Edited film is an amateur travel film documenting a journey by car from Geneva, Switzerland to Bombay, India via Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Jordan, Israel, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan. Principal stops on the tour include: Trieste, Italy; Thessaloniki, Greece; Istanbul, Turkey; the archaeological sites of Palmyra and Baalbeck, Syria; Jerusalem, Israel; Isfahan and Baluchistan, Iran; Delhi, Benares and Agra, India and the Hindu caves of Ajanta and Ellor, India. Scenes of Yugoslavian coutryside show men fishing with wicker baskets and nets, woman spinning wool using spindle, men and women making adobe bricks and laying them out to dry and historical architecture. Scenes in Thessaloniki, Greece include street activities, ox carts, a wheel maker and women and children in local dress. Scenes in Turkey include mosques, minarets, port of Istanbul, city streets, the Hagia Sophia, crossing the Bosporus to Asia Minor, flocks of sheep, camels, women gathering water at a well, village market,strolling water seller and the Christian caves/churches of Gorem at Urgup. Scenes in Syria include Aleppo, basilica of St. Simeon and the ruins of Palmyra and Baalbeck. Scenes in Jordan include the Roman ruins. Scenes in Israel include Jerusalam street activities and swimming in the Dead Sea. Scenes in Iraq include the Shiite Golden Mosque (Al-Askariya Mosque) in Samarra, desert with shepherds, camel trains and Iraqi playing a violin-like instrument. Scenes in Iran include the tiled mosque of Isfahan (Great Royal Mosque), fortified citadel of Bam constructed with mud and nomadic peoples. Scenes in Pakistan include landscapes of the desert and terraced farming near Indus River, crossing the Indus and street life in an unidentified city featuring snake charmers and mongoose-baiting. Scenes in India include women carrying peat or dung on their heads, laden oxcarts on the way to market, threshing grain, collecting cotton, musicians, bats, cobra swimming in an irrigation ditch and the Taj Mahal in Agra. Also included are shots of the cars and rally participants.
Local Number:
HSFA 1997.10.24
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
John and Mariella Rowe films, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
