Mediterranean Ports of Call (1941)

• 63%
• 1941
• Documentary
• James A. FitzPatrick

It's a hazy day in Algiers. Aerial views of the city start the tour as an off-screen narrator summarizes its history as a port of pirates and now the French empire. In the market and the Casbah, Mohammedan women, in traditional garb, allow a stranger's gaze. The languor of the coffee house contrasts with the work of a solitary mule at a well's draught wheel. It's on to Monte Carlo, where 24,000 residents pay no income tax, thanks to revenue from postage stamps, a gas tax, and a casino tax. The camera pans the famous casino, the palace, the cathedral, and Suicide Terrace. It ends with an aerial shot of the harbor and a look toward the Blue Coast.