Picturesque Massachusetts (1942) User Reviews

A nice glimpse of key spots in Massachusetts in 1942...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 3 May 2009]

This is a brisk look at the Colonial side of Massachusetts, including looks at the old homes of Miles Standish, John and Priscilla Alden, a famous Old Red Schoolhouse, the Old Grist Mill, Wayside Inn, Clara Barton's birthplace and a view of some Sandwich glassware.

The second half of the short deals mostly with Cape Cod and Provincetown. We see the oldest Cape Cod windmill built in 1793, fishing boats along Provincetown harbor, the artists colony at work in the sand dunes and, finally, a look at the Coastgard Radio Station as the sun settles on the blue horizon.

An interesting glimpse and a bit of Colonial history.

Memories Of Plymouth County

[boblipton · 5/10 · 24 February 2022]

I lived in Massachusetts about forty years ago. I resided in Brockton, worked in Boston, and would occasionally head out to Cape Cod. Nonetheless, my ramblings also took me westward; while James A. Fitzpatrick keeps his cameras looking at the South Shore and Cape Cod. There are lots of other things to see in the Bay State.

Often there's something wrong with the images of the Traveltalks series that play on TCM. Sometimes the image is off; sometimes the color is. This one is in pretty good condition.

Individual, contemporary people seldom are named . . .

[oscaralbert · 7/10 · 21 October 2019]

. . . by the bloviating blowhard narrating this "travel" series, and it's not hard to see why this is, after viewing the deficient episode entitled PICTURESQUE MASSACHUSETTS. While hop-scotching across the southern coast of the Patriot State, the bloated bozo only singles out two folks to highlight. The first lucky individual is one "Chuck Alden." Charlie's claim to fame? His great grand pappy (times six!) knew a wench named "Priscilla." The other person in this myopic clown's crosshairs is some French maid who goes by "Hazel." Hazel is notorious for scrounging around the local dumps for broken bits of colored glass which she can add to her clinking clanking clattering collection of "gem-stone-like" junk. Completely overlooked by this self-proclaimed "Voice of the Globe" is the Kennedy Clan. While he traipses past their family compound Ohhing and Ahhing over an "artist colony" with the collective talent of a single sea gull, PT 109 Commander John Fitzgerald Kennedy is about to win World War Two with his critical coconut message. You can bet that the prophetic prognosticators of the always eponymous Warner Bros. studio would have had a lot to say about JFK's House of Heroes had one of THEM traversed Cape Cod. However, PICTURESQUE MASSACHUSETTS emanates from the Corrupt Fat Cat Den of the Groaning Lion, (aka, the Official Pachyderm Party Propaganda Plant).

TravelTalks

[Michael_Elliott · 13 May 2009]

Picturesque Massachusetts (1942)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The spotlight is on Massachusetts this time out as this TravelTalks series takes a look at the state where the Pilgrims landed back in 1620. We also see various small towns where they would eventually migrate as well as some descendents of theirs who still live there. We see the home of Clara Barton who founded the American Red Cross and also a look at the windmill in Eastham. This is another pleasant entry in the series that manages to pack quite a bit into the short 9-minute running time. We get all sorts of good sites but the Technicolor print is still in good shape so many images just jump off the screen. This isn't one of the better entries in the series but it does manage to be entertaining like most.

Boring School Vacation Tape

[mrdonleone · 5/10 · 12 November 2019]

Nice colours. Great cinematography. Boring total school vacation tape.

As anyone who has completed the Boston Marathon 14 times well knows . . .

[tadpole-596-918256 · 8/10 · 24 September 2020]

. . . this state which includes Cape Cod is pretty historic. Even before Leif Erickson landed, this region had been populated for centuries. One of these earlier immigrant's descendants even has a statue erected in his honor, which is depicted during PICTURESQUE MASSACHUSETTS. (If YOU are running the Boston Marathon, do NOT look for it along the route; however, after you top Heartbreak Hill you will get a great view of of a giant Cit-go billboard near Fen-way Park.) This travel piece does NOT mention the Hop-kin-ton to Back Bay trek very much (if at all), doubtless because another entry in this series is entirely devoted to the long run. However, it does include a few odds and ends in the way of trivia which might be of interest to folks puttering along on the back roads of America.