TravelTalks goes to Nevada to get a quickie marriage (just kidding). First, they drive to Lake Tahoe to watch an old man pretending to dig for gold. Next is the emptying mining town of Virginia City. There is the quickie divorce and the quickie marriage associated with Reno. I'm guessing that this was a time when Vegas was still a dusty crossroads and overshadowed by the neon of the bigger Reno. That's a bit interesting but like most of the domestic WWII episodes, the exotic is missing.
7 Reviews
But romance takes on a whole new meaning in Nevada...
Doylenf30 May 2009
A nice, but undistinguished, look at Nevada--mostly at the glittering night life where new associations are made and new romances bloom and die in Reno.
The short begins with a winding road overlooking a spectacular view of Lake Tahoe. It winds its way across what the narrator calls "a mineral wealth of land" where the Gold Rushers discovered gold in the 1850s. We get a brief glimpse of a deserted looking Virginia City which was once a thriving metropolis but in the 1940s has become a ghost town of few occupants.
We see the popularity of Dude Ranches rise as women await a period of divorcement by spending their waiting period at these ranches, probably hoping to find a cowboy during the interim. Memories of Claire Booth Luce's wicked portrait of such ladies in THE WOMEN comes to mind. Naturally, we're made aware of Las Vegas being famous for being the city of marriage and divorce.
Nothing distinguished about this short, but the Technicolor views of lakes and pine trees are nice.
The short begins with a winding road overlooking a spectacular view of Lake Tahoe. It winds its way across what the narrator calls "a mineral wealth of land" where the Gold Rushers discovered gold in the 1850s. We get a brief glimpse of a deserted looking Virginia City which was once a thriving metropolis but in the 1940s has become a ghost town of few occupants.
We see the popularity of Dude Ranches rise as women await a period of divorcement by spending their waiting period at these ranches, probably hoping to find a cowboy during the interim. Memories of Claire Booth Luce's wicked portrait of such ladies in THE WOMEN comes to mind. Naturally, we're made aware of Las Vegas being famous for being the city of marriage and divorce.
Nothing distinguished about this short, but the Technicolor views of lakes and pine trees are nice.
There's a literal River of Diamonds running through an obscure American . . .
oscaralbert19 March 2019
Warning: Spoilers
. . . Ghost Town, the narrator of ROMANTIC NEVADA discloses. One in five U.S. wives are lured to a narrow bridge, from whence they fling their wedding and engagement rings--gem stones and all. Specially trained South African homing salmon snap up this lucrative jetsam before it can reach the riverbed. These nefarious fish then embark on a long and arduous homeward journey to the southern tip of "The Sparkly Continent," where vicious butchers from the World Wide Diamond Cartel callously gut them alive to relieve them of their American cargo. Meanwhile, the de-ringed (or is it deranged?) former spouses kiss the pillar of the local court house as if it were Ireland's mythical "Blarney Stone," blissfully unaware that they are "damaged goods" and no longer qualify as "other fish in the sea." ROMANTIC NEVADA is to travel talks like ROMANTIC STD's is to Dating Game shows. Some viewers might just mutter, "It goes with the territory," but many more are likely to conclude, "Considering the options, I'd just as soon stay home."
Nice
Michael_Elliott16 January 2009
Romantic Nevada (1943)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Another entry in MGM's TravelTalk series has James FitzPatrick telling us about the state of Nevada. We start off learning about the minerals in their land, the gold rush in the mid-1850s and of course a look at Reno where one in five marriages end in divorce. The short goes onto tell people not to worry because the majority of the marriages do work out. As with others in the series, this one has been surpassed by better documentaries of today but there's still some mild charm here. There's certainly nothing ground breaking being told but it is interesting seeing how the cities looked back in the day.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Another entry in MGM's TravelTalk series has James FitzPatrick telling us about the state of Nevada. We start off learning about the minerals in their land, the gold rush in the mid-1850s and of course a look at Reno where one in five marriages end in divorce. The short goes onto tell people not to worry because the majority of the marriages do work out. As with others in the series, this one has been surpassed by better documentaries of today but there's still some mild charm here. There's certainly nothing ground breaking being told but it is interesting seeing how the cities looked back in the day.
