Product Details

• Actors: Narrated By Judd Hirsch
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Image Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: January 2, 2001
• Run Time: 52 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000055XOB
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #49,179 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Fast on the heels of the Seattle World's Fair, New York's bid to hold another fair in 1964 was turned down by the international commission. That didn't stop Mayor Robert Wagner, who stubbornly launched the symbolic 250-ton "unisphere" stainless steel globe onto its pedestal in Flushing Meadows, Queens, for the two-year fair. While including fond remembrances from visitors who reminisce about sneaking in, indulging in first kisses in the Coca-Cola Pavilion, and the like, much of this 52-minute video is dedicated to examining the fair's failures. Dubbed "an old fair in new time," it was criticized for being the opposite of the city's 1939 fair: rather than predicting the future, it floundered in the postwar boom of the decade prior. Shots of its construction, promotional films, and news footage provide the documentary with its visuals, while historians and fairgoers examine the fair that ran the gamut from Michelangelo's Pietà to General Motor's Futurama exhibit. --Kimberly Heinrichs

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars How to make a great Fair look mundane, May 17, 2001

By 

R. Riis "rriis" (NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The 1964 World's Fair (DVD)

For those who remember the 1964 World's Fair with great fondness will be enjoy this DVD while being greatly disappointed at the same time. While it's great to see the Fair again in these vintage films, there is too much time spent on the personal recollections of a small group of Fair-goers (filmed in the 1990s) and not enough good-quality footage of the exhibits themselves. I remember the Fair as a great, exciting, colorful experience - here it comes across a bit as a grainy, pastel, pleasantly-remembered weekend.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, April 6, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The 1964 World's Fair (DVD)

Half of the 52 minutes of this DVD is spent on aging baby boomers reminiscing in their living rooms about their experiences at the fair. Then there's the obligatory fair "expert and social commentator". (This guy really needs to find a job). By the time we get to the actual sights and sounds of the fair -- all that's left is the construction of the Unisphere, a shot of a middle-aged couple eating the famed Belgian Waffles, and finally...a few minutes spent inside the GM pavillion. We might have seen more of the fair if those aforementioned baby boomers had showed us their scrapbooks. This video just has no soul. Should be in the dollar bin next to the checkout counter.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A SEVERE DISAPPOINTMENT FOR REAL '64 FAIR BUFFS, May 2, 2001

By 

Greg Walker (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The 1964 World's Fair (DVD)

I'd have to give this video a C minus- for anyone who cherishes the '64 World's Fair the way that I do, it's a severe disappointment. There were SO many sights and sounds to relive, they could have filled the entire video with glorified home movies and still photographs for 2 hours, and it would have satisfied fair buffs better than this. (Too much time was spent on the history of the fair's planning, interviews with fair attendees, etc..) Apparently, the "filmakers" were obsessed with only using actual "moving film footage" and had to hedge the rest with the interviews, etc. (Perhaps they should have taken a cue from Ken Burns, since there is a MOUNTAIN of still photographs from this memorable event that could have been used.) If you want to relive the fair, try to only rent this video if you can, and supplement it by finding old "Viewmaster" reels and collectible fair photo books- this video brings back a few memories, but not enough.