Filmed in 1946-47 with more than one "cruise", this two-reeler's great Pacific and Caribbean scenery apes anything seen in other contemporary travelogues. Errol Flynn and marine biologist Pop obviously enjoyed all of this traveling and critter-collecting, highlighted with Flynn splashing with the California gray whales. Humorously, the love 'em & leave 'em Errol was separated from Nora Eddington by the time this short was released, so she appears on screen mostly as a "friend", with the study of smelly fish and crabs preventing any on-screen "romance" and a Garden Of Eden tour very chaste.
There's little question that Warner Bros. put more gusto into their docu-shorts than most other studios. (Quick history lesson: Since about 1935, the popular success of MGM's Traveltalks and Paramount's Popular Science launched a boom in Hollywood "educational shorts". These were SO much cheaper to crank out than even the jazz band musicals, the only "entertainment" shorts Universal and Fox were making by this time, and could be shot in any color process for practically peanuts.) Warner's "Sports Parades" were often less "sports" and more National Geographic sight-seeing; this studio also made plenty of animal titles like "Smart As A Fox". Fittingly, after the "live-action short subjects" were phased out in 1957, this same studio took over four installments of the ever popular Bell Science series with Dr. Frank Baxter.
Unfortunately, little was done with the print shown on THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD DVD. Hopefully, Warner Home Video is gradually working on its impressive short subject collection and a "restored" Zaca will be made available, along with other hard-to-see travelogue curios like "Jungle Terror" and "Charlie McCarthy And Mortimer Snerd In Sweden".
There's little question that Warner Bros. put more gusto into their docu-shorts than most other studios. (Quick history lesson: Since about 1935, the popular success of MGM's Traveltalks and Paramount's Popular Science launched a boom in Hollywood "educational shorts". These were SO much cheaper to crank out than even the jazz band musicals, the only "entertainment" shorts Universal and Fox were making by this time, and could be shot in any color process for practically peanuts.) Warner's "Sports Parades" were often less "sports" and more National Geographic sight-seeing; this studio also made plenty of animal titles like "Smart As A Fox". Fittingly, after the "live-action short subjects" were phased out in 1957, this same studio took over four installments of the ever popular Bell Science series with Dr. Frank Baxter.
Unfortunately, little was done with the print shown on THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD DVD. Hopefully, Warner Home Video is gradually working on its impressive short subject collection and a "restored" Zaca will be made available, along with other hard-to-see travelogue curios like "Jungle Terror" and "Charlie McCarthy And Mortimer Snerd In Sweden".