Oriental Paradise (1936) User Reviews

Azaleas And Wisterias

[boblipton · 5/10 · 14 January 2023]

James A. Fitzpatrick sends the Technicolor cameras to Japan, with Wilfrid Cline to supervise their handling in this early Traveltalks travelogue.

Uncharacteristically, Fitzpatrick doesn't have much to say for the first three minutes of this movie. Instead, he allows the pictures of blooming trees to speak for themselves. After that, he head indoors to discuss flower arranging, and he has to show off his vocabulary in the top of his lungs. Neither are we permitted to enjoy Fujiayama in serene contemplation. Some one has to sing.

The copy of this movie that plays on Turner Classic Movies is of variable quality. The beginning is quite fuzzy, although the colors maintain their values. By the end, the picture quality is excellent.

all but the singing

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 14 January 2023]

It's pre-war Japan. This is very traditional with a lot of gardens and that allows for a lot of colors. That would have been very vibrant for the early movie goers. A Geisha girl arranges flowers. There is a deer park. There is Mount Fuji and that when the annoying old operatic singing begins. I was really loving this until that moment. It forced me to lower volume to finish the rest of the episode. This is strictly old traditional Japan. Everybody is dressed in old costumes. Modern Japan has no place in this episode. In that sense, this is not really reflective of the place. It's performative.

TravelTalks

[Michael_Elliott · 4 January 2011]

Oriental Paradise (1936)

*** (out of 4)

This entry of James A. FitzPatrick's TravelTalks series is a rather unique one as he talks very little and instead lets us just take in the various views of Japan. Early on we visit several flower farms and we then learn that in Japan they make all of their plants look like three things: the Heavens, Man and Earth. We learn that each plant as its own arrangement and that girls take a course in plants/flowers at their school. We also visit a deer park where Budda told people to love "dumb creatures" like deers. The interesting thing is seeing the deers walk up to the humans and eat out of their hands. I don't think there's any doubt that this here is one of the better entries in the series as the Technicolor really brings the life everything we see including the extremely impressive flower farms. The deer park is another sharp thing to look at and as usual FitzPatrick has the perfect voice to tell the stories.