Why is Robert Ripley on a boat? A look at Believe It or Not #7

Is this for you?

Honestly, you probably only want to watch this if you have a serious obsession with vintage media or really love the idea of watching a man point at sketches for ten minutes. If you’re looking for a coherent documentary, you’ll be bored stiff. If you like 1930s novelty, you might find it charming in a crusty, basement-archives sort of way. 🚢

Ripley just stands there on this luxury liner, looking very serious about the word "fathom." It’s the kind of segment that reminds you that before the internet, people just had to take someone’s word for it that the world was full of weird stuff. He talks about Columbus being kicked out of America like he’s reading a grocery list.

The pacing is… well, it doesn't really exist. It just hops from a drawing to a grainy clip of a lighthouse that’s leaning for some reason. There’s a movie theater in a lead mine? Sure. Why not. It feels like the director just dumped a pile of film scraps on a table and decided to keep all of them.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Believe It or Not (Second Series) #7 (1932) through its definitive frames.

I found myself zoning out during the North Africa footage. It’s all very dusty and feels like the stuff that got cut from The Call of Courage because it was too boring. The jump between the corn mosaic of the American flag and some desert market is pure tonal whiplash.

There’s this beauty queen segment that’s supposed to be funny, but it mostly just feels awkward. She’s making funny faces, and you can almost hear the crickets in the studio. It’s the 1930s version of a bad viral video.

Odd bits I noted down:

• That water pump in downtown D.C. is still the most confusing part of the whole film.
• The transition between the boat and the mine footage is nonexistent. It’s like a blink and you’re somewhere else.
• Ripley’s mustache is the real star of the show. It has more personality than the script.
• It’s definitely shorter and less ambitious than something like The Fighting Roosevelts, which is probably for the best.

It’s a strange, disjointed experience. Sometimes it feels like a fever dream of random facts you’d hear at a bar. Don’t expect to learn anything life-changing. Just expect a lot of black-and-white static and a very confident man telling you weird stories on a ship. ⚓️