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.

Overview

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.

List of titles

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

Marketed as "World Wide Adventures" or "Specials"

Title Major credits Running time Release date Filming location / notes
A Touch of GoldHamilton Wright9 minutesOctober 1962South Africa
Fabulous MexicoHamilton Wright9 minutesOctober 1962Mexico
Moroccan RivierasHamilton Wright (producer); Richard Wright (director)9 minutesFebruary 1963Morocco
Wish and TicinoAndré de la Varre9 minutesSeptember 21, 1963Switzerland
A Look at Log Island(Crest Productions)9 minutesOctober 1963Stockholm, Sweden
With Their Eyes on the StarsCedric Francis (producer); music: John Stewart & the Ridgerunners17 minutesFebruary 1, 1964documentary on US history (for North American Aviation)
Kingdom of the SaguenayDouglas Sinclair9 minutesFebruary 1, 1964Québec
Report from San Juan(Delta Film International); David Ahlers (producer)17 minutesAugust 8, 1964Puerto Rico
Cheyenne Autumn Trail(Professional Film Services); Ronald Saland (director); Burt Sloane (writer); Ross Lowell (camera); Howard Kuperman (editor)18 minutesOctober 1964partly a promotional for Cheyenne Autumn
Metropolis in Miniature(J & F Productions)9 minutes1964 (independent release); September 1965 (Warner release)Hershey, Pennsylvania
A Free PeopleWilliam L. Hendricks (producer)20 minutesMarch 1965Various locations in the US, for the US Army
A Country Reborn9 minutesOctober 1965Taiwan
The Land We LoveWilliam L. Hendricks (producer); Raymond Massey & Hubert Humphrey (narrator/hosts)18 minutesFebruary 1966Made for U.S. savings bonds
Bolivia- The Last FrontierHamilton Wright (producer); narrator: Andre Baruch18 minutesAugust 1966Bolivia
Hollywood Star-Spangled RevueWilliam L. Hendricks (producer)10 minutesSeptember 17, 1966Hollywood, made for U.S. savings bonds with Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller, James Stewart, Herb Alpert, the Rockettes, Carlyn Jones & Joanie Sommers
The Fastest Automobile in the World9 minutesNovember 5, 1966Bob and Bill Summers (car builder) testing the Goldenrod (car) in Bonneville Salt Flats
Where in the World?Hamilton Wright (producer)10 minutesNovember 30, 1966
Precision(National Film Board of Canada); George Dufaux10 minutes1966 (Canada); December 30, 1967 (Warner release)
Holiday Afloat10 minutesFebruary 15?, 1967
Motion (Man In Motion / La Mouvement)April 1967 (Expo 67); February 1, 1969 (Warner release)
Sky Over Holland (Ciels de Haollande)John Fernhout22 minutesMay 1967 (Cannes Film Festival); April 30, 1968 (Warner release)70mm views of Netherlands
33 Fathoms Deep (33 Fathoms Plus)Robert J. Ellsworth17 minutesJuly 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 minutes1967 (Canada release); November 23, 1968 (Warner release)
Claybirds Are ComingHamilton Wright (producer)9 minutesFebruary 21, 1968
Newfoundland's Fighting Fish16 minutesMarch 2, 1968Canadian import
Rolling Down the Rhine(Crest Productions)9 minutesMarch 23, 1968Switzerland, Austria & Germany
Tower(Seneca Productions / Allied Chemical Corporation)9 minutesApril 27, 1968
Sea and Ski (From Sea to Ski)18 minutesNovember 2, 1968
Big JohnArt Mayer9 minutesFebruary 8, 1969
See Holland Before It Gets Too Big(Netherlands National Tourist Office); Norman Weissman (director); Robert Klinkert (camera); Dan Barrie (music)11 minutesApril 5, 1969Netherlands
Upwind Down UnderArt Mayer9 minutesApril 12, 1969sailing off Sydney, Australia
Season In TyrolWilliam L. Hendricks (producer); Kurt Jetmar (director); Efrem Zimbalist Jr. (narrator)19 minutesJune 14, 1969Austria
Freedom Road(Mattco Associates)17 minutesJuly 5, 1969
Harry, Come Sail with MeHamilton Wright (producer)10 minutesAugust 23, 1969
Annabel Lee: Story by Edgar Allan PoeRon Morante; Vincent Price (narrator)10 minutesNovember 22, 1969
The LemmingsMark Obenhaus[1]10 minutesNovember 22, 1969
One Giant Leap(North America Rockwell Corporation and NASA);[2] narrator: Gordon MacRae18 minutesMarch 28, 1970profiles Apollo 11
A Walk Through the Sounds of Switzerland(Swiss National Tourist Office); André de la Varre Jr. (director)9 minutesJuly 1, 1970Switzerland

Assorted later shorts distributed by Warner Bros.

Title Major credits Running time Release date Filming location / notes
The Karmon-Israeli Dancers And Theodore Bikel[3](Zavala-Riss Productions)25 minutesJanuary 1972filmed 1970
Jungle Habitat9 minutesMarch 19, 1973profiles a theme park
An American Partnership[4]William L. Hendricks (producer); narrator: William Conrad13 minutes1974Made for U.S. savings bonds
Free Enterprise [5]William L. Hendricks (producer); Hal Greer; narrator: Efrem Zimbalist Jr.15 minutes1975

See also

Notes

References

  • Liebman, Roy Vitaphone Films – A Catalogue of the Features and Shorts 2003 McFarland & Company
  • Motion Pictures 1960-1969 Catalog of Copyright Entries 1971 Library of Congress
  • Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third Series Volume 24, Parts 12-13, Number 1: Motion Pictures and Filmstrips 1970 Library of Congress
  • Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third Series Volume 25, Parts 12-13, Number 1: Motion Pictures and Filmstrips 1971 Library of Congress
  • Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third Series Volume 27, Parts 12-13, Number 1: Motion Pictures 1973 Library of Congress
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