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Sound Masters, Inc.Assignment: Venezuela (1956)

Tells the story of an American oil company executive who relocates with his family to Venezuela.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Sound Masters, Inc.
Sponsor: Creole Petroleum Corporation
Audio/Visual: Sd, C
Keywords: Venezuela; Oil industry; Globalization

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: Canaima - - July 24, 2004
Subject: Assignment Venezuela
A really good, historically valuable overview of what a family moving to Venezuela to work for CREOLE (part of Standard Oil) might expect. There were literally hundreds & hundreds of Americans (& other nationalities) who helped set up the Venezuelan oil industry, and ex-pat sites for these families are alive & well on the Internet. Some of the dialogue is indeed a bit "corny", and the fashions dated, but certainly no more so than other "training films" of this time period & genre of the '50's are concerned. But its real value lies in the scenery & views of Venezuela that so many who lived there remember. As such, it's historical value in portraying this point of time in Venezuela is incalculable. For those of us who lived and/or worked there, it's a priceless piece of work that brings back many fond memories of a place that was a truly wonderful place to live in the '50's, '60's, & '70's. If you're one of them, you DON'T want to miss this film.

Reviewer: Spuzz - - January 1, 2003
Subject: Gee, Venezuela! Wow.
An overview of a man who moves to Venezuela to work for the Creole Petroleum company, a Venezualan corperation back in the 1950's. I guess a LOT of people were working for them who were moving from the US. After all, Isn't this why the film was made?
The narrator just glows to what can be found working for such a company, where it looks like he's moving into indutrial suburbia where the 'house' he moves into is this aluminum bunker which is one hideous house. Couldnt the nice folks at Creole spend a little more on employee housing then the Athletic Club?
The narrator is writing back to his family in the mainland, and my god, does the woman who plays the 'wife' look anemic.

Reviewer: Christine Hennig - - October 10, 2002
Subject: Assignment Venezuela
Made by the Creole Oil Company, this film features an incredibly dorky American engineer who gets transferred to the company oil fields in Venezuela and writes detailed letters about the country to his wife and kids back home. Of course, he only gets to see the most "modern", Americanized parts of the country. His wife's clothing and make-up are a screamdid women ever really look like that?
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****. Also available on Assignment Venezuela and Other Shorts.

Shotlist

Tells the story of an American oil company executive who is about to relocate with his family to Venezuela.



Color stock shots:
Particularly excellent: child receiving vaccination in buttocks.
Children playing on swings in underwear.
Tourist seated by hotel pool. Sunbathing.
Ford Fairlane automobile. Taxis. Disembarking from jet
Airline: Linea Aeropostal Venezolana. Airport. Maracaibo, Venezuela
American tourist reading out of a phrase book.
Excellent shots of city of Maracaibo. Sears Roebuck store.
Mom and boy children at home in America.
Writing letters home to family.
Miles of offshore oil wells. Local bar. Much handshaking. Men in hardhats. Oil drilling. Venezuelan flag.
House completely shuttered with aluminum to keep the heat out.
Quonset house. Excellent shots of furnished interiors.
Oil camp, including schools. Refinery.
Altopista highway to Caracas nestled in mountains. Caracas aerials. Plaza Bolivar.
Adult Americans studying Spanish in classrooms.
Venezuela Multinational corporations Oil industry Petroleum industry Tropics Equatorial regions