an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

In Old Amsterdam (1949) ** 1/2 (out of 4) This TravelTalks series takes us to Amsterdam as James A. FitzPatrick talks about some of the town's history. We start off seeing the Schiphol Airport where the narrator brags about his 3,500 mile track only took eighteen hours to complete. From here we learn about The Flying Dutchmen and then we see the Cental Rainway and hear about its uses. Up next we learn about how the town was pretty much land lifted from the sea and this explains the various canals that are an important part of the location. We also see a funny bridge toll and then it's onto Rembrandt Park where we hear a quick bio of the famed painter. Overall this is a pretty good entry in the series as we get a lot of good stories and the visuals are quite nice as well. Once again the Technicolor really helps bring the city to life and it was especially put to good use during the scenes on the water. One wishes that we got more images like these but there's still some good stuff here.