User Reviews

Ironically, the theme for the Paris Exposition was "The Spirit of Peace", just as World War II was looming across many European countries, including France and the city of light.

This is a rather by-the-numbers dry view of various pavilions, all of which are glanced from outside only with no indication of what the buildings held inside. The usual commentary is spoken by James FitzPatrick in a dull monotone.

At least we're told that the flags of 44 nations are displayed along the banks of the Seine where the Eiffel Tower is part of the exhibition; countries included Great Britain and its Empire, Sweden (simplicity), Czechoslovakia (impressive architecture), U.S. (American Indian displays), France (replica of Statue of Liberty and French colonies, a pavilion of French-IndoChina and colonies of French West Africa), a shot of a water skier on the Seine, and a Russian statue of heroic figures situated atop a monument 100 ft. high.

At the Spanish pavilion we see dancers from Segovia; and toward the closing we see The Fountain of Peace, an aquatic display of the kind France is noted for. The final shot are the illuminated fountains at night in brilliant color (thanks to electricity) and the short documentary ends with a pyrotechnical display of fireworks, the very same kind that would light up New York's World Fair a few years later.

Interesting but none of the pavilions looked that impressive to me. Might have been more interesting to show some of the interior displays, but I suppose time would not allow that.

Sad to realize that the theme of peace was an ironic one, considering all that was soon to follow.

Looking at this James Fitzpatrick Traveltalks travelogue, the year before the Second World War began, set at the 1937 Paris Exposition, it is impossible to avoid a sardonic smile. As Fitzpatrick's monotonous voice drones on about the various national pavilions, and the pavilions of France's colonies, we wait for the German pavilion. Great Britain, Sweden, Hungarian, even a big old statue from Russia. We watch people water-ski on the Seine and dance the Chardash. Norway, Spain, yes. and men dance with wooden swords. There's a Fountain of Peace, illuminated in color by Technicolor, and fireworks, all to celebrate "the spirit of Peace." But no sign of Germany.

Ah, well. They would come. Maybe not in 1938, maybe not the next year. But soon.

Paris on Parade (1938)

*** (out of 4)

One of the better entries in James A. FitzPatrick's TravelTalks series visits Paris during the 1937 Paris International Exposition. According to this short there were forty-four different nations displaying various forms of their country here and being able to see just a few are a real treat. I'd be lying if I said I had previously heard about this event but that's what makes some of these shorts so much fun. The entire short didn't really show off the city, like so many in the series, but instead just looked at this event, which had some great displays including works from Africa, Sudan, France and many others. Just seeing how different these places were, side by side, is what makes this short such a winner.

This is a TravelTalks episode. It's the Paris Exposition in 1937. The camera travels down the Seine to film the pavilions which have been set up along its banks. The most concerning is France's colonies being represented. The looming war is nowhere to be found other than the epic Soviet pavilion which seems intent on dominating its location. The colorful fountains are very cool. The fireworks don't look as cool. There is great irony in the closing wish for peaceful cooperation.

Saw this James FitzPatrick's Traveltalks short on the An American in Paris DVD. It showcases the 1937 Paris Exposition, which has Pavilions from 44 countries of which the United States was one of them. We don't see the inside of any of them and only occasionally do we get some scenes of people as opposed to all those buildings. Like a male water skier doing his thing. Or some dancers from Hungary. Or some musicians from Spain accompanying a group of men playing with sticks. Then we're shown the Fountain of Peace during daytime before segueing to colorful looking fountains at night which then ends with some fireworks. In summary, Paris on Parade was a pretty interesting travelogue short from the period I mentioned just now.

Like the 1937 travelogue on Czechoslovakia, this one has profound interest for the historian. When I think what horrors all of these people would soon be cast into....

The other aspect of historical interest is the colonial exhibits. Of course after the war the colonies would start the long process of breaking away from their colonizers.

The architecture of each nation is another facet that might make someone want to watch. It shows the thinking of various nations toward their environment as reflective of their culture, except of course for the colonial exhibits which were basically the colonizers showing native housing as interpreted by outsiders for outsiders. We have no way of knowing what, for instance, a creative architect in SE Asia might have thought up for this exposition. Egypt's pavilion was a take on traditional architecture. Czechoslovakia went in for something that the Jetsons would appreciate. The Norwegians preferred to bring to mind their fjords and water.

Hungarians danced, perhaps wondering what they would face when they went home. They might not have gone home if they had known of the decades of rape, pillaging, and murder at the hands of one fiend after another that were to come.

I thought Russia's gigantic sculptures on top of the massive building were meant to intimidate and apparently that was the case. I didn't see the German pavilion. Apparently it was opposite the Russian and they had a war of ideology going on. Germany's was topped by an eagle and swastika and had had a statue of two nude men. Russia's pavilion had a man and woman. All in very heroic-type poses as advertising for their country's and system's superiority over all others but especially over their rival across the way, totally against the peaceful theme of this travelogue or indeed of the exposition. I also read that the Spanish pavilion had Guernica on display.

