World's Fairs

World's Fairs DVD -- A Rip-Off
Don't buy this unless you like being disappointed. Looks like the producers got hold of marginal vintage films with a slight relation to world's fairs and threw them together without bothering to edit. For example, the Chicago 1933 footage starts out fairly well but becomes more and more amateurish until suddenly you see the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, a family, the Manhattan skyline -- somebody's home movie of their vacation, both boring and irrelevant. The New York 1939 section consists mainly of industrial films that (possibly) were shown at the fair (the DVD producers don't bother identifying them) but have nothing to show of the fair itself. The Seattle World's Fair section is one - ONE - Bell Telephone corporate film mainly hawking the telephone services of tomorrow. That's it. Whoever produced this DVD is shameless --it's mostly junk, and even I, one of the hardest-core of world's fair enthusiasts, gave up trying to watch it. Worth the price? Not even...

All's FAIR
ST. CLAIR's WORLD'S FAIRS is a three DVD set that features vintage highlights of several 20th Century expositions. These short films (dating as far back as 1915) were originally used for promotional purposes. Visitors to the fairs often saw displays of the latest dazzling technologies, and were given glimpses into a future that even now has never been fully realized.

ALSO RECOMMENDED:
The two-hour PBS documentary, THE WORLD'S GREATEST FAIR is a fascinating in-depth look at the 1904 St. Louis exposition where such novelties as the Ferris Wheel, Dr. Pepper, the ice cream cone, peanut butter, iced tea and cotton candy were introduced to the general public.

PROGRAM CONTENTS of "World's Fairs":

DISC ONE--
SAN FRANCISCO - 1915:
Panama-Pacific International Exposition Revisited
The Story of Jewel City
San Francisco World's Fair

CHICAGO - 1933:
A...

pittodrie
this is pretty good.at times roams randomly,but for the reviewer who complained about this,I say "what would you expect from 95 year old film"?all films this old that I have seen move along in triple time.I am personally grateful for this film,I love all old real time footage.3 hours of footage that I had never seen for about $8(used)is not a ripoff.I recommend this not because of the film organisation,but for it's intrinsic,nostalgic value.

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