Another entry in the TravelTalks series of travelogues narrated by James A. Fitzpatrick. This one covers Spanish missions built in California. Fitzpatrick discusses the history of the missions. As always with this series of shorts, the footage of these locations is the best part. It's filmed in beautiful technicolor. I enjoy these old travelogues. Today it's very easy to look up pictures, videos, and information on any place in the world. But back then shorts like this were a gateway to another world for many people. It gave them the opportunity to see places they probably would never visit. For us, it gives us not only a glimpse at another place but another time as well. One of my favorite parts of this short wasn't even footage of the lovely church buildings. It was footage of the people, highways, businesses, and automobiles from that era. Time capsule, you know? I love this sort of stuff.

Mission Trail, The (1946) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Another film in the long-running TravelTalk series with James A. FitzPatrick. This time we look at the twenty-one Spanish mission, which begun in 1769 and went from San Diego to Sonoma. In the short we stop by San Juan Bautista, San Juan Capistrano and San Luis Rey. This is a pretty good entry in the series that once again gives us plenty to look at as well as giving us a bit of history on the subject. One of the most interesting stories takes place in San Luis Rey where original villagers were under attack by Indians when they hung out a picture of the Virgin Mary, which made the Indians put down their weapons. The Technicolor really shows off the various locations well.