User Reviews

In the Traveltalks series narrated by James Fitzpatrick, which focuses on bringing various, faraway locations to the big screen in vivid Technicolor, there are many installments that belong to one of two categories. The first is that of a unique look back on a specific time and place in history, as these events will never take place again. The rest of the shorts are mainly nondescript, and the places he visits mostly bear a lot of resemblance to how they look now, even though it's decades later. This one isn't like this at all, since it actually seems to be more about people than the location in question. Belfast is the capital city of Northern Ireland, which is a British territory despite being geographically connected to Ireland itself. Fitzpatrick's voyage begins on a cruise ship, the RMS Scythia. It leaves its port of Halifax in Canada carrying over a hundred British children who were sent to canada during the Second World War by their parents for their own safety. This was an actual practice during the war, but was halted when a German submarine sank a ship with a large amount of kids onboard. They will no doubt have a difficult time becoming acclimated to their birth nation as they have been away for most their lives. The ban on travel that was in place during the war is finally gone, so the ship proceeds to Belfast, where we see parliament buildings made of Greek and Italian marble, and huge botanical gardens that are among the most lauded in Europe. Now we get to the actual meat of the short: King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, and her young daughter Princess (later queen) Elizabeth attend a reception which has a large amount of veterans from both world wars. King George, himself being a former Royal Navy and Air Force officer, talks to some veterans. While his active service days are done, he holds the honorary titles of Marshal in the air force and Field Marshal for the british army. The United States doesn't use this rank, but a Field Marshal is even more senior than a General, roughly equivalent to a Fleet Admiral in the US Navy or 5 star general in the army. America hasn't used either of these titles since World War II. After hearing about how britain and america are both united in the belief that all free men are entitled to (in the words of Thomas Jefferson), life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the short ends. While I know there are many separatists and loyalists in this issue regarding northern ireland's politics, with the former wanting nothing to with britain and the latter wanting to be their subjects, I'm not going to get into that. I thought this short was interesting because it shows early footage of a future world leader who is mostly remembered for just how long she was able to live. It's also a strange sight to witness people who participated in both world wars standing amongst each other. Everybody who took part in ww1 is now dead, and this date will inevitably come for ww2 veterans as well. I choose to believe that at least a small number of them will make it to 2044 to attend the 100th anniversary of the Normandy landings, but they'd be almost 120. While history is one of my favorite things in the world, it's a reminder that nothing stops the march of time.

With the War finally over, James A. Fitzpatrick claims to have accompanied the Technicolor cameras to Belfast, although he lets Virgil Miller and S. D. Onions run them. Eventually, back in the recording studios, he speaks about Belfast being the largest producer of linen, and shows us the King, his wife, and the Princess Elizabeth -- the current Elizabeth II as I write this.

Fitzpatrick devotes about a third of this movie to the royals. Either this is excessive, or there wasn't much about Belfast worth showing. The copy of this travelogue that shows on Turner Classic Movies is in decent shape when it comes to colors, but shows the sort of image loss you would expect from a 16mm. TV print.

Over the Seas to Belfast (1946)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This entry in MGM's TravelTalks series starts off on a boat by Halofax, Scotland where we learn that this trip is the fist James A. FitzPatrick has made overseas since the end of WW2 when the travel band was lifted. We then get to see over a hundred children who fled Great Britain and are just returning home to be with their parents. After that we travel to Belfast, Northern Ireland where we get to see their three-million dollar city hall, Princess Elizabeth and how fast the people in the city move. This is one of the better entries in the series because of the first few minutes on the boat. It's certainly interesting, history wise, to know that these children were toddlers when they left the country and are now returning to a home they don't really know. It's too bad the short didn't center on them for the entire running time as I'm sure there are many great stories to be told. The second half is fairly decent but we don't learn too much about the city because most of the time is spent discussing the royal members there.

Traveltalks boards the RMS Scythia as it leaves Halifax with a cargo of about 150 British children evacuees. They arrive in Liverpool and Traveltalks transfers to continue their trip to Belfast. Life is returning to normal for this post-war metropolis. The King and Queen make a visit to Northern Ireland.

This does present a time and places during that time. Its most compelling aspect is its royalist attitude towards the Royal visit in Northern Ireland. It is complete adoration for the royal family and that is an intriguing time capsule in itself. Otherwise, the kids are interesting but not much else.