Basil Wrangell

A selection of excerpts from the first Cinerama films.

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Cinerama takes you on a South Seas Adventure to tropical islands set like sparkling jewels in dreamy cerulean waters. Thrill to the lure of sunbrowned, luscious maidens and a paradise of coconut palms, coral strand and blue lagoons. Enchanted South Pacific archipelagos beckon with all the beauty and color of a painter’s palette. Stepping stones in the vast expanse of far-away seas, they promise romance, adventure, excitement—an irresistible blend of fascinating people and exotic places.

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Up-and-coming Hollywood actor/crooner, Vic Morton, has a secret. He starts receiving death threats in the mail and an attempt on his life is made. Soon after, two of his associates are murdered. Who is behind it all?

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Private Detective Philo Vance gets involved with a succession of murders and a mystery concerning the disappearance of an emerald that has been smuggled into the United States.

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A policeman's son searches for a suitable subject for an essay about an important person.

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An FBI agent goes undercover to investigate the sabotage of American cargo ships.

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Following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, America was rife with rumors about the size of Japan's armed forces and how well-equipped they were to wage war against the U.S. Using animation, the first part of this film dispels these rumors by showing that the U.S. had more raw materials and more fighting ships. The narrator also cautions moviegoers against spreading rumors (which are often initiated by enemy infiltrators to create fear and dissention) and believing everything they read in the newspapers. Just because "they say" something, that doesn't make it true.

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Two autograph hounds attend an air show at Santa Anita racetrack.

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This John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short explores the origins of various customs such as shaking hands, kissing, and why ships are christened.

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In this Pete Smith Speciality, the audience is asked a series of multiple-choice questions on various subjects.

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In this John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short we see how gossip can be used to spread propaganda or to ruin a person's reputation.

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This MGM John Nesbitt's Passing Parade series short takes a look at the origins of North American slang.

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Part of John Nesbitt's Passing Parade series, this short shows how three seemingly unimportant things can affect people. The first is how the number 7 affects a student accused of theft charges. The second segment shows that a person's doodles can reveal personality traits. The final segment shows why certain items are on men's suits, such as lapels.

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Highlights a new system that will enable doctors to operate over long distances.

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A comedy short staring Robert Benchley. He tries to show us how to make our own movies.

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Joe Doakes, like most men, is unable to cope with personal emergencies or those in a position of authority (real or imagined).

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A lecturer tells the audience that it is National Take Care Week. He tells the story of a man who gets stung in his garden and the problems the man has when he seeks treatment at the doctor's office.

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Joe Doakes tries to take a day off.

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The "unseen guardians" of the title are the Postal Inspection Service, which investigates mail order racketeering; the Underwriters' Laboratories, which are shown testing electrical equipment, fire extinguishers, and large floor safes; and those who run orphanages, who assure that the children in their care are placed in proper adoptive homes.

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The "new roadways" of the title refer to various projects, carried out in the USA's research laboratories, that benefit mankind. These include solar energy projects, making glass that can be rolled up like a carpet, and diet experiments with mice that might lead to a cure for color blindness.

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Three specific and separate stories of life's passing parade are presented.

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Tracing the migration of Brigham Young and the Mormons to Utah and posing the question of whether the appearance of seagulls that fed on the grasshoppers (which were consuming the wheat crops) was a phenomenon or a coincidence.

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While riding on horseback with fellow actor Bill Demarest near the vast Irvine Ranch in Southern California, Jimmy Stewart pauses to explain that Irvine will be the location of the 1953 Boy Scout Jamboree.

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Joe Doakes, like most men, is unable to cope with personal emergencies or those in a position of authority (real or imagined).

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