Sky Over Holland is a 1967 short film (22 minutes) from The Netherlands, directed by John Fernhout.
It is a documentary short portraying the natural beauty, thriving industry, and refined culture of The Netherlands. The emphasis is on big aerial shots as the camera swoops down from the clouds down to the Dutch plains, hence the title. But the camera does sometimes make it to ground level, capturing traditional Dutch culture (a cheese market, ice skating), industry (a television factory), and art (the works of artists such as Van Gogh and Mondrian).
Filmed in 70mm and originally shown on a screen twenty meters wide at the 1967 Montreal World's Fair.
Tropes:
- Blade-of-Grass Cut: A close-up of fallen leaves in a forest.
- Call-Back: Near the end, there's a scene at an amusement park. The camera goes on one of those spinning plane kids' rides, and gets shots reminiscent of the opening shots of planes swooping down from the clouds.
- Documentary: Basically, trying to sum up the culture, industry, and natural beauty of Holland in 22 minutes.
- Match Cut: Lots.
- The wispy clouds as the camera glides down from the sky yet again are matched with the shimmering water of a lake.
- A 19th century painting of Dutch folks skating on a frozen river cuts to a live-action shot of same.
- A 19th century painting of a ship in storm-tossed seas cuts to a live-action shot of same (it's a fishing boat).
- A Dutch polder, cut into rectangles of farmland by irrigation canals, is matched with the rectangular abstract art of painter Piet Mondrian
◊.
- P.O.V. Cam: Many, from planes swooping down low in the sky, but also from riding in boats on Dutch canals, and riding on roller coasters.
- Silence Is Golden: No narration, and no dialogue. The only spoken words are some air-traffic control chatter as a KLM flight from Canada comes in.
- Travelogue Show: A 22-minute advertisement for scenic Holland.
