User Reviews

Brisk, informative look at the most famous landmark buildings in Washington, D.C, culminating in a final look at Washington, D.C. in springtime with the Japanese cherry blossoms in full bloom. And since these TravelTalks are filmed in color, the scenery is gorgeous.

Narrated by FitzPatrick himself, these are the sort of short films we used to see in school auditoriums when I was growing up.

Buildings glimpsed include the White House, the Capitol, The Treasury building, Department of Interior (built during FDR's administration for 13 million), Union Station, U.S. Supreme Court, The Smithsonian Institute, and the British, Swiss, Japan and French embassies.

Also the American Red Cross building to honor the work of Clara Barton built in 1891, Pan American Union Building, and finally the Ford Theater where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, as well as the house across the street where he died. The Lincoln Memorial is shown, built in 1915 to celebrate the life of the man who saved the Union.

It's the sort of documentary any student of history would want to see.

James A. Fitzpatrick sends his Technicolor cameras under Robert Carney to that mysterious and exotic land, Washington D.C.

It's a Traveltalk about the buildings, rather than the people of Washington D.C., which begin with a shot of the Washington Monument and ends with one of the Lincoln Memorial. That is probably because the people of Washington wouldn't look so exotic to the audiences of the MGM travelogue series. They look, in fact, like most of the audience, and so we see them only when they can't be avoided, en masse leaving the buildings, or walking down the street, but in long shot, so we clearly can see, say, Ford's Theater.

Fitzpatrick's narration is always a bit droning, but here, despite his adult voice, I got the impression of a small boy, standing, with his hands behind his back, declaiming a series of memorized facts.

Traveltalks travels to Washington, D.C. It starts with the Washington Monument and goes through all the big buildings. It's nothing more than a time capsule for those buildings and cars. The Japanese cherry trees are a lot smaller. Quite frankly, this does as much as a box of old photographs, nothing more and nothing less.

An MGM TRAVELTALK Short Subject.

In this fascinating short film our brief visit to THE CAPITAL CITY, WASHINGTON, D. C., begins with a look at the exterior of some of the city's most famous buildings: the Washington Monument, the Capitol, the White House, the Smithsonian Institution. After viewing a few of the foreign embassies, we see the celebrated cherry trees in bloom. Finally, we are shown Ford's Theatre and the Lincoln Memorial.

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.

Capital City: Washington D.C. (1940)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

James A Fitzpatrick takes his cameras to Washington, D.C. where we learn about the history of our capital as well as see some of the various sites. Obviously, there are all sorts of landmarks visited including the Washington Monument, the Union Station and what would a trip be without seeing the White House? If you've seen any of these TravelTalks shorts then you should know what to expect. Fitzpatrick narrates the history of stories of what you're seeing and then the Technicolor jumps off the screen to impress you with the visuals. Fans of the series will certainly be entertained by this entry in the series.

Apart from color, which was true of all the MGM TravelTalks pictures, this is an incredibly boring picture. I watched it mostly because I grew up in the Washington, DC area and wanted to see what it looked like back in 1940. Well, aside from marveling at all the undeveloped area surrounding the city (ALL of which is developed today), all I got was a dull bit of narration and a few federal buildings and embassies. All in all, it's about 10 minutes of my life I am missing and wish I hadn't bothered in the first place. Uninspired, slow and without a single bit of energy, I can think of 1001 things BETTER to do with my time (such as cleaning out my navel).