Cinematic Era: 1931 Vintage

1931 mystery short by William J Burns

A Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon from Walter Lantz.

Two brothers fall for the same girl, though she loves the older brother. Through trickery, the older brother isn't able to reach his beloved and dies of heart brokenness. The younger brother, seemingly happy with this fate, seeks to woo the girl but is faced with the ghost of his older brother.

Japanese silent film from 1931.

A silent, black and white, 1930s advertisement film for CUF fertilizers, starring the legendary Vasco Santana in a story where the dissatisfied Manuel wonders why he doesn’t get rich just from the efforts of his work.

A Secrets of Nature short.

A wealthy socialite, Claire Rutherford (Beatrice Touzeau), visits her former lover, Tony Iredale (James Alexander), one night. The next day Tony is arrested for the murder of a bookmaker the night before.

The breeding cycle of the bittern, the cryptically plumaged relative of the herons.

The film is a visual accompaniment to Honegger's music representing the progress of a transcontinental locomotive. The superimposed orchestra rhythmically reinforces the music.

Kitty is seduced into leaving the ice cream shop with a sneaky fox until she discovers his true intentions. Krazy Kat is called to the rescue.

A lyrical promotion of Belgium’s North Sea coast that alternates teeming promenades and playful beach games with elegant seafront vistas; shot by John Fernhout and set to Marcel Poot’s score, with commentary by Éric de Haulleville.

A Italian newsreel short.

A singer marries a rich girl without her parents' consent. But he loses his voice, and has to leave her. He becomes a clown in a circus.

Based on a 1926 novel by Georg Mühlen-Schulte.

Al Shean performs a solo version of the classic vaudeville song "Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean".

Heretic is a modern dance work by Martha Graham performed to Tetus Breton, an old folk tune from Brittany.

Mystery short by William J Burns

A propaganda piece. On the way home to his wife, a man meets a colleague. Fascinated by the stories about the plant, he decides to get off the train and help the company overcome all extreme situations, prevent the plant from stopping and overfulfill the plan. On January 29, 1931, the Zhovten cinema in Kyiv was first opened with this film.

An advertising short.

A Terrytoons short.

An international crew of sailors encounters fearsome creatures of the sea, including whales, sharks, stingrays, and one whopper of a devilfish.

Charmed by a pretty girl, Olive follows her on board a dirigible. There, he discovers the belle, named Pearl, has a husband. Never mind such an insignificant detail, Olive tells himself as the dirigible takes off with a stowaway among the passengers. Unfortunately a storm breaks and the captain, realizing that there are thirteen people on board, decides to sacrifice one of them. And guess who ? Olive, of course...!

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit works in a laundry shop in Chinatown in this one. It's a late synchronized sound cartoon: no talking or singing, but lots of music.

Tom and Jerry are captured by cannibals while dancing and engaging in musical hi-jinx in the jungle. Can Jerry save their lives by impressing the chief with his yodeling skills?

An alley cat pining for her tom is cheered up by a friendly mouse; the title song is presented with a Bouncing Ball. All-animated.

A well composed series of gags run from ones involving simply frame composition all the way out to Keaton-like surrealism in this well-ordered and executed series of gags-on-a-theme Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon from Walter Lantz' cartoon team.

A young man joins the revolutionary movement in 1905, aimed at Tsarist occupiers of Poland. The members of the secret organization conspire to take the life of a noted Russian general.

Sheila sees the folly of her ways when husband, John, is to be hanged for murdering her paramour, but once trusty Bill from the CID is on the case, the real killer is soon unmasked

Red Donohue tries to get a job in a dynamite conveyor enterprise, and has to deal with a wild mule.

A variety program of six light or comedic music, song and/or dance numbers performed by noted pre-World War II German entertainers.

An undercover marshal battles a power-mad cattle baron.

