Song of the Clouds

SONG OF THE CLOUDS was one of many outstanding films to be produced by the Shell Film Unit during the 1950s. Produced by Stuart Legg, SONG OF THE CLOUDS takes the audience on a world wide tour from New York City to South America, Africa, the Mid-East and Asia. A number of travelers are watched as their journeys begin and end, while the audience is taken on a behind the scenes tour of the aviation industry. Since the film is fifty years old, the planes seen are classic props from fallen-flag airlines. The American prints were in Eastman Color, and the 16mm print I have has faded to the red side. I wondered if the British prints may have been in Technicolor. SONG OF THE CLOUDS, with its chilling original musical score, is still one of my favorite films in the industrial/documentary genre. I wish that a restored print on DVD would become available!! One last note, the film runs 33 minutes.

A hundred or more planes fill the screen in this short about civil aviation. Each one wears a different livery, comes from a different organization, from commercial air lines to those of international organizations supporting those businesses. Ships fill the north Atlantic, reporting on the weather they will face. We are treated to hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, the vast majority of them passengers, from every nation and race, as well as produce, machinery, and the inevitable sacks of mail.

It's a bright short subject touting air traffic in the 1950s, filed with optimism and the grace of the air planes.