Los Angeles: 'Wonder City of the West' (1935) User Reviews

I Wonder

[boblipton · 5/10 · 15 September 2020]

James A. Fitzpatrick sends the Technicolor cameras all the way out of the studio to show the Traveltalks audience the exotic locale of Los Angeles, including the Disney Studio, the Hollywood Bowl and and downtown.

Fitzpatrick calls LA a "wonder city" but I have my doubts. The print that plays on Turner Classic Movies is watchable, but not particularly good.

The Evil Genius behind the Mouse Who Swalllowed Everything . . .

[oscaralbert · 7/10 · 28 January 2017]

. . . makes a cameo appearance toward the close of LOS ANGELES: WONDER CITY OF THE WEST. Smirking like the canary who ate a cat, I'm-at-Fault Walt is the sole celebrity James A. Fitzpatrick can dredge up for this 1935 edition of "City of Stars," which is fitting since ALL the other Gas Bags from the Early 1930s have long since croaked, with the exception of Mister Disney. No, Walt did NOT have himself beheaded and frozen, A La Ted Williams. This House of Mouse Patriarch did something even worse: He had EVERYONE ELSE beheaded for All Eternity, by using Amerika's system of Job-Killing Corrupt Crooked Corporate Capitalism to bribe the U.S. Congress into making Steamboat Willie's copyright (and hence, a trillion other ideas legally enslaved or "owned" by the Idea-Stomping Innovation-Hating Fat Cat One Per Center Public Enemies) Permanent for All Eternity. Between myself and my immediate circle, we've lost hundreds of thousands of dollars from being stymied by these Asinine Creativity Crushers, with their bogus SLAP lawsuits and Perpetual Legal Harassment tactics which can outlive ANY winning hand a normal, average, common person may possess. This is all thanks to a country in which only lawyers are allowed to think outside the box in exercising any Creativity. There hasn't been a peep out of Rich People Party Potentate Rump about undoing this Smirking Jackal Disney's Government Regulations against us ordinary Americans being able to express an original thought, since the Oligarch's have "copyrighted" virtually every word in the dictionary!

A Peep At Old Los Angeles

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 17 March 2002]

An MGM TRAVELTALK Short Subject.

Our whirlwind visit to LOS ANGELES, WONDER CITY OF THE WEST, begins at the Old Spanish Plaza, where the settlement was founded. A stroll down colorful Olvera Street shows us the reconstructed Mexican marketplace. After looking at some of the modern structures along Wilshire Boulevard, we are treated to a quick glimpse at examples of wacky Southern California architecture - the Chinese Theatre, the Brown Derby & the Blue Mill. The impressive backlot at MGM Studios is followed by a meeting with one of America's most famous men, Walt Disney. The dramatic Hollywood Bowl is our final destination during our day in The City of the Angels.

This is one of a large series of succinct travelogues turned out by MGM, beginning in the 1930's. They featured Technicolor views of beautiful & unusual sights around the globe, as well as vivid, concise commentary. These films were produced & narrated by James A. FitzPatrick.

old Hollywood

[SnoopyStyle · 8/10 · 15 September 2020]

It's a James A. FitzPatrick episode of Traveltalks. It's old Hollywood. Some of these buildings are gone but some still exist. It's notable for these places and Walt Disney waving to the camera. It's great to visit and the best of Traveltalks.

TravelTalks

[Michael_Elliott · 7 March 2015]

Los Angeles: Wonder City of the West (1935)

*** (out of 4)

One of the best entries in the TravelTalks series takes us to Los Angeles where we learn about it's original days under control of Spain. From here we learn that the population grew from 50,000 to 2.5 million in just over a hundred years and that made it the fifth largest city in America at the time. From here we take a brief look at Pasadena before going to Hollywood Boulevard and then onto the movie studios. We get to see the front gates of RKO, Fox, Universal and of course MGM where we also get a brief look at their back lot. The real bonus of this short is taking a brief look at Disney and getting to see Walt Disney himself who shakes the hand of FitzPatrick and smiles for the camera. Overall this is a very entertaining episode with several wonderful highlights but the real star of the movie is MGM pushing some propaganda on people. At one point FitzPatrick's narration says that Hollywood is a "quiet, well behaved town with an exaggerated reputation." I don't know how any film buff won't laugh at that statement but considering the "panic" being brought on by various scandals, it's easy to see why MGM would throw that in.