Land of the Zuider Zee (1951)
This Traveltalks visit to Holland spotlights The Hague and two smaller tourist destinations. We learn that the economy of Holland, which for many centuries has been based on fishing and the growing of tulips, is slowly changing to an agricultural base.
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Good story, Not enough for a whole film
A Major Disappointment
The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.
It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...
Land of the Zuider Zee (1951) ** (out of 4) Fair entry in MGM's TravelTalks series has James A. FitzPatrick traveling to Holland where he takes a closer look at the people and the Zuider Zee. The majority of the running time talks about how fishing is so important to the people as well as the villages and we get to see how modern boats are slowly taking over stuff used for past generations. We see a few children and learn that the reason they have straight hair over their eyes is to block the sunlight. Other bits of trivia include learning about the Flying Dutchman boats, the odd dresses warn and we also learn about the buildings and why different colors of paint are used. We also visit Volendam and Spakenburg. If you're already familiar with the series then you know what to expect but as usual it's the Technicolor that really stands out. Getting to see these images in color were certainly the biggest draw to the series back when these films were released as well as today. I must admit that I found this entry to be more boring than most simply because nothing we're being told was all that interesting. It's pretty much all about fishing yet we really learn very little about it from the point of view of the villagers. As usual, it's great getting to see these locations but that's about all there is here.