidence gave me the impression that this was a pre-WW2 variation of a Fitzpatrick travelogue. It's in a hereto unknown series called "People on Parade". FitzPatrick's name has been rendered without the capital 'P' in the patronymic. The hard and fast M-G-M rule against sync sound in shorts has been flouted. What a surprise to learn that it was made in 1950. The actual speaking parts are laughingly stilted and brief in the extreme. Most of the sound has been employed to record an Egyptian orchestra playing an imitation of a tune from a pre-war fifth rate British dance band. Of course the hideous truth of imperial hubris expressed by an (unjustified) sense of cultural superiority is exposed. In 1950 Egyptian pop music was entering its Golden Age. All right, its a FitzPatrick trademark to always revert to the convenient cliché with "Egyptian" music (as opposed to Egyptian music) in the background but at least he could have been aware of something fine going on amongst the natives besides how slavishly they aped the "mother country". In the rest of the short the series title, People on Parade, is taken oh so literally occupied as it is by (British trained) military marching bands playing Welsh, Scottish (with bagpipes blaring!) and Irish tunes. I mean give me a break. So what we see in Alexandria, circa 1950, is a fancy dress version of "US". They dance to a rumba beat so they're catching on and will, one day, be just like us. You know, respectable. Inshallah.

Part of a People on Parade series by James Fitzpatrick, this is far from the Travel Talks series by the same narrator. Here we visit Egypt, "the land of the pyramids", as the short begins with a few words by an Egyptian businessman employed by an American motor company who welcomes American enterprise. This is followed by a tourist police officer who welcomes Americans to his country. We then see two teams playing soccer at the University of Alexandria. Women on the sidelines are taking law at the university, a trend we are told towards a more modern Egypt. We then meet young women training as nurses. Soon after, we see a traditional view of Egyptians working the land using customs from time immemorial with the inference that these will soon be obsolete. We then return to views of mounted soldiers trained in the British military tradition, including a band playing Men of Harlech and kilted riders on horseback to the tune of Scottish music. The show is not only dated but has none of the historical interest of Fitzpatrick's Travel talk series. In fact, it is hard to fathom what the point of the show actually is.

Egypt Speaks (1951)

**

When you see that this short is from MGM and James A. Fitzpatrick you're probably going to be expecting a TravelTalks entry but you'd be wrong. This is actually from their "People on Parade" series, which is somewhat confusing. The film starts off with Fitzpatrick telling us that the goal of this short isn't to show scenery but instead discover the people of Egypt. We then meet a few people but not once do we really learn anything about them. If Fitzpatrick's goal was to make us know these people then he failed horribly because none of them ever say anything interesting and those who don't speak don't get any narration that would make us care one way or another for them. I'm really not sure what the point of this thing was but since Fitzpatrick tells us to "get to know the people" then it has to be seen as a failure. Are we really suppose to believe that the two people interviewed here represent the entire viewpoint of Egypt? As with Fitzpatrick's other series, this one was shot in Technicolor and there's no question that some of the images are very good but at the end of the day there's very little to recommend here.

James Fitzpatrick sends the Technicolor cameras to Egypt, but instead of talking continually -- although he does a lot of that -- his man on the spot interviews a couple of individuals.

It's one of two "People on Parade" shorts Fitzpatrick produced and narrated as a break from his more usual format of showing us tourist spots and yammering on about things you could read in an almanac. He shows us a bunch of the usual stuff, including a camel (undoubtedly male).

In truth, we only hear one individual speak in this short. We also get to hear an Egyptian military band. It plays such traditional Egyptian tunes as "Men of Harlech" and "Garryowen", because that's what the British occupying forces used to play. Clearly, this was an experiment to pep up the Traveltalks by sending a sound man and rig along with the camera.