The "documentary" is wonderful at demonstrating what it took to build the grounds for the fair, with lots of captivating footage (along with some random, unidentified home movies of people from the era.) Thing is, the makers seem hell-bent on portraying the fair as a failure in terms of its lack of forward-thinking, awareness of its times and lack of imagination. They also point out low attendance (when it opened in April of 1964. April showers anyone?) Yet, almost to a man (or woman), the people who attended the fair have practically rapturous memories of it. Some of them went to it 50 to 70 times! Their recollections are the stuff dreams are made of. And most of the footage of the fair in action show teeming hordes of people crammed into and onto every attraction! So the premise that the fair wasn't successful doesn't match up to the memories of the people who worked on it and went to it. They considered it practically life-changing. One commentator who is heavily featured wants to go on and on about the youth movement and ecology... in 1964?!? The 1970s were a time of unbelievable pollution and that came well after this. So he should have shelved his hindsight observations which have no bearing on the mindset of the time of the fair in question. We should never judge the past with the same "enlightenment" we (supposedly) have decades later. Because of the strangely skewed perspective, the doc is contradictory and rather pointless, but the footage and the interviews of the attendees is very worthwhile.
Review of The 1964 World's Fair
