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Medicus (P.)[Amateur film: Medicus collection: New York World's Fair, 1939-40] (Reel 4) (Part I) (1939)

Detailed documentation of the "World of Tomorrow" in beautiful Kodachrome.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Medicus (P.)
Sponsor: N/A
Audio/Visual: Si, C
Keywords: World's Fairs: New York, 1939-40; Amateur films

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: Spuzz - - November 20, 2005
Subject: The mustery of the tall building with the even taller statue..
Were going around the world in this volume, stopping at some rather curious places, and totally ignoring others! So lets GO!!

We start off at um, a unknown country. Im not going to look up their flag (green with orange star), Their pavilion looks ok. Then we see another flag.. No Idea what it is.. Germany? Italy? Iraq? Then the camera scrolls down, and its the Belgium pavillion. Oh. Their building looks ugly. Next we look across and see a rather large building with a rather larger statue.. What could that be? We dont find out (yet). We then go to another non descripit building. No Idea what it is, lots of flags out in front though.. hmm.. We then go to the amusingly named Lagoon of Nations And this thing is HUGE. We see some of the buildings next to the lagoon Hmm theres that building with the big statue The lagoon also has some SERIOUS fountains. I would say maybe 30 feet high. Whoa, Its got some nice statues too. Too bad its so cloudy though Didnt we see the other side of this on a previous reel? Again we see the nondescripit building with flags.. And from there, we hustle from country to country.. First.. Iceland! Somewhat blah building.. Next, Denmark! Next, Netherlands! Ohhh, now I get it, the nondescript building is holding 5-6 pavillions (to save money?) Next, we go to a building with a foreign enscription of what the country is.. I thought it was Egypt.. We see some of the murals on the side, then go around the side, another sort of mural is there, and the country name, Greece. Oh. Theres a nice faux David statue there too. We AGAIN look across the lagoon to see that mysterious building with the really large statue.. Finally, we get to the building, That statue is at LEAST 50 feet in the air, maybe (probably) more, then by seeing the flag, and the obvious way the statue has been constructed, we find out, and we marvel at Russias building. Man, now THATS a building. A lot of other people think so too, judging by the crowds! Theyve got another great statue at their entrance too. The next caption cracked me up Everyone smiles In Russia, as you can see in this picture. And sure enough, its a typical Russian painting of lots of people, going forth, no doubt, down the glorious road of Communism. We then see a proposed Moscow monument. I dont think this was ever built, but this looks HUGE. From there we see a Russian built car. Yes, just one car. Not too sure what model this was. Are those actual Russian guards looking inside? We then see the sign for, but never actually go into, the Soviet Arctic pavilion. After that, we see one big honker of a Russian plane. Wow! The wing span on this was huge! Interesting how it was being held by a small pedestal it looks like. After that, we go to the big sign of the Czecho-slovakia pavilion where we check out a Czech parabolic mirror, whatever that is. We then see a stained glass window depicting Czech progress. Yawn. Next! We then, very ironically you understand, go to the Japanese pavilion. You do realize of course, this is 1939, in 2 years, they were going to be Americas sworn enemy right? But ahhh thats two years from now1 Right now you can, but only til 10a to 10p, go into the gardens, houses, and buildings.. Hilariously. The big Russian statue is sticking out from one of the buildings. From there, we see Irelands building, with the curiously inappropriate statue that is screaming, Look at my boobs! It LOOOKS huge, but if you look closely, it really isnt. Off to Norway next.Curiously, their flags are severely tattered. Not too sure whats up with that. In the distance, we can see SOMETHING going on in their building, but its too far to really get a look (it looks like theyre tanning hides). Then in a bit that annoyed me to bits, we see Canadas building in the distance, but dont bother getting a closer look. Humph, same to you Medicus. Off to Argentina next, again, nice logo on the front Whoops! Thats all you get there.. off we go to a building, loads of flags on it.. not too sure of what this is.. Oh there we are.. The Pan American Union! No, I dont think its the union of the extinct airways.. I believe it was for the South American countries! Oops! Thats that.. Off we go to the Outside of the Cuba exhibit. Lots of flags, Big and impressive. We then see a sculpture, not too sure of what it is.. Then, we see a