Heads Up, Ears Down

This blog accurately identifies depictions of violence and cruelty toward animals in films. The purpose is to provide viewers with a reliable guide so that such depictions do not come as unwelcome surprises. Films will be accurately notated, providing a time cue for each incident along with a concise description of the scene and perhaps relevant context surrounding the incident. In order to serve as a useful reference tool, films having no depictions of violence to animals will be included, with an indication that there are no such scenes. This is confirmation that the films have been watched with the stated purpose in mind.


Note that the word depictions figures prominently in the objective. It is a travesty that discussions about cruelty in film usually are derailed by the largely unrelated assertion that no animals really were hurt (true only in some films, dependent upon many factors), and that all this concern is just over a simulation. Not the point, whether true or false. We do not smugly dismiss depictions of five-year-olds being raped because those scenes are only simulations. No, we are appalled that such images are even staged, and we are appropriately horrified that the notion now has been planted into the minds of the weak and cruel.


Depictions of violence or harm to animals are assessed in keeping with our dominant culture, with physical abuse, harmful neglect, and similar mistreatment serving as a base line. This blog does not address extended issues of animal welfare, and as such does not identify scenes of people eating meat or mules pulling plows. The goal is to itemize images that might cause a disturbance in a compassionate household.


These notes provide a heads-up but do not necessarily discourage watching a film because of depicted cruelty. Consuming a piece of art does not make you a supporter of the ideas presented. Your ethical self is created by your public rhetoric and your private actions, not by your willingness to sit through a filmed act of violence.

FitzPatrick Traveltalks: Volume 1

FitzPatrick Traveltalks: Volume 1. Ruth FitzPatrick and others, 1934-1946.
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Edition screened: Warner Archive 3-DVD set, released 2016. English language. Cumulative runtime approximately 521 minutes.

Summary: No graphic depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Volume 1 of James FitzPatrik’s self-starring travelogue series contains a sampling of shorts made over 12 years, most about 8 minutes long. The films are arranged chronologically for the most part but do not include any consecutive runs of Traveltalk episodes. Warner is packaging these sets to mix the best eras in with the stinker years, as was done with some compilations of The Twilight Zone, James Bond films, and other series.

In general, animal violence is limited to the minor fish-cleaning and meat market scenes inevitable to nostalgic touring of Europe. The Land of Alaska Nellie episode stands out as particularly distasteful without showing any actual killing. In this episode we meet Sarah Palin’s old dyke aunt who shows off her hunting trophies and corny fish catchin’ apparatus. That episode also includes a visit to a fur farm where we see baby mink and silver fox pups, followed by a light-hearted explanation of their commercial destiny with an image of three hags modeling fox stoles.

Disc 1
Switzerland the Beautiful (1934)
Ireland: The Emerald Isle (1934)
Zeeland: The Hidden Paradise (1935)
Rainbow Canyons (1935)
Colorful Guatemala (1935)
Los Angeles: Wonder City of the West (1935)
Beautiful Banff and Lake Louise (1935)
Modern Tokyo (1935)
Sacred City of the Mayan Indians (1936)
Rio de Janeiro: City of Splendor (1936)
Yellowstone Park: Nature’s Playground (1936)
Oriental Paradise (1936)
Glimpses of Java and Ceylon (1937)
Hong Kong: Hub of the Orient (1937)
Floral Japan (1937)
Stockholm: Pride of Sweden (1937)
Chile: Land of Charm (1937)
Copenhagen (1937)
Land of the Incas (1937)
Glimpses of Austria (1938)

Disc 2
Czechoslovakia on Parade (1938)
Paris on Parade (1938)
Jaipur: The Pink City ((1938)
Singapore and Jahore (1938)
Java Journey (1939)
Rural Hungary (1939)
Colorful Curacao (1939)
Quaint St. Augustine (1939)
Land of Alaska Nellie (1939)
Seattle: Gateway to the Northwest (1940)
Sitka and Juneau: A Tale of Two Cities (1940)
Glimpses of Australia (1939)
Cavalcade of San Francisco (1940)
Old New Mexico (1940)
Beautiful Bali (1940)
Mediterranean Ports of Call (1941)
Red Men on Parade (1941)
Alluring Alaska (1941)
Glimpses of Kentucky (1941)
Haiti: Land of Dark Majesty (1941)

Disc 3
Glimpses of Florida (1941)
Scenic Grandeur (1941)
Minnesota: Land of Plenty (1942)
Glacier Park and Waterton Lakes (1942)
Exotic Mexico (1942)
Modern Mexico City (1942)
Land of Orizaba (1943)
Motoring in Mexico (1943)
On the Road to Monterrey (1943)
Scenic Oregon (1943)
Through the Colorado Rockies (1943)
A Day in Death Valley (1944)
Salt Lake Diversions ((1943)
Along the Cactus Trail (1944)
Colorful Colorado (1944)
City of Brigham Young (1944)
Monumental Utah (1944)
Shrines of Yucatan (1945)
Merida and Campeche (1945)
Glimpse of Guatemala (1946)

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