Everything was accompanied by the usual music to represent each part of the world.

There are websites that talk about this exposition, what it wanted to achieve, and the other exhibitors not mentioned in the travelogue. Obviously one goal of the Depression era expos was to boost tourism and trade. But the specific goal of this one had a decidedly anti-war aspect to it that was promoted by the narrator of the travelogue. It is debatable if ANY of the Thirties expos achieved its goals but as my dearly departed mother used to say, they made a lot of work for a lot of people. And in the Thirties, that made a welcome change.

An MGM TRAVELTALK Short Subject.

PARIS ON PARADE takes us on a dazzling exterior tour of the pavilions built for the 1937 Paris Exposition. The film ends with the wonderful waterworks & pyrotechnic display on and over the River Seine.

This is one of a large series of succinct travelogues turned out by MGM, beginning in the 1930's. They featured Technicolor views of beautiful & unusual sights around the globe, as well as vivid, concise commentary. These films were produced & narrated by James A. FitzPatrick.

This is one of MGM's "Traveltalks" with James A. FitzPatrick - just a couple of years before Nazis were trying to make themselves feel at home there. This is a brief look at the Paris Exhibition of 1937, which included pavilions of other European nations that would be invaded by the Nazis even sooner than France.

According to Mr. FitzPatrick there were 44 nations with their exhibits on the banks of the Seine, showing the "faith in the ideals of man's humanity to man" on the eve of the world witnessing man's inhumanity to man - some of which was already taking place (Japan's invasion of parts of China, Germany already having concentration camps, annexing Austria, Italy invading Ethiopia, etc.).

It is very difficult for a modern viewer to watch things like the "modern" architecture of the Czechoslovakian pavilion with the knowledge that a lot of the architecture of that former nation will most likely be destroyed over the next 6 or 7 years.

There were also interesting exhibits from former French colonies: Indochina and French West Africa, which included Senegal, Dahomey (now Benin), the Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire), Mauritania, French Sudan, and other colonies. There was also the Soviet Union's exhibit which included a Stalinist statue of a man and woman worker that was, according to Mr. FitzPatrick, about 100 feet tall.

The illuminated fountains were quite beautiful as were the fireworks displays.

This appears occasionally on TCM - it's definitely worth checking out.

If there's one thing I find interesting, it's pictures and films of places that no longer exist. In this installment of James Fitzpatrick's always entertaining Traveltalks series, we are shown some things that are no longer around, and it is more interesting than usual because it seems to foreshadow world war 2. This episode focuses on the Paris exhibition of 1937, an event where the french government invited a bunch of different countries to their capital so that they can build pavilions to showcase to the whole world what their respective nations are all about. What makes it so interesting is how this was only 2 years before ww2, and both the nazis and the soviets were invited. Not only this, but their pavilions were located opposite one another, so it was almost predicting a battle between nazism and communism, which is what ended up happening. In the film itself, we're shown different pavilions set up by some of the attending countries, such as switzerland, the soviet union, and some french african colonial states. The architecture on them is nice to look at, and we get a lot of nice shots of the Eiffel Tower, which is located nearby. What makes this particular Traveltalks so intriguing to me is how nazi germany had built a monument for it, as mentioned earlier, but it's nowhere to be found in this film. By now, it was the late 30s, and how Hitler felt about germany's jewish population was well known to everyone who wasn't a total idiot. What I think happened is Fitzpatrick deliberately chose to ignore germany's pavilion because he didn't approve of Hitler's actions. Originally deciding to stay out of the exhibition, Hitler was persuaded to participate by his chief architect, Albert Speer, who was also responsible for designing the german pavilion. Although not shown, it consisted of a very tall, marble structure supported by multiple pillars, with a golden eagle clutching a swastika on the roof. The monument was meant to symbolize that germany had come back from its defeat in ww1 stronger than ever before. Directly opposite from the german pavilion was the soviet one, arguably the most impressive thing to be featured at the event. It is a huge metal statue of a working class man and woman, holding a hammer and sickle respectively, standing together and holding their hands toward the sky. Unlike the nazi pavilion, the soviet one actually still exists, but was moved back to russia after the event was over. During the film, we also see how the cultural aspects of each country are brought to light in Paris, such as the hungarians and their affinity for dances. While I'm still kind of annoyed how Fitzpatrick chose to completely gloss over the german pavilion, it makes sense in the context of the day. The belief of germanic racial supremacy was the very heart of nazi ideology, and by even giving the germans 1 second of screen time, he probably would have lost a lot of fans. At least there's pictures on the internet that you can look at. Even though the biggest war in history would engulf the world 2 years after this, seeing all these huge pavilions on display together kind of makes me wish I was alive in the 30s just to see them in person.