building in the distance.. Not too sure what it is.. But I have a hunch.. Ahh yes! See I was right! The federal building! Its big and huge, but it looks ugly and too industrial. Weird looking sculptures on the side.. Are they supposed to be Indians? We then go in, where, again rather amusingly and ironically, it was said where The king and Queen of England were Received. The hall itself is no big shake. We see some busts of some presidents, but thats about it. We take a look at the symbols of the fair from inside the American building, then we hike over to the Boy Scouts section. The boys, like the Army, had a detachment here at all times apparently. They did marching exercises that again, noone seemed to care about, Do a rather discouraging changing of the guard, and lived in teepees! Also, they appear to have had a circus tent.. Some of them appear to be too talented, as we see some models of bridges theyre working on. Back to, I think, the big building with lots of countries in them. And then we see the outside of the unremarkable-looking Peru building. We see another building, not to sure where this is from, has a strange red square on front. After that. We see the Swiss pavilion and their gardens, The Medicuses go here to eat. I guess their service isnt that great, you can see the Medicus woman drumming her hands on the table. But at least theres a smiling band, complete with accordionist to keep them company! We then go to the Netherlands Impressive Building next.. Hmmm, didnt we already pass the Netherlands building? Im confused. From the outside, it doesnt look impressive to me. A lot of art, some statues, fairly blah building to me. We then see a curious walkupway to a curious looking building that has the most curious looking entrance, Rather odd looking, we then find out its Poland, and then I said, 10 points for originality for them! Good looking Im going to kill you now statue there too. Curious looking Polish restaurant. It looks huge, but it really isnt. From there, we go to, what I consider to be, the best designed building in this reel. Venezuela! Look at those angles of the roof! We go behind the V and see some gardens. We then see a sign explaining what the countrys top economies are, and then we are shown a statue of each made from mahogany, which is native to Venezuela. Neat! After visiting a outdoor restaurant, We briefly see some of the Venezuelan displays, Is that a heart box of chocolate? After that, we go to another nicely thought of pavilion, Portugal1 Theres look like a castle! We see some of the statues in their garden, See a replica of a stone that the first Portuguese emigrants stepped on when they came to America. I guess this sign meant a lot to some people, as some letters are missing.. We also see some murals some are about leisure activities. Then, we finally get to the League of Nations display, I like the whole Flags trapped in the cage motif on the roof.. Then, we go to Chile!! God. Now THAT is an ugly building. Why did they raise it off the ground like that? Eeek. The inside, curiously, looks like the General Electric building. Nice working mans mural though. Again, we take a peek outside the windows, nothing remarkable. Except to say we can STILL see the Russian building. We then see a car that was said to have driven all the way from Chile to here by some Chileans. Yeah yeah.. How did they get BACK? From there, Oh MY. Its the Italy pavillions fountain1 Easily one of the most beautiful things in the fair. The film stops at this point, but it makes me look forward to the next reel! Hopefully theyll be more of the Italy exhibit! This was a fun reel actually! A MUST SEE on this Site!

Reviewer: ridetheory - - March 18, 2003
Subject: Partial Shot list
Some pretty buildings, but a dull reel overall.

Belgium
Flags
Lagoon of Nations
Fountain in front of Perisphere
Statues
More International Flags
Various Pavilions, exterior shots.
Russian Pavilion, with statue of worker holding star, red flag
4:25 TOURING CHAIR
"Everybody Smiles in Russia, as you can see from the picture." Shots of Mural
Interior, model of proposed monument
Soviet Arctic Pavilion, large prop plane out front.
Czecho-Slovakia, parabolic mirror
"Stained glass window depict Czech progress"
Japan
Japanese garden
Ireland (though you can't see it in this film, the building was shaped like a shamrock)
Norway
Argentina
Pan American Union
The Federal Building
Busts of Lincoln and Franklin
View of Trylon and Perisphere from Federal Building
Boy Scouts encampment
"Scout Modeling" (Model of bridge)
More flags
Peru
Switzerland
"The Swiss Gardens" (restaurant, band)
"Netherlands Impressive Building"
Poland
Venezuela (very pretty grounds, outdoor tables, boxy sculptures)
"Venezuelan displays were most interesting."
Portugal
League of Nations
Chile
Italy, large building with waterfall down the front.

Shotlist