Discover Movies

A part of Strange Experiences

Look at Life was a regular series of short documentary films produced between 1959 and 1969 by the Special Features Division of Rank Organisation and screened in their Odeon and Gaumont cinemas. Rob Curling presents six Look at Lifes ((Air Hostess, Controlled Landing, City of the Air, Flying to Work, The Spirit of Brooklands, The Big Take Off)) from the Brooklands aircraft museum, showing the aircraft industry as it was in the 1960s.

Two very different men of the same name from the same village cross blades. But it will be the small and waking one that draws the longest straw.

General Electric sponsors this explanation of atomic energy, detailing some of its uses besides the bomb. Using animation and an off-screen narrator, the film describes the atom, elements and isotopes, the discovery of transmutation, experiments in artificial transmutation, and the reasons for the power of nuclear fission. The film argues that now, besides war, the atomic age holds promise for energy, farming, medicine, and research. The promise of the atomic age will depend on human wisdom.

An aqua-maid at Cypress Gardens in Florida tells of her profession - wins the 'Miss Citrus' contest and then has to decide whether she wants to leave and take a shot at stardom.

A shorter version of Joseph Cornell's Nymphlight, an experimental film shot in New York City's Bryant Park, featuring scenes of birds, fountains, people, etc. Edited to the length of Debussy's prelude of the same name.

Father and son coyotes try to sneak into a henhouse that Pluto is guarding.

At a school social, Jim, a student at Lawrence High, proudly tells his cousin Sally about his school’s spirit. He recalls how enthusiasm once spiraled out of control—until Bob, the senior class president, stepped in to guide it in a more positive direction.

The tale of The California Zephyr, part of the Blackhawk Railroad Series

hong kong film

A tour of the United States. A Circarama (360 degree) film which originally opened at the Brussels World’s Fair in 1958 and was brought to Disneyland in 1960.

A poem of unrequited love: the studio's first puppet production. Based on a poem by Cosbie Garstin, the film tells the story of a carved wooden saint who is painted to look like a soldier and used as a figurehead on a sailing ship. The ship sinks and the figurehead is saved by a beautiful mermaid who falls in love with him. Her love is not returned because despite his dashing looks he has the wooden heart of a saint.

A drunken driver, his wife and a hitchhiker equals murder.

Fifties advertisement from Fischinger.

A whimsical, five-minute short film shot in the Bahamas during Glenn Gould’s vacation, featuring the famed pianist himself in a comedic scenario with Jock Carroll and Anatole Green.

These dueling one-act comedies highlight the work of playwright John Mortimer. In "The Dock Brief," an ill-prepared attorney is put to the test when his client confesses to killing his wife. In "What Shall We Tell Caroline?" a father with good intentions tries to protect his wife and daughter from the bad things in life.

Sniffer the dog tries to get a bone.

Near the region of Angkor Watt, a group of children capture a baby elephant and are just growing attached to it when it is sold to a travelling safari. Pursuing the new owner, a boy manages to steal it back, and the children free it to return to its mother.

The village blacksmith, standing under the chestnut tree, is appalled when he sees his first horseless carriage. He stays appalled and becomes dismayed when the horseless carriages increase and his business dwindles to a standstill. He then decides to build a robot horse. He does so, after many years, and challenges one of the famous auto-racers of the day to race against his horse.

A man dreams of stampeding horses, only to be awoken by a note slipped under his door. Thereafter, he embarks on a strange journey, moving further into the unknown.

Heckle and Jeckle set up camp on the lawn of a swank Miami Beach hotel, raise havoc hither and yon and all about. All efforts and methods use by the hotel management result in total failure, until...

As Word War II ends and everyone is celebrating peace, farmer Anders Svensson recieves a message from his nephew Ville who was lost during the war. Anders learns that Ville was kept prisoner in a German camp, and is now stuck in the city of Stettin, occupied by the Soviet army. He decides to get his nephew home.

hong kong film

In 1959, George Nelson designed an incredible trade fair to be sent to Russia, a kind of yard sale of things American. Everything from automatic vacuum cleaners and refrigerators, to Polaroid cameras and newly pioneered videotape, as well as books not available under Stalinist rule were represented as the fruits of the capitalist American consumer market. Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev held the famous “Kitchen Debates” in a kitchen at the fair.  With dancers and music from Oklahoma, films by Charles Eames and a huge dome by Buckminster Fuller, the Russians got their first glimpse of what was happening on the other side of the Curtain.

Based on their hit radio show, Bebe Daniels and Ben Lyon starred in this British "Ozzie and Harriet" type show about "Life with the Lyons" with their two children, Barbara and Richard. On radio and TV, this series ran from 1950-61.

In the Madrid beginning of the 20th century two young people try to make it as artists: Elena intends to succeed in the music world and Pablo wants to become a famous painter.

Early Short by Adolfas Mekas, apparently credited as "George Binkey."

The third film by Ed Emshwiller

The elements of Ai-Ye (Mankind), by the noted etcher & engraver Ian Hugo, consist of footage shot in various parts of the South American Coast. From this rich and ageless material he has created a beautiful, moving allegory of Man's universal story through the milleniums. This vivid, experimental documentary film has a sound accompaniment of drums and native chants improvised by Osbourne Smith.

In a classroom discussion on alcoholism, students debate its causes and consequences—dismissing alcoholics as wasteful or weak, yet struggling to agree on how they might return to responsible citizenship.

