40 Films in Robotech: A Road in India (1938)

I always love to include a short film on lists like these…so, here you go!

 ROBOTECH MENTION:  

In Robotech – The Macross Saga Episode 35 entitled Season’s Greetings, “Road to India” is on a movie theater marquee in New Macross city. While this isn't an exact title match, it's close enough for us - especially since we couldn't find "Road to India" in the usual online movie databases.

Still from Robotech Episode 35.

Note how it lists “F. Takayama” as the director in the still above. Fumihiko Takayama was a director of several episodes of Super Dimensional Fortress Macross – the original TV series Carl Macek repurposed for the Macross section of Robotech!

 SYNOPSIS:  

The YouTube synopsis includes this write-up on A Road in India: “The sights of India as seen from the perspective of a dusty road.” Here is the entire 10-minute film:

 AWARDS & KUDOS:  

Masterful Technicolor cameraman Jack Cardiff was the cinematographer on A Road in India. Cardiff went on to win an Oscar for his cinematography work in Black Narcissus (1947).

He served as Director of Photography on many films including The African Queen (1951), The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), and Rambo: First Blood Part II (1986).

 OTHER COOL FACTS:  

According to IMDB, A Road to India was part of United Artists’ “A Worldwide Window” series, which was set up to compete with MGM’s popular “Traveltalks” film series.

Cool Fact #2: After I originally posted this blog entry, I was reading Jack McKinney's 1994 send-up to the Robotech and Sentinels book series, The Zentraedi Rebellion. This book takes place after the climatic and tragic events that end the Macross saga - specifically, the destruction of the giganitc-city-inside-a-spaceship SDF-1 and most of her crew. In recounting all the places that once existed on the ship, McKinney calls out the fictitious Road to India film as a "computer-generated" creation...

Excerpt from Page 36 of The Zentraedi Rebellion (1994) by Jack McKinney

Imagine my shock reading this passage! I never heard of the "Road to" series by Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. While it's uncertain whether an AI-generated Hope/Crosby picture truly is the film referenced in the animated scene pictured at the beginning of this post, it's a fair interpretation of what film is being referenced. For more on the "Road to" series of Hope and Crosby, watch this short video:

 ROBOTECH REASON:  

Robotech episode 35 has a lot of film title cameos.  "Road to India" provides an exotic title that looks cool on a marquee. 

To read my ⭐⭐ ⭐⭐  (out of a possible 5) star rating of A Road in India on Letterboxd, click here.

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