Search for Paradise: Hunza Valley

Описание: FOR the fourth production in Cinerama, called "Search for Paradise," producer Lowell Thomas has gone to "the roof of the world"—or the submontane regions of the Himalayas—and brought back a stunning travelogue. At least, it is stunning in scenic aspects. It offers some panoramic views of Ceylon, Hunza, Kashmir, and the Indus Valley that fairly move one to goggle-eyed awe. And it winds up its visit to those regions with several reels on the 1956 coronation of the new King of Nepal that make the films of the British coronation look like a report of a dainty costume ball. It is handsome, all right, this latest grand tour via the giant triple-paneled color screen, which was given its première public showing last night at the Warner Theatre. But it is also the most indiscriminate, untidy, overtalked and uncouth (at least, in the musical department) of any of the Cinerama films. Apparently, Mr. Thomas and his people had no idea how to get some intelligence and cohesion into an Indian travel film. The possibility of a binding thread of drama evidently did not occur to them. And so they have flung a lot of footage of usually matchless scenery into a two-hour hodgepodge of awesome viewing, cheap thrill-chasing, and corny comedy, in which Mr. Thomas as narrator plays an insistently conspicuous role. The nearest thing to a binder is Mr. Thomas' statement at the start that he aimed to view some of "the lands of Marco Polo" en route to the coronation in Nepal. And this leads him into a meeting with an Air Force major and a sergeant while flying out and assimilation of these two silent characters as occasional companions and searchers "for paradise" through most of the film. They are with him, for instance, when he visits the great Temple of Lankatilaka in Ceylon, with its saffron-robed priests, its giant Buddha, and its (you guessed it) "sublime mysteries." They are also his nervous companions on a wild jeep ride down a gorge in Pakistan and on a visit to the Mir of Hunza, who stages for them a lively show of polo playing and ferocious sword-dancing beneath the shadow of the Himalaya's snow-capped ridge. We couldn't find them—or Mr. Thomas—on a dangerous ride in a giant rubber boat down some rapids of the muddy Indus River. This is an experience that roughly corresponds to the "thrill" rides in previous Cinerama pictures. But they turn up in the Vale of Kashmir, living aboard a houseboat and making like they are clowns. It is at this point, we should mention, that the ear is assaulted by a song, done in calypso rhythm, praising the felicities of beautiful Kashmir. This might come as a shocking vulgarity if the ear were not previously attuned to some thoroughly incongruous musical praises of the handsome scenery. For instance, "Happy Land of Hunza" is a cheery little number which explains, in the lyrics of Ned Washington and Mr. Thomas, that "nobody has too little, nobody has too much" and "you don't need pills for your ills" in that country that lies beneath the Himalayas' peaks. This follows close on the theme number, "Search for Paradise," in which Robert Merrill tells the audience from the soundtrack that while there is Cinerama, there is hope. Dimitri Tiomkin wrote the music, which is loud but not very good. However, a lot can be forgiven when one sees that coronation in Nepal, which, for strangeness, gaudiness and excitement, is out of this twentieth-century world. Mr. Thomas attended as an ambassador from President Eisenhower, and we see a lot of him in top hat and a diplomatic smile. But we also see a lot of Indian splendor, regal razzmatazz, political chess players, elephants, and howdahs in the densely crowded streets of Katmandu. It is funny and fascinating, surprising, and blood-tingling all in one. And it is all covered finely and fitly by the Cinerama cameras of director Otto Lang. The picture concludes with a discordant but spectacular plunge into the atomic age, with shots of jet planes zooming weirdly over Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. The idea is that Mr. Thomas' airmen finally find here their "paradise."He suggests that the rest of the audience may find it right back home. Mr. Thomas is quite a fellow for that kind of sentiment.

SEARCH FOR PARADISE, scenario, and narration by Prosper Buranelli, Lowell Thomas, and Otto Lang; based on an idea by Mr. Thomas; directed by Mr. Lang; produced by Mr. Thomas; presented by Stanley Warner Cinerama Corporation. At the Warner.