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Madeira: 'Isle of Romance' (1938) Online

Madeira: 'Isle of Romance' (1938) Online
1938
Original Title :
Madeira: u0027Isle of Romanceu0027
Genre :
Movie / Documentary / Short
Year :
1938
Type :
Movie
Time :
9min
Rating :
5.8/10

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In this Traveltalk series entry, we visit Madeira Island, the largest of the Madeira Islands group in the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the filming takes place in Funchal, the capital of the ... See full summary

Madeira: 'Isle of Romance' (1938) Online

In this Traveltalk series entry, we visit Madeira Island, the largest of the Madeira Islands group in the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the filming takes place in Funchal, the capital of the islands. There are flowers everywhere. The influence of Portuguese explorers is evident in the architecture and dress. Christopher Columbus was married here and lived on the island several years. Narrator FitzPatrick takes a ride in the local mode of transportation: a large basket sledge on wooden rails. A small coastal fishing village is also featured.
Cast overview:
James A. FitzPatrick James A. FitzPatrick - Narrator (voice)


User reviews

Puchock

Puchock

. . . seems to be about some spot in the ocean where Columbus once eloped. (You can remember this, if you wish, with a mnemonic device such as, "In Fourteen Hundred Eighty-Five Chris sailed 500 miles to Wive"). The other piece of memorable information we learn from MADEIRA: ISLE OF ROMANCE is that French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte once took a prayer break there on his way to his Final Destination. We never learn whether the Columbus and Bonaparte families had any picnics together, but it seems likely that the kin of these two infamous jailbirds might have had a get-together sometime on Visiting Day. Given the nature of his spiel, it seems that the narrator missed the boat when selecting a subtitle for his outing to MADEIRA. "ISLE OF ROMANCE" appears to be not only sort of an off-hand and generic descriptor, but also rather ill-fitting and inapt. Perhaps if the minds behind this "travel talk" had put a little more thought into it, they could have come up with something such as MADEIRA, a.k.a. ALCATRAZ EAST.
Qucid

Qucid

Madeira: 'Isle of Romance' (1938)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Early TravelTalks entry has James A. FitzPatrick taking his cameras to the small island of Madeira where we learn about its history, which includes Christopher Columbus and his great love. We also take a look at the small forms of business, which consists of women sewing and men working a "buggy" where they slide people down the bobble stone roads. The really bad job happens when the men must carry the items back up the hill. Hopefully they were paid very well. Quite often the Technicolor steals the film and that's the case here as the beautiful blue ocean water and skies really jump off the screen here and these images are well worth the nine-minutes it'll take you to watch this short. The stories about the island are mildly entertaining but the real key are all the visuals. One of my favorites was the bushes, which were quite colorful and also jumped off the screen.
Arashitilar

Arashitilar

Nothing too distinguished about this short which opens and closes with a song, "On the Island of Madeira." The usual sunset on water scene closes the short as we leave the brief island tour.

Along the way, we're treated to an overhead shot of the island as waves lap onto the shores of the waterfront beaches. We see natives wearing traditional colorful costumes as they sell their wares, men working in their fishing boats, streets where tourists are riding on cobblestone roads being pulled in a conveyance like a carriage by native handlers.

Nothing special to make this anything more than a lukewarm recommendation if you fancy visiting this remote island.