Century 21 Calling... (1962)

User Rating:

2.5/10   

Director:

Robert W. Larsen

Genre:

Short

Plot:

Two perky teens explore every inch of the telephone exhibit at Seattle's fair. |

Plot Keywords:

Telephone | Exhibit | Monorail | Ephemeral Film | Seattle Space Needle

Runtime:

14 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Company:

Bell System

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Space Children (#10.6)" (1998)

Wow, look at those phones....

This is a pretty typical "Behold, the Wonders of Tomorrow!" instructional short of the early 1960's, a period in which this sort of film was already becoming outdated. In this film two wholesome, clean cut blonde kids visit the World's Fair in Seattle, where they are amazed well beyond the point of stupefaction by the telephone exhibit. Many of the futuristic wonders featured herein have long since become commonplace (e.g., speed dialing, call waiting, conference calling, pagers, etc.), but it's interesting to note that I still can't turn on my oven or air conditioner by phone. (Then again, I'm almost the last person in North America not to have a wireless phone, but never mind...)

One other interesting thing I noticed - the two kids look as though they're supposed to be teenaged sweethearts. But the girl looks as though she's at least ten years too old for her role, while the boy looks as if he's about five years too young for his.