Cinema: Triple-Threat Travelogue

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Cinerama's Russian Adventure. "Who are the Russians? What is Russia? We couldn't possibly supply answers to these questions, but we're going to have a lot of fun trying," drawls Narrator Bing Crosby, fingering a balalaika. Bing thus introduces this Russian-made travel triptych, a cultural exchange import aquiver with evidence that the Soviets lack Cinerama's skill at matching seams. In Kinopanorama—an equivalent three-screen process—cities, rivers, mountains and ice floes all hump up at the center and slope away precipitously.

Otherwise, Russian Adventure ignores the seamy side of life east of Berlin's Wall. The pace is "strong, steady and fast" in Moscow, where citizens enjoy sumptuous subways and cold winters. "But Russians say it's a dry cold," Crosby adds informatively. So much for insight into the Soviet character. While a multiple sound track booms musical punctuation, the movie visits several dazzling acts at the Moscow Circus, peeks at the shipboard dissection of a giant whale, lingers over the familiar, gravity-defying virtuosity of the Moiseyev dancers and the Bolshoi Ballet.

Comedy relief is supplied by a wilderness fantasy in which big brown bears chase chickens, steal honey and drive off in tractors. As ever, Cinerama achieves its surest effects in direct relation to its forward velocity, now hurtling along a snowy course with a fleet of troikas pulled by frenzied horses, now navigating with loggers on the turbulent Tisza River. The viewer may not feel that he has been through Russia, but he will almost certainly feel that Russia has been through him.