Chile: 'Land of Charm'

TravelTalks is taking a steamship from New York to Chile. They arrive at Valparaiso and immediately go to a resort hotel. There is a casino and the beaches. A few hours away is the capital city Santiago. Next, they meet a colorful cowboy and the Araucanian Indians. It's the lake district and the wild beauty of nature. This ends in a picture perfect post card sunset.

It is unusual to film the ship ride to the destination. They could do more with the cowboys and Indians. Mostly, this is a fine travelogue whether it's the city or the countryside. Both are looking very beautiful. It doesn't do much more than that.

James A. Fitzpatrick sends the Technicolor cameras under the supervision of cinematographer Winton Hoch to shoot pictures of Chile. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be enough pleasant sights in that Sotuh American country to fill out a reel of film, so we get a minute or two of cruise ship footage first.

Neither is there the usual recitation of statistics culled from almanacs. The copper mines are ugly operations, and as for the guano islands.... well, I doubt that they were tourist attractions.

This is one of the poorer preserved of the Traveltalks that play on Turner Classic Movies. It's a pity, because Hoch's compositions are clearly beautiful.