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Well, who can resist a movie with State Department right in the title? This 1949 film is chock-full of vintage clothing, vintage attitudes, vintage sexism, vintage racism... and an RV. I didn't see that last one coming. Who knew Maoist Mongolian warlords traveled in such style?
At first, I thought this movie was a good old fashioned documentary - newsreel style VoiceOver, factual information... Then it takes a brief jaunt into being a romantic comedy, before becoming a recruitment video (Join the foreign service! Travel by map! Get promoted within a week if you know Mongolian!) then it slides slowly towards a pre-Cold War spy film, before becoming a cautionary tale.
Overall, I'm glad I watched it (if for no other reason than to see a little girl teach a fire eater and his carnie friends how to blow bubblegum. Diplomacy!) but boy was it all over the place. I feel really bad for anyone who rushed out to join the foreign service after seeing this movie thinking that they could singlehandedly take down a Mongolian warlord and thwart a civil war. Hmm, actually that may explain a bit of our Cold War history...
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| I'm not sure "thrill" is the right word. Amuse, possibly? |
Anyway, this movie isn't recommended unless you have a large group of FSOs or FS hopefuls together and plenty of libations for whatever sort of drinking game you can concoct (I suggest every time the radio is an important plot point, or whenever the romantic plot line makes you slap your forehead in frustration).
Rating: Passes the FSOT, but it's Personal Narratives have failed to impress QEP. Try again next year?
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