The guy whom narrates this travel piece asserts that . . .
pixrox119 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
. . . "Lake Tahoe is the second largest body of water in the world" at the beginning of ROMANTIC NEVADA. This alleged "fact" got me to wondering: What is the first largest body of water on our planet? When queried, many of my associates guess that the Pacific Ocean is Earth's largest body of water. If their impression is true, it seems that that would make Lake Tahoe BIGGER than the Atlantic Ocean. Not only that, but Lake Tahoe would have to surpass the size of the Indian and Arctic Oceans as well (not to mention the Mediterranean, Dead, Red, Yellow, Black, Caspian, Baltic, Salton and High Seas, as well as the Gulfs of Mexico and Tonkin). Apart from all of these sizable saltwater reserves, is Tahoe REALLY even the largest freshwater LAKE on this Third Rock from the Sun? Lake Superior is kind of huge, and hydrologically speaking, Lakes Huron and Michigan count as one. Plus lots of folks always forget about Lake Baikal in Siberia. It would seem that the blowhard prattling on here is laboring for some "Poverty Row" movie studio too cheap to buy him an accurate World Atlas.
another FitzPatrick chapter - minor spoilers
ksf-24 November 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Spoilers -- Fitz had started making these fun travel talks in the very silent 1920s and this one was towards the end of the collection. A nine minute shortie from MGM. One of the highlights is Cave Rock, near stateline. Which is also spiritual site for the Washoe tribe.. thus, some activities are now banned, such as rock climbing. Lake Tahoe, which has had severe rises and lowering, due to lack of rain. Also Lake Pyramid. Mining all throughout Nevada. An early look at Virginia City, which has more recently become a tourist bonanza, with annual celebrations. The ease of getting a divorce, especially Reno, which always seems to be highlighted in films. Many of the features described have their own wikipedia page, including cave rock, which has undergone major change since this was filmed. Others have commented that Fitz neglects to mention Las Vegas. While he does take a lot of time talking about divorce and Reno, gambling was actually banned in Nevada from 1909 to 1931, so gambling had only had a resurgance for fifteen years when this was made; it's possible he avoided it for religious reasons, or only had the buget to visit one city. Would be interesting to know why he didn't even mention it.
An Overabundance Of Minerals Leads To An Overabundance Of Words
boblipton28 September 2019
Lake Tahoe, the silver mines, dude ranches, Reno -- the divorce capital of the US -- and lots of red neon lights. There's not a word of Las Vegas and the dreams of wealth that draw millioons of people thence, but I would imagine that indicates that the boom of Vegas as one of the gambling centers of the world still lay in the future. It would not be until the 1950s that Vegas surpassed 'The Biggest Little City in the World" in peoples' minds as what Nevada was about. It was all backwards looking, according to this episode in Fitzpatrick's Traveltalks series: the shrinking lakes, the ghosting town of Virginia City, the dying marriages at the Washoe County courthouse..... although the commentary insists there are more marriages than divorces going on there. Well, maybe.
As is usual with these travelogues, the pictures are quite lovely, with many splashes of bright red in the clothing we get a chance to look at, although Fitzpatrick's never-ending, trivia is shouted at the audience, as if they were more interested in the dull recitation of facts. This was produced during the War, so trips outside North America were in short supply for the Technicolor cameras. One state over, mostly near the California border was a memorable journey, especially for the Americans stuck on the East Coast, and even for people in California, with gasoline rationed during the War. Travel wasn't easy, trains were crowded, and after the years of the Depression, hotel rooms were in short supply.
Fitzpatrick doesn't mention these facts, of course. Travelogues might make you want to see these sights for yourself, but for the moment, getting there was a problem. Still, one day, the chance would come to take the journey and people would come to Nevada, but to gamble. You could do that in Reno, of course. You could do anything in Reno, if you were willing to spend the money. At least, so I am told.
As is usual with these travelogues, the pictures are quite lovely, with many splashes of bright red in the clothing we get a chance to look at, although Fitzpatrick's never-ending, trivia is shouted at the audience, as if they were more interested in the dull recitation of facts. This was produced during the War, so trips outside North America were in short supply for the Technicolor cameras. One state over, mostly near the California border was a memorable journey, especially for the Americans stuck on the East Coast, and even for people in California, with gasoline rationed during the War. Travel wasn't easy, trains were crowded, and after the years of the Depression, hotel rooms were in short supply.
Fitzpatrick doesn't mention these facts, of course. Travelogues might make you want to see these sights for yourself, but for the moment, getting there was a problem. Still, one day, the chance would come to take the journey and people would come to Nevada, but to gamble. You could do that in Reno, of course. You could do anything in Reno, if you were willing to spend the money. At least, so I am told.
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