There's recognisable elements of modern Wellington visible in this mid-1960s feature from the National Film Unit, but the charming aspects are those that have changed in the 47 years since this was shot. The glaring red city buses, the opening aerial shots making a beeline for the Beehive that is yet to be even a glint in Sir Basil Spence's eye, the mandatory beehive hairdos (to carry on the apian theme), and the stilted, theatrical vox pops that set the scene for this magazine summary of the capital in the mid-60s: all of it is designed to advance the notion of a go-ahead modern city, replete with mid-20th-century brutalist office blocks, with convertible Mercedes coupes cruising around the many tropical inlets where bathing beauties (nowadays aged in their seventies, mind) cavort and gambol in the plentiful Cook Strait rays. And if you believe that, then Telly Savalas has a thing or two to tell you about Birmingham.
[Via Nikolai]
See also:
Blog: Ans Westra Wellington 1976, 30 June 2013
Blog: The creatures beyond the Devil's gate, 25 May 2013
Blog: The Mutton Birds - Wellington, 31 January 2009
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