In the 19th century, Elizabeth Blackwell determines to become a doctor.

A Christmas Marionette Short Film.

The dramatized story of a young high school teacher who is falsely accused of communist sympathies is used to demonstrate how baseless accusations can foster the spread of suspicion throughout a community, thus causing insidious and lasting damage.

In his first appearance on network television, Edgar Bergen hosts a Thanksgiving Day special featuring three of his partners in ventriloquism - Charlie McCarthy, Mortimer Snerd and the lesser known Podine Puffington (a life-size doll that Bergen would use as a comedy dancing partner). Orchestra leader Ray Noble becomes upset when Charlie tells him that Edgar has hired someone else as a pianist (who turns out to be the beautiful Diana Lynn) to perform a solo. In the last scene, Edgar and Charlie are the put on trial for witchcraft in Colonial Salem, Massachusetts and sentenced to be burned at the stake before escaping with the help of a fetching Indian maid.

Fundraising film for the National Playing Fields Association, of which Prince Philip was president. Included on the BFI DVD "A Royal Occasion".

A Terrytoons cartoon released July 1950. Directed by Mannie Davis.

A portrayal of the Mexican Day of the Dead consisting of still shots and narration. Deals with the special objects and events surrounding the annual Mexican celebration of “All Souls Day”. It is not only a rich flood of folk art, but a view of the way that the Mexicans have come to terms with death. Searched out with the help of Alexander Girard and a moving guitar score by Laurindo Almeida.

When a wicked male spider tries to capture a Japanese butterfly for his harem, a Yankee bug sailor comes to her rescue.

A Terrytoons cartoon with Little Roquefort.

The story of America's railroads and the conglomeration of lines that comes together to connect the cities across the land.

A short film from Mary Ellen Bute, showcasing her trademark animations set to music.

Documentary film about the 5th and final installment of the Carrera Panamericana. Created in 1950 by the Mexican Government to showcase the opening of the Mexican stretch of the Pan-American Highway, the Carrera Panamericana was a border-to-border sedan (stock and touring and sports car) rally racing event on open roads in Mexico running from 1950 to 1954 and was considered to be the most dangerous race of any type in the world due to the tough landscape encountered on the race course.

Showcases the early years of the original Kitimat Project.

A dramatization of the problems of a middle-aged man who, after being discharged from a tuberculosis hospital, encounters snubs, canceled social invitations, and job refusals from people who fear association with him. Explains that recovered tubercular patients are desirable as co-workers and companions, and emphasizes the responsibilities of the community toward former tubercular patients.

Buzzy the Crow is about to be eaten by a cat but the cat has hiccoughs. Buzzy, of course, has a few home remedies he graciously shares with the cat but none of them cures the cat's problems. In fact, all of them add to the problem. So much so, that all nine lives of the cat goes to heaven...one life at a time.

A nervous cat tells the story of the origin of Mighty Mouse.

Charles Starrett goes up against an entire family of criminals posing as respectable citizens in this entry in Columbia's long-running Durango Kid Western series.

Those rabble-rousing magpies Heckle and Jeckle are watching high-society crowds going into the theater to see a performance of "The Barber of Seville" and decide to get some culture of their own by sneaking into the show. The stage-door manager tosses them out on their first attempt, but they finally get past him, leading to a wild chase as the opera is underway.

A put upon, middle-aged employee receives a small sum of money as a gift and uses it to take a trip to Rome.

The treatment of injured and sick children at Louisville, Kentucky's Kosair Crippled Children Hospital (now Kosair Children's Hospital) is depicted in this documentary short film. One of the children, Donald White, is followed during his treatment for accidental burns. The various treatments and facilities of the hospital are explained by narrator Victor Mature.

Short film by Hilary Harris.

They Planted a Stone is a 1953 British short documentary film directed by Robin Carruthers and produced by James Carr. The film portrays how dams, barrages and irrigation canals were constructed on the Nile in Sudan, to generate hydroelectricity, irrigate the desert and create such projects as the Gezira Scheme. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

A made-for-TV musical revue, compiled from soundies and film and TV performances by jazz greats from the 1930s to the 1950s.

For four centuries cod has been fished off the coast of Newfoundland. This film shows the exacting work of splitting, salting, drying and grading the fish, as well as the more recent methods of quick-freezing.

In this fast-paced Western, smaler ranchers hire a former gunman Bart Jones (Scott Brady) in the middle of a range war when he's called on to protect a group of small-time ranchers against cattle baron Maj.

Inspiration for Stan Brakhage's THE DEAD. Screened at 1958 Brussels Film Festival

Bill is targeted by pot pushers who use him as their entry to the "good kids." Needing money because his mother is sick and his father is absent, he drops out of school to become a pusher. He seeks help after seeing his supplier shoot up.

Wally and Eddie are on their way to Reno to win enough money to pay for a little boy's operation. On the way, their car is stolen by two girls and they are beaten up by the girl's boyfriends. They win a lot of money in Reno, but have to fight their way through a free-for-all with two amazons in order to keep it.

Foundling Beaky Buzzard is adopted by a couple of polite, English sparrows named Monte and Gwendlyn. When Monte tries to teach lame-brained Beaky to catch a chicken, Beaky's ineptitude results in Monte being repeatedly struck with a mallet and caught in a grenade explosion.