World Wide Adventures

World Wide Adventures is a generalized name applied to Warner Bros. live-action short films of the 1960s. Usually the trade magazines like BoxOffice only listed the one-reelers (running about 10 minutes in length) under this heading, with the longer films simply dubbed “specials.” For the most part, this was a handy marketing logo for a wide range of shorts of the documentary genre.

Although the studio sharply curtailed theatrical “live-action” shorts production by 1957, a selective number of featurettes and independent films were distributed along with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies animated cartoons as material shown before the main feature. By this time it was more profitable to re-release older films rather than make new ones, but theater owners expected a few “new” offerings each year. (At least one of their rivals, Universal Pictures, continued a consistent schedule of both live-action and animated short subjects through 1972.)

While the bulk were independent travelogues, the in-house producers Cedric Francis and William L. Hendricks (famous for the final cartoons featuring Daffy Duck and Cool Cat) supervised a few themselves.

Despite being largely forgotten over the decades, a handful have enjoyed a second life as “extras” between main features on Turner Classic Movies, particularly such titles as Kingdom of the Saguenay and See Holland Before It Gets Too Big.

Since the live-action short subjects made during this period seldom got proper coverage in periodicals and reference books, this chronological listing is incomplete in its information:

Title Major credits Running time Release date Filming location
A Touch of Gold Hamilton Wright 9 minutes October 1962 South Africa
Fabulous Mexico Hamilton Wright 9 minutes October 1962 Mexico
Moroccan Rivieras Hamilton Wright (producer); Richard Wright (director) 9 minutes February 1963 Morocco
Wish and Ticino André de la Varre 9 minutes September 21, 1963 Switzerland
A Look at Log Island (Crest Productions) 9 minutes October 1963 Stockholm, Sweden
With Their Eyes on the Stars Cedric Francis (producer); music: John Stewart & the Ridgerunners 17 minutes February 1, 1964 documentary on US history (for North American Aviation)
Kingdom of the Saguenay Douglas Sinclair 9 minutes February 1, 1964 Québec
Report from San Juan (Delta Film International); David Ahlers (producer) 17 minutes August 8, 1964 Puerto Rico
Cheyenne Autumn Trail (Professional Film Services); Ronald Saland (director); Burt Sloane (writer); Ross Lowell (camera); Howard Kuperman (editor) 18 minutes October 1964 partly a promotional for Cheyenne Autumn
Metropolis in Miniature (J & F Productions) 9 minutes 1964 (independent release); September 1965 (Warner release) Hershey, Pennsylvania
A Free People William L. Hendricks (producer) 20 minutes March 1965 Various locations in the US, for the US Army
A Country Reborn 9 minutes October 1965 Taiwan
The Land We Love William L. Hendricks (producer); Raymond Massey & Hubert Humphrey (narrator/hosts) 18 minutes February 1966 for US Savings Bond
Bolivia- The Last Frontier Hamilton Wright (producer); narrator: Andre Baruch 18 minutes August 1966 Bolivia
Hollywood Star-Spangled Revue William L. Hendricks (producer) 10 minutes September 17, 1966 Hollywood, produced for US Savings Bond with Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller, James Stewart, Herb Alpert, the Rockettes, Carlyn Jones & Joanie Sommers
The Fastest Automobile in the World 9 minutes November 5, 1966 Bob and Bill Summers (car builder) testing the Goldenrod (car) in Bonneville Salt Flats
Where in the World? Hamilton Wright (producer) 10 minutes November 30, 1966
Precision National Film Board of Canada; George Dufaux 10 minutes 1966 (Canada); December 30, 1967 (Warner release)
Holiday Afloat 10 minutes February 15?, 1967
Motion (Man In Motion / La Mouvement) April 1967 (Expo 67); February 1, 1969 (Warner release)
Sky Over Holland (Ciels de Haollande) John Fernhout 22 minutes May 1967 (Cannes Film Festival); April 30, 1968 (Warner release) 70mm views of Netherlands
33 Fathoms Deep (33 Fathoms Plus) Robert J. Ellsworth 17 minutes July 1967 (independent release); February 12, 1968 (Warner release) Bob Croft and others diving in Florida
Le Pecheur a l'Ecoute (Fisherman's Fall) National Film Board of Canada; Robert Nichol (director) 16 minutes 1967 (Canada release); November 23, 1968 (Warner release)
Claybirds Are Coming Hamilton Wright (producer) 9 minutes February 21, 1968
Newfoundland's Fighting Fish 16 minutes March 2, 1968 Canadian import
Rolling Down the Rhine (Crest Productions) 9 minutes March 23, 1968 Switzerland, Austria & Germany
Tower (Seneca Productions / Allied Chemical Corporation) 9 minutes April 27, 1968
Sea and Ski (From Sea to Ski) 18 minutes November 2, 1968
Big John Art Mayer 9 minutes February 8, 1969
See Holland Before It Gets Too Big (Netherlands National Tourist Office); Norman Weissman (director); Robert Klinkert (camera); Dan Barrie (music) 11 minutes April 5 1969 Netherlands
Upwind Down Under Art Mayer 9 minutes April 12, 1969 sailing off Sydney, Australia
Season In Tyrol William L. Hendricks (producer); Kurt Jetmar (director); Efrem Zimbalist Jr. (narrator) 19 minutes June 14, 1969 Austria
Freedom Road (Mattco Associates) 17 minutes July 5, 1969
Harry, Come Sail with Me Hamilton Wright (producer) 10 minutes August 23, 1969
Annabel Lee: Story by Edgar Allan Poe Ron Morante; Vincent Price (narrator) 10 minutes November 22, 1969
The Lemmings 10 minutes November 22, 1969
One Giant Leap 18 minutes March 28, 1970
A Walk Through the Sounds of Switzerland (Swiss National Tourist Office); André de la Varre Jr. (director) 9 minutes July 1, 1970 Switzerland

See also

References

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