This 1968 travel film promotes Italian Line Cruises by following three people on one of the line’s Caribbean cruises to Lord Burgess & His Serenaders’ album by the same name as the film. The film opens with a shot of a woman at an outdoor table in Jamaica overlooking a pool and the bay. The same woman is then shown walking across a street in New York City. Vacationers wave goodbye from the decks of the line’s cruise ship Leonardo da Vinci (01:03). Guests mingle aboard the ship. On deck, passengers sunbathe. A man shoots trap from the back of the ship. People look at the emerald waters of the bay at Nassau, Bahamas (02:52). A woman shops for straw hats. A man rides in a horse-drawn carriage, smoking a pipe. The woman watches a bird show featuring pink flamingos (04:09). On the ship, the woman “works out” in the gym, riding a device similar to a mechanical bull. The passengers disembark in Jamaica (05:17), as several Jamaican men play music on the dock. There is a good shot of the cruise ship. The woman walks past a group of men on the beach (06:22). The film takes viewers to the bridge of the ship, where the captain is overseeing the steering of the ship (06:52). The woman enjoys a soak and massage at the ship’s spa. She is then shown eating dinner in one of the cruise ship’s restaurants. In Curacao, viewers see the harbor and town (08:07). A man rides a scooter through the city. Two women visit a restaurant on top of what looks like a former fort. Women sunbathe at a resort while local men play music and women dance. A man water skis up to a beach where a woman is sunbathing (10:25). Footage shows the guests gambling inside the ship’s casino, playing slots and roulette. A woman does calisthenics on the deck of the cruise ship (11:40). Another woman slides down a slide into the pool. In the ship’s barber shop, a man gets a shave. Women drink cocktails at a bar. The next stop is Fort-de-France, Martinique (12:53); the vacationers visit the ruins of an old fort or castle. Fishermen prepare their nets on the beach. Aboard the ship, passengers enjoy the night’s entertainment, as men and women dance and limbo (13:58). Members of the crew plot the cruise ship’s course (14:55). Two women and a man ride a small boat to St. Thomas (15:24), where they ride the aerial tramway up the mountain. There are several great shots looking out over the bay. The three people then sail a small sailboat. The line stops in Havana, and there is footage of the city (16:17), people playing tennis, and a tour of the old Morro Castle. The film concludes by returning to the shot of the woman walking across the street in New York City.
SS Leonardo da Vinci was an ocean liner built in 1960 by Ansaldo Shipyards, Italy for the Italian Line as a replacement for their SS Andrea Doria that had been lost in 1956. She was initially used in transatlantic service alongside SS Cristoforo Colombo, and primarily for cruising after the delivery of the new SS Michelangelo and SS Raffaello in 1965. In 1976 the Leonardo da Vinci became the last Italian Line passenger liner to be used in service across the North Atlantic. Between 1977 and 1978 she was used as a cruise ship by Italia Crociere, but was laid up from 1978 onwards until 1982 when she was scrapped.
Named after the famous Italian inventor Leonardo da Vinci, the ship featured numerous technological innovations, including provisions for conversion to run on nuclear power.
We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
