Along the Cactus Trail (1944) User Reviews

really like the plants

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 6 April 2024]

TravelTalks takes a motor trip on the Cactus Trail. They start in Riverside, California and visit the Mission Inn with its shrine to aviators. They drive through the desert and see a lot of fascinating desert plant life until they reach the Camelback Inn in Phoenix, Arizona.

This is travelogue during wartime for this series. The military is prominently featured in this episode and they're staying within the States. Despite staying close to home, they still find some interesting looking places. Mission Inn looks cool. The plants look strange and exotic. I really like the plants and that is enough.

A Prickly Travel Companion

[boblipton · 5/10 · 12 August 2019]

James A. Fitzpatrick sends the Technicolor cameras on a journey from Riverside California on east. Actually, we spend some time at the Mission Inn have to listen to some lines from "The End of a Perfect Day" before we get to a survey of cacti, which coincidentally seem to be blooming. It may happen yearly to prickly pear, but a century plant?

This journey doesn't get any further east than Phoenix Arizona. The Traveltalks, after all, were one-reel travelogues, notable for their Technicolor photography and the earnest blatherings of Fitzpatrick, who gave the impression that he thought if he kept talking, he might say something worth hearing. I fear that I have never observed a high signal-to-noise ratio, but at least the pictures are pretty.

Rabid product placement was even more alarming . . .

[oscaralbert · 7/10 · 3 January 2020]

. . . during "Hollywood's (so-called) Golden Age" than it is Today. Take ALONG THE CACTUS TRAIL, for example. Though only nine minutes long in its entirety, ALONG THE CACTUS TRAIL begins with an advertisement dragged out for nearly four minutes touting some hotel in Riverside, CA, called "The Mission Inn." About as far from "the Cactus Trail" as Grauman's Egyptian Theater is from Egypt, this money-making enterprise gets slobbered upon by the lavish shilling of the bloviating bozo who fancies himself to be "The Voice of the Globe." This promotional gambit monopolizes the biggest chunk of available screen time in order to allow the bloated buffoon to highlight every nook and cranny the backers of his infomercial wish to have promoted. Then, after a few fleeting glimpses of desert cacti, the Planetary Pontificator of Puff Pieces homes in on yet ANOTHER resort in apparent need of some Tinsel Town PR, plopping himself down at the Camelback Inn near Phoenix for the final couple minutes of this C of C advertising reel. Perhaps most of Today's "time-share" condo promoters with their "bait-and-switch" FREE meals learned their sleazy sales tactics from this vintage Hollywood effort to bamboozle viewers ALONG THE CACTUS TRAIL.

TravelTalks

[Michael_Elliott · 3 August 2009]

Along the Cactus Trail (1944)

** (out of 4)

TravelTalks entry from MGM starts off at Riverside, CA where we see the Mission Inn and hear of several famous people who went there to get inspiration for their work. We then slowly work our way through the Cactus Trail and see various items including Yucca plants, the Saguaro Cactus and various other plants. As with other films in the series, this one here contains quite a bit of information and gives us some great visuals but overall I found this one to be a weaker entry in the series. To be perfectly honest, outside the opening stuff dealing with the Mission Inn, I found the rest to be rather boring and even FitzPatrick's narration can't save it. The one saving grace is the Technicolor, which really brings the plants to life but the best use of the color happens early on at the Mission.

fitz goes to.... cal and arizona.. minor spoilers

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 9 December 2021]

From host james fitzpatrick. This was during wartime, so only local travel! It starts with a four minute commercial for the mission inn, at riverside, california, which does have a historical background. It houses a collection of art and relics by frank miller, and is known for famous visiting artists, such as penrhyn stanlaws. They also show singer songwriter Carrie jacobsbond, who wrote i love you truly. And was the first female artist to sell a million copies. Then we're looking at joshua trees, only found in the mojave desert, which includes portions of ca, az, nv. Although they are still described here as the lily family, but have recently been reclassified as an agave. A quick mention of ocotillo, which of course is only in the sonora desert. And of course, the water thirsty saguaro. The camelback inn at phoenix must not be as historic, they only get a two minute commercial. The end. Interesting stuff.

Through The Desert - With Cacti

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 9 August 2000]

An MGM TRAVELTALK Short Subject.

Our trip ALONG THE CACTUS TRAIL begins at Riverside, California, the home of the marvelous Mission Inn. After viewing some of the remarkable architecture of this renowned establishment, we are treated to a meeting with Carrie Jacobs-Bond, the elderly composer of `A Perfect Day' - written here at the Mission Inn. Then it's on into the desert, where we see magnificent examples of its flora: Joshua trees, Yucca plants, the prickly pear, the century plant & the mighty saguaro cactus. We end our short tour at Phoenix' lovely Camelback Inn, an oasis in the Arizona wilderness.

This is one of a large series of succinct travelogues turned out by MGM, beginning in the 1930's. They featured Technicolor views of beautiful & unusual sights around the globe, as well as vivid, concise commentary. These films were produced & narrated by James A. FitzPatrick.