A travelogue produced by the Museu Agrícola e Comércio do Ministério da Cultura showcasing the sights of Rio de Janeiro circa 1930. Shown are sights such as Copacabana beach, Theatro Municipal, Biblioteca Nacional, the British Jockey Club and Avenida Rio Branco.

In 16th century Brazil, portuguese colonizer Marfim falls in love with indigenous woman Iracema.

Halloween costume party made on the evening of October 31, 1931.

Who made the film (and exactly why) is obscure: a transport employee would seem the most likely bet. Whoever it was has left us with some captivating images of the tube as our grandparents knew it. London Underground users know only too well that their city has since paid the price for having once led the world in underground transport. Unsurprisingly, the infrastructure in this film will look familiar to modern Londoners - it's the passengers who have changed: their dress, their body language, their racial mix, their sheer numbers. This artless series of unedited shots of people moving from A to B has taken on a strange, involuntary poetry over the decades. Is this how CCTV will look to our grandchildren?

The adventures of a Yemenite immigrant in Tel Aviv.

A cat who is fishing falls in love with a female fish/mermaid. They sing several great old-time songs along the way.

South Africa's first sound film

A smart young manicurist works in a hotel where she earns big money by tricking businessmen by persuading them to do certain deals where she has a commission. She meets a young inexperienced man who falls in love with her and proposes.

The news film, shot by Karol Plicka, shows the first Czechoslovak President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk on holiday in the Czech countryside. Plicka was often called upon by Masaryk to photograph portraits and family and state gatherings. The film material proves that Plicka was able to get unusually close to the president and thus capture his joys in an unusual setting.

A Talkartoons cartoon featuring Bimbo doing card tricks.

Spejbl craves a film career. He thus posts a newspaper ad, offering himself as an actor. As soon as he receives a response, he sends his son Hurvínek to the agent instead of himself. Hurvínek fears that his father is again looking for a wife. He is not as representative as Spejbl would wish, and he puts the agent off. Spejbl is first angry with his son, but then hears on the radio that the agent in question was an experienced swindler, and is glad that Hurvínek in fact saved him. The Bulletin of the Czech Ministry of Interior lists the film in the section “For adults only. Forbidden for children and adolescents under the age of sixteen (comedies)”.

The film tells you how to protect yourself from a gas threat or a gas attack.

Helena Leeová is at a spa with her daughter Marcelka. One day a lifeguard saves her from drowning. The rescued woman comes to in the lifeguard's arms. This incident is used by the newspapers to promote a society scandal. They print a report that the lifeguard was seen with Helena in her bedroom. Helena's husband, the banker Filip Lee, is a candidate for bank president. The scandal threatens his career and thus Lee at once demands a divorce. His legal representative, Jan Farrland, not only wins the divorce suit but also manages to have Helena's daughter taken from her custody. One day Farrland meets Helena at a society party and he comes to understand that he has wronged her, and he falls in love with her.

A young reveler, heavily in debt, finds a job in Pondicherry, but he must be married, and he has only twenty-four hours to do so. After an evening of revelry, he finds himself locked in with his friend's fiancée, leading to a marriage made possible by a miraculous inheritance.

A renowned storyteller recounts a yarn about the long lost son of a pasha and a damsel in distress who becomes his love.

The poppy flower in its psychedelic glory.

The first Estonian experimental animated short film written and directed by Voldemar Päts, produced by Aleksaner Teppor and animation by cartoonist Elmar Jaanimägi. Known to be the first animation of Estonia. Juku the Dog wanders around in a forest, finding abandoned weapons and forgotten skeletons.

A camera conception of New York, the city of inconceivable contrasts.

“Canadian Capers” was produced by Terrytoons and released on August 23, 1931. Uniquely, this was assigned to only four animators: Frank Moser, Jerry Shields, Bill Tytla and Art Babbitt.

Masked bandit Bimbo holds up a train carrying someone tougher… Betty Boop (with dog's ears), played by a different, deeper-voiced actress.

Oswald the Rabbit and a horse race.