Glimpses of Java and Ceylon (1937) User Reviews

great exotic locations with standard James putdowns

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 25 September 2021]

Traveltalks visits the Dutch colony of Java. The James A. FitzPatrick narration is funny in that he keeps trying to put down the locals. What he describes as strange food is hilariously standard. The dance is fantastic even if James describes it as nightmarish. In the British colony of Ceylon (today known as Sri Lanka), he again has a silly way of putting down the locals by ascribing the men with feminine traits. He must think that he's being funny and it adds to the colors of these shorts. It's just funny that the man is so uncultured and so white bread. Or at least, it reflects a cartoon version of the audience that he expected and got.

Study In Browns

[boblipton · 5/10 · 25 September 2021]

James A. Fitzpatrick sends the Technicolor cameras to the Far East under the supervision of Winton Hoch to show us the Dutch East Indian capital of Batavia -- now Djakarta in Indonesia -- and Colombo in Ceyon -- now Sri Lanka, although I am equally happy to refer to the island as Serendip or even Taprobane, as the Romans called it.

There are some very striking blues in this entry in the Traveltalks series of travelogues that Fitzpatrick produced for MGM distribution, although shades of brown seems to be the dominant range for the good prints of this movie which shows up occasionally n Turner Classic Movies.

Glimpses of Java and Ceylon was another interesting James FitzPatrick Traveltalks short

[tavm · 8/10 · 23 July 2008]

In this James FitzPatrick Traveltalks short, we go to Java-where there's plenty of rice topple with lots of unusual ingredients and a "nightmare" dance with unique music of the time-and Ceylon, Sri Lanka now, where the men wear their hair long and do "feminine" stuff like sewing and cooking and water buffalo tell time by leaving work to go to bathe in the lake. Other stuff that were mentioned by narrator FitzPatrick I can't remember right now but trust me, there were many interesting sights that was captured in perfect color throughout the short. This was another of various films, clips, and opening titles that I found on the TCM site. Many of the shorts featured there are the FitzPatrick Traveltalks color films that were shown before the main feature in various theatres that were owned by M-G-M's parent company Loew's Incorporated. To anyone interested in these vintage series entries, I highly recommend Glimpses of Java and Ceylon.

TravelTalk

[Michael_Elliott · 3 February 2009]

Glimpses of Java and Ceylon (1937)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Another in MGM's long running TravelTalk series hosted by James FitzPatrick. This time we go to bot Java and Ceylon where we see various living conditions as well as popular tourist spots. As I've said in each one of my reviews, this thing certainly comes off very dated especially considering what we have on The History Channel and stations like that. One must keep in my when this was made and I'm sure in 1937 it was quite something being able to see another place in Technicolor. As for this short we get some beautiful shots of the ocean as well as a tribal dance in Ceylon where men with long hair do some sort of dance, which certainly looks like it was meant for women. The highlight is probably a sequence where men leave work early so that they can get to the local lake and take a bath.