Journeys to the Caribbean and Italy

“Caribbean” (International Video Network, Video Visits, 53 minutes, 1990).

This is a well-photographed and informative introduction to the more than 24 island destinations in the Caribbean and Bahamas. It gives brief samples of the diverse cultural, historic, geographic and recreational attractions.

The video ranges from the historic Cathedral of Santa Maria la Menor in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where Columbus is said to be buried, to the flashy resorts and casinos of Puerto Rico, the Netherlands Antilles and the very British Nassau, Bahamas.

There are views of the lush tropical islands of Jamaica, St. John, Martinique, Dominica and St. Lucia, and the yacht havens of St. Vincent, the Grenadines and Antigua.

Scuba divers are shown exploring the depths off the Cayman Islands and Jamaica, while landlubbers are seen crowding the duty-free shops of Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas.

Strains of European heritage are found on visits to St. Bart’s (Sweden), St. Martin/Sint Maarten (France-the Netherlands) and Barbados, with its lingering Britishness and lovely pink-sand beaches.

There are visits to the mystical caves and grottoes of Virgin Gorda, and to the Anegada Passage with its numerous sunken ships that lure scuba divers and treasure seekers.

Calypso, reggae music and the steel-drum bands of the islands are featured on visits to Grenada, Tobago and Trinidad, where scenes include the exhuberant Trinidad Carnival.

There are no travel recommendations or travel tips.

Tapes are available from International Travel Video Network, Video Visits, 2242 Camino Ramon, San Ramon, Calif. 94583, (800) 669-4486. Price: $24.95.

“Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a Traveler in Italy” (Robin Williams Films, 60 minutes, 1988).

Producer Robin Williams has filmed and narrated a commendable combination of travelogue and music in this video that follows the 15-month tour that a 13-year-old Mozart took with his father through Italy and Sicily in 1769.

The camera follows an itinerary based on letters the pair wrote home to Salzburg. Williams reads excerpts from the letters and provides history and anecdotes as the video highlights places that Mozart stayed in, performed in or visited.

Although the film quality is less than first-rate, the coordination with Mozart’s harmonious music provides a rewarding hour of listening and viewing.

The journey takes viewers through Brenner Pass to the Lake Garda-area towns of Rovereto and Sirmione and on to Verona, where sites attributed to the story of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” are shown. Then comes Milan.

In Mantova, there’s a theater where Mozart performed, and in Bologna a country house in which the Mozarts stayed.

As Williams reads from the letters, the camera tours the attractions of Florence and then covers the village of Gargonza, where the pair stayed on their way to Rome.

En route to Naples, the video stops in the town of Terracina and visits some ancient Roman aquaducts, plus the castle of Don Pedro of Toledo and the tomb of Agrippina, Nero’s mother. Further south, there’s Mt. Vesuvius and the haunting ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum; the elegant Palazzo Reale and gardens at Caserta, and the Amalfi Drive from Sorrento to Positano and Amalfi.

The Mozarts also went to Sicily, where scenes of Taormina and its beaches and resorts are shown.

The last stop is Venice, with views of the canals as Mozart must have seen them, the opera house he attended, the rooms in which he stayed, plus the Rialto Bridge, the Bridge of Sighs and the Doge’s Palace.

Tapes are available from Robin Williams Films, 1277 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach 92651, (714) 494-3307. Price: $30.

The second segment of “South Seas” (reviewed Sept. 29) visits the two main islands of Fiji--Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. There are tours of the Coral Coast of Viti Levu, the site of most of the island resorts, and the town of Nadi and its shops, with advice for the shopper.

Side trips include sugar cane fields, native villages, a railway tour from Nadi and a visit to the Pacific Harbor Cultural Center, where Fijian crafts, dancing and fire walking are demonstrated.

A tour of the capital city of Suva reveals the British influence, with scenes of the Government House, Thurston Gardens and the Fiji Museum, plus the Grand Pacific Hotel. Shopping areas include the municipal market, and viewers get to join a traditional kava ceremony.

On relatively undeveloped Vanua Levu, viewers visit the Namale Plantation Resort.

A return to Nadi offers scenes of some of the small islands off the coast.

Travel information includes a caution on mosquitoes, hotel descriptions and a reminder that Fiji is across the international dateline.

Tapes of “South Seas” are available from VCRI, P.O. Box 1179, Gillette, Wyo. 82717, (800) 248-7477. Price: $19.95.

“Hidden Treasures of America’s National Parks” (Questar Video, 60 minutes, 1991).

Since this year is the 75th anniversary of the U.S. National Park System, this video takes viewers to 17 of the lesser-known ones. Highlights include early film clips of former President Teddy Roosevelt, illustrating his role in establishing the parks, and of the 1914 eruption that created Lassen Volcanic Park in California.

National parks visited are:

Mammoth Cave (Kentucky)--An enormous complex of passages and caverns.

Biscayne (Florida)--An underwater park and sanctuary for marine, animal and bird life.

Guadalupe Mountains (Texas)--The bed of an ancient sea containing fossil-filled reefs and rugged mountains.

Big Bend (Texas)--An awesome rocky wilderness that is home to more than 5,000 species of living things.

Voyageurs Park (Minnesota)--A misty waterland of lakes, rivers, marshes and waterfalls, with a historical re-enactment showing early voyageurs (French traders) in scenes with the Indians.

Isle Royale (Michigan)--A remote park located in Lake Superior on the Canadian border. It offers scenes of glacier-carved rocks, forests, wildlife and an underwater museum of wrecked ships.

Petrified Forest (Arizona)--A moonscape terrain scattered with tree segments that, over millions of years, have absorbed minerals and solidified into colorful stone.

Capitol Reef (Utah)--The site of erosion-formed cliffs and domes.

Canyonlands (Utah)--Wondrous rock formations, canyons and Indian petroglyphs.

Great Basin (Nevada)--A variety of flora and fauna, limestone caverns and the oldest living trees, the bristlecone pines.

California parks are Lassen, with thermal areas and hiking trails showing the rebirth of plant life, Sequoia and Kings Canyon. Sequoia has huge trees, and Kings Canyon (deeper than the Grand Canyon) has rivers, meadows, wildlife and Indian relics. The film also visits the Channel Islands, a sanctuary for sea lions, seals and whales, the “ghost trees” of San Miguel and the rugged beauty of the islands’ shores.

There are also visits to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, preserved as Roosevelt knew it; South Dakota’s Wind Cave National Park, with 56 miles of underground caverns, and Badlands National Park, a rugged expanse of prairie.

Tapes are available from Questar Video, P.O. Box 11345, Chicago, Ill. 60611, (800) 544-8422. Price: $29.95. There are no travel tips or recommendations.