World Wide Adventures


World Wide Adventures is a generalized name applied to Warner Bros. live-action short films of the 1960s. Usually, the trade magazines like BoxOffice only listed the one-reelers under this heading, with the longer films simply dubbed “specials.” For the most part, this was a handy marketing logo for a wide range of shorts of the documentary genre.

Overview

Although the studio sharply curtailed theatrical “live-action” shorts production by 1957, a selective number of featurettes and independent films were distributed along with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies animated cartoons as material shown before the main feature. By this time it was more profitable to re-release older films rather than make new ones, but theater owners expected a few “new” offerings each year.
While the bulk were independent travelogues, the in-house producers Cedric Francis and William L. Hendricks supervised a few themselves.
Despite being largely forgotten over the decades, a handful have enjoyed a second life as “extras” between main features on Turner Classic Movies, particularly such titles as Kingdom of the Saguenay and See Holland Before It Gets Too Big.

List of titles

Since the live-action short subjects made during this period seldom received proper coverage in periodicals and reference books, this chronological listing is incomplete in its information:

Marketed as "World Wide Adventures" or "Specials"

TitleMajor creditsRunning timeRelease dateFilming location / notes
A Touch of GoldHamilton Wright9 minutesOctober 1962South Africa
Fabulous MexicoHamilton Wright9 minutesOctober 1962Mexico
Moroccan RivierasHamilton Wright ; Richard Wright 9 minutesFebruary 1963Morocco
Wish and TicinoAndré de la Varre9 minutesSeptember 21, 1963Switzerland
A Look at Log Island9 minutesOctober 1963Stockholm, Sweden
With Their Eyes on the StarsCedric Francis ; music: John Stewart & the Ridgerunners17 minutesFebruary 1, 1964documentary on US history
Kingdom of the SaguenayDouglas Sinclair9 minutesFebruary 1, 1964Québec
Report from San Juan; David Ahlers 17 minutesAugust 8, 1964Puerto Rico
Cheyenne Autumn Trail; Ronald Saland ; Burt Sloane ; Ross Lowell ; Howard Kuperman 18 minutesOctober 1964partly a promotional for Cheyenne Autumn
Metropolis in Miniature9 minutes1964 ; September 1965 Hershey, Pennsylvania
A Free PeopleWilliam L. Hendricks 20 minutesMarch 1965Various locations in the US, for the US Army
A Country Reborn9 minutesOctober 1965Taiwan
The Land We LoveWilliam L. Hendricks ; Raymond Massey & Hubert Humphrey 18 minutesFebruary 1966Made for U.S. savings bonds
Bolivia- The Last FrontierHamilton Wright ; narrator: Andre Baruch18 minutesAugust 1966Bolivia
Hollywood Star-Spangled RevueWilliam L. Hendricks 10 minutesSeptember 17, 1966Hollywood, made for U.S. savings bonds with Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller, James Stewart, Herb Alpert, the Rockettes, Carlyn Jones & Joanie Sommers
The Fastest Automobile in the World9 minutesNovember 5, 1966Bob and Bill Summers testing the Goldenrod in Bonneville Salt Flats
Where in the World?Hamilton Wright 10 minutesNovember 30, 1966
Precision; George Dufaux10 minutes1966 ; December 30, 1967
Holiday Afloat10 minutesFebruary 15?, 1967
Motion April 1967 ; February 1, 1969
Sky Over Holland John Fernhout22 minutesMay 1967 ; April 30, 1968 70mm views of Netherlands
33 Fathoms Deep Robert J. Ellsworth17 minutesJuly 1967 ; February 12, 1968 Bob Croft and others diving in Florida
Le Pecheur a l'Ecoute ; Robert Nichol 16 minutes1967 ; November 23, 1968
Claybirds Are ComingHamilton Wright 9 minutesFebruary 21, 1968
Newfoundland's Fighting Fish16 minutesMarch 2, 1968Canadian import
Rolling Down the Rhine9 minutesMarch 23, 1968Switzerland, Austria & Germany
Tower9 minutesApril 27, 1968
Sea and Ski 18 minutesNovember 2, 1968
Big JohnArt Mayer9 minutesFebruary 8, 1969
See Holland Before It Gets Too Big; Norman Weissman ; Robert Klinkert ; Dan Barrie 11 minutesApril 5, 1969Netherlands
Upwind Down UnderArt Mayer9 minutesApril 12, 1969sailing off Sydney, Australia
Season In TyrolWilliam L. Hendricks ; Kurt Jetmar ; Efrem Zimbalist Jr. 19 minutesJune 14, 1969Austria
Freedom Road17 minutesJuly 5, 1969
Harry, Come Sail with MeHamilton Wright 10 minutesAugust 23, 1969
Annabel Lee: Story by Edgar Allan PoeRon Morante; Vincent Price 10 minutesNovember 22, 1969
The LemmingsMark Obenhaus10 minutesNovember 22, 1969
One Giant Leap; narrator: Gordon MacRae18 minutesMarch 28, 1970profiles Apollo 11
A Walk Through the Sounds of Switzerland; André de la Varre Jr. 9 minutesJuly 1, 1970Switzerland

Assorted later shorts distributed by Warner Bros.

TitleMajor creditsRunning timeRelease dateFilming location / notes
The Karmon-Israeli Dancers And Theodore Bikel25 minutesJanuary 1972filmed 1970
Jungle Habitat9 minutesMarch 19, 1973profiles a theme park
An American PartnershipWilliam L. Hendricks ; narrator: William Conrad13 minutes1974Made for U.S. savings bonds
Free EnterpriseWilliam L. Hendricks ; Hal Greer; narrator: Efrem Zimbalist Jr.15 minutes1975