Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Blistering performances.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Picturesque Massachusetts (1942)** 1/2 (out of 4) The spotlight is on Massachusetts this time out as this TravelTalks series takes a look at the state where the Pilgrims landed back in 1620. We also see various small towns where they would eventually migrate as well as some descendents of theirs who still live there. We see the home of Clara Barton who founded the American Red Cross and also a look at the windmill in Eastham. This is another pleasant entry in the series that manages to pack quite a bit into the short 9-minute running time. We get all sorts of good sites but the Technicolor print is still in good shape so many images just jump off the screen. This isn't one of the better entries in the series but it does manage to be entertaining like most.

This is a brisk look at the Colonial side of Massachusetts, including looks at the old homes of Miles Standish, John and Priscilla Alden, a famous Old Red Schoolhouse, the Old Grist Mill, Wayside Inn, Clara Barton's birthplace and a view of some Sandwich glassware.The second half of the short deals mostly with Cape Cod and Provincetown. We see the oldest Cape Cod windmill built in 1793, fishing boats along Provincetown harbor, the artists colony at work in the sand dunes and, finally, a look at the Coastgard Radio Station as the sun settles on the blue horizon.An interesting glimpse and a bit of Colonial history.