San Juan Hill. The Rough Riders. Theordore "Teddy Bear" Roosevelt. The first U.S. invasion of another country to feature its own trademarked stuffed toy! A war profiteer scandal (along the lines of the one Lincoln was rubbed out over, by exploding Union Army cannon corner-cutters who couldent trust "Honest Abe" to understand "What profiteth a man to free 2 million slaves, if ones corporate backers finish in the red?" and used the second gunman behind the satin curtain to finish the job patsy Lee Harvey Booth started) featuring U.S. naval ship with ticking time bomb boilers, with the defective vessels being sent into every tropical fruit port until one exploded (Remember the Maine) and United Fruit could take over hundreds of plantations on the pretext of one mythical "mine." Robert Redford would have a field day with such material, but all director William Paley shows here is the march of the Imperial Troopers (without the John Williams theme and the cool white spacesuits, of course). Well, at least Happy Hour and the Alibi got a cool mind-fogging drink out of this whole thing, and the rest of us got Guantanamo Bay (eliminating the need for Al Qaida to be water-boarded in our backyard)!
5 Reviews
Rather Bland Footage, Though It May Have Looked Better In Its Original Condition
Snow Leopard21 November 2005
This is rather bland footage for a wartime feature, although it's possible that it may have looked a lot better before the physical deterioration of the film. As it survives, there are many defects that obscure a lot of the detail. Although it is still no problem to tell what is happening, the loss of detail may have taken away some interesting features.
The footage covers the arrival of American troops at Daiquirí, Cuba, as they are unloaded, transferred to shore, and directed onwards. It's surprisingly bland and static, with almost everyone in the movie moving slowly, and little of consequence taking place.
At the time, no doubt, the public would have been eager to see any photographic record of events in the news, but otherwise it's hard to see why this particular feature would have aroused any significant interest or response. Even at the time, there were already some pretty interesting short features highlighting actual events.
The footage covers the arrival of American troops at Daiquirí, Cuba, as they are unloaded, transferred to shore, and directed onwards. It's surprisingly bland and static, with almost everyone in the movie moving slowly, and little of consequence taking place.
At the time, no doubt, the public would have been eager to see any photographic record of events in the news, but otherwise it's hard to see why this particular feature would have aroused any significant interest or response. Even at the time, there were already some pretty interesting short features highlighting actual events.
These military documentaries are truly nothing special
Horst_In_Translation13 October 2013
Warning: Spoilers
They probably only mean something to whose whose ancestors fought back in those wars. For everybody else, the action is just too insignificant and difficult to relate to and often the video quality is also pretty bad what surely doesn't help the matter. The best ones I've seen so far may be those who depict Admiral Dewey, just because of his historic significance and these aren't really anything special either.
On this one we see a big group of armed forces step from a ship for a foreign assignment after it arrived the port in Cuba. It runs for slightly under 45 seconds and neither the soldiers depicted herein nor the massive ship left a really lasting impression on me. Not recommended.
On this one we see a big group of armed forces step from a ship for a foreign assignment after it arrived the port in Cuba. It runs for slightly under 45 seconds and neither the soldiers depicted herein nor the massive ship left a really lasting impression on me. Not recommended.
Deteriorated Military Documentary
Tornado_Sam28 November 2020
"U.S. Troops Landing at Daiquiri, Cuba" is the sort of film that fails to keep the viewer's interest due to the minimal amounts of action that is in frame. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does detract from entertainment value, especially considering what action there is is something that would be better captured as a photograph. The subject and composition of this picture are both great, historically and technically speaking, but when there is little action to capture it becomes rather dry as a result.
The title describes this short film from the Edison Company, shot by William 'Daddy' Paley, which features a dock as some U.S. soldiers march off the boat in a rather organized procession. Unfortunately, the ability to further evaluate the footage is lost seeing as how shaky and deteriorated the image quality is, which then makes it hard to really follow what action there is. Had the footage survived better, perhaps it would be more interesting to see; however even with this in mind, the fact that the viewable action is consistent and unchanging is unavoidable. The troops continuing to march down the dock and past the camera is repeated continuously, and with nothing else happening, a photograph would have done better at highlighting the event.
The title describes this short film from the Edison Company, shot by William 'Daddy' Paley, which features a dock as some U.S. soldiers march off the boat in a rather organized procession. Unfortunately, the ability to further evaluate the footage is lost seeing as how shaky and deteriorated the image quality is, which then makes it hard to really follow what action there is. Had the footage survived better, perhaps it would be more interesting to see; however even with this in mind, the fact that the viewable action is consistent and unchanging is unavoidable. The troops continuing to march down the dock and past the camera is repeated continuously, and with nothing else happening, a photograph would have done better at highlighting the event.
U.S. Troops Landing at Daiquiri, Cuba
Michael_Elliott8 December 2016
U.S. Troops Landing at Daiquiri, Cuba (1898)
Here's another early film that's certainly not ground-breaking but it offers up a glimpse to a moment in time. The title is certainly accurate as this shows us some U.S. troops getting off a ship and walking up a dock, which is where the camera is stationed. Again, one really shouldn't expect a story or anything like that. These early movies basically ran for under a minute and just captured some real life event. With that in mind, this here is certainly interesting and worth watching.
This and other films like it can be viewed at The Library of Congress.
Here's another early film that's certainly not ground-breaking but it offers up a glimpse to a moment in time. The title is certainly accurate as this shows us some U.S. troops getting off a ship and walking up a dock, which is where the camera is stationed. Again, one really shouldn't expect a story or anything like that. These early movies basically ran for under a minute and just captured some real life event. With that in mind, this here is certainly interesting and worth watching.
This and other films like it can be viewed at The Library of Congress.
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