Cinematic Era: 1934 Vintage

A documentary looking at a day at Croydon Airport south of London.

By converting a radio, Scrappy has a new invention, a TV set that he shares with his friends as they change channels watching various shows until they land on an exciting boxing match.

Krazy Kat drives a bus, hijinks ensure.

The original introductory part of Karol Plicka’s film The Earth Sings (1933), which was replaced with a sequence of shots of Bratislava during the era of the First Slovak Republic. Spring in Prague is a short film, a poem dedicated to Prague – a city of baroque churches, modern houses of Wenceslas Square, or Wilson Station. Capturing the details of the streets in a modern way, this film by Plicka complements his extensive collection of photographic books about Prague and its architecture.

During a trip to Colombia (1932-1933), Marquis de Wavrin met various ethnic groups of Indians (Guahibo, Choco, Arawak, Motilón…). They allow him to film rituals that no foreigner had been able to attend before.

British potter Bernard Leach made 16mm films during his travels in Japan and Korea in 1934-35. In this short film, Leach is clearly fascinated by the special “Kuruma Ningyo” (cart-doll performance) practiced in Hachioji, a suburb of Tokyo. Commentary by puppeteer Nishikawa Koryu V was recorded at his rehearsal studio and added to the film.

A toddler chases a frog out of his house to a nearby well where, falling into the bucket, he arrives at the bottom of the well, to be magically greeted by underwater seababies and various creatures, including the octopus law officer. Eventually he returns to the well bucket and is raised back up to be rescued by his mother.

A humble cabinetmaker steals from the rich to give the poor in revenge for ruining their love with a rich young woman.

A film by the founder of the Kinoklub Zagreb that shows a woman learning how to make her own film.

Film by Schmid-Wildy.

Short with Carlo Aldini.

This narration-driven travelogue begins with scenes of Manila Bay and the city's harbor. From there, it visits Fort Santiago, watches the delivery of an orphaned baby to Hospicio De San Jose, and explores other parts of the city, as the narration waxes condescending about the various aspects of Philippine life.

A boy fights with savage tribesmen and animals on a tropical island.

When a young princess is kidnapped by an evil toad, her salvation is in the hands of a brave villager.

Documentary on tuna fishing and the art of capturing, processing and manufacturing of the industry.

A school teacher falls in love with one of his female colleague, who teaches gymnastics. She returns his love, but this discovered by his students who try and sabotage their relationship.

Hollywood is a town that holds many memories of the movie business and the movies themselves, which has resulted in a town brimming with possibilities and wealth. But the town had very humble beginnings. Part of that history includes the professional lives of the plethora of who are now considered movie stars, such as Mabel Normand, 'Larry Semon', Willard Louis, Rudolph Schildkraut, Barbara La Marr, 'Rudolph Valentino', Dustin Farnum, William Russell, Roy Stewart, Alma Rubens, Frederick A. Thomson, Art Acord, George Beban, Louis Wolheim, George Siegmann, 'Douglas Fairbanks', Mary Pickford, Jack Pickford, Milton Sills, Lon Chaney, Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Renée Adorée, Lilyan Tashman, Lew Cody, Alec B. Francis, and Marie Dressler.

This was made for Metropolitan Life Insurance in 1934, by New York based Audio Productions. Directed by F. Lyle Goldman.

In this classic fable, a hen asks help with chores from other farm animals. None of the animals want to help do work, but they all want to share the fruits of the hen's labor.

A live-action little boy is caught stealing jam! When he asks his big sister how she knew he had done it, she answers "A little bird told me." This launches an animated segment about a newspaper run by birds and how they got the scoop on the little boy's crime.

A young woman is seduced by an evil doctor and then sent to a brothel to be sexually exploited.

Sherriff and Ludlow first met in Kashgar, Chinese Turkestan, where their shared love of ornithology, plants and travel led to a life-long partnership. They travelled widely in Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet collecting and documenting specimens. In 1933-34, they travelled to Tibet, Nang-kartse, Gyantse and back to India selecting over 500 plants and seeds; their collection included 69 species of rhododendron, 15 new to science.

Film by Heuberger.

Premiere July 12.

100,000 Buddhist priests have come to Rangoon for the funeral of High Priest U. Pandawa.

Advert promoting vegetable fat Ceres of the Czechoslovak company Schicht, produced by AB Praha. Different types of food participate in a spectacular competition for the first place in disciplines of fatness, nutrition and price. Although everyone tries and has their indisputable qualities, in all disciplines Ceres wins.

Documentary explaining how double bilateral variable area optical soundtracks are recorded onto film and played back in cinemas.

An anti-imperialist version of the Vishnu Purana legend tells of the villainous Kans plotting to marry Devaki to Dikpal, commander of Magadh's army. The people of Mathura fear that Magadh will destroy their city-state and foil Kans' scheme as Devaki marries the beggar Vasudev. The heavens forecast, accurately, that Devaki's eighth son Krishna shall cause Kans' death.

In 1934, MGM held a convention in Chicago, inviting its company distributors from all over the United States to preview the films scheduled for the 1934-1935 exhibition season. After a welcome from studio executive Felix E. Feist, the people in each geographic division are introduced, and the chief of each division says a few words.

A pictorial record of the Wanderwell's trip to the Brazilian jungle in search of Col. Fawcett who was lost in the wilds in 1925

A tour of Palestine in 1934.

Film by Heuberger.

Kintaro, gentle and strong, is popular in the forest. He eventually becomes a great samurai with the name Sakata no Kintoki.

Rhapsody in Two Languages is a city symphony film reminiscent of the work of Walter Ruttmann and Dziga Vertov, a paean to '30s Montreal that contrasts old and new: horse-drawn carts, flashy new automobiles, busy streets, jaywalking monks, and wild nightlife, with overlaps and spinning images that suggest just how out of control things could get when the sun went down.

A 1934 Burmese black-and-white silent film about a spoiled urbanite fleeing to the Jungle with a bunch of stunts and actions.

A renowned actress rescues a small theater, which is on the verge of bankruptcy.

Film with synchronized sound. “Hear the speeches, cheers, etc.”

The Fiancée from Canada is the story of a working-class boy from Antwerp who emigrated to Canada and returns to Belgium after some time. However, his fiancée has forgotten him and is in love with another man. For him, there is therefore nothing left to do but return to Canada…

The film tells a mythological story about the child Dhruva who in utmost devotion towards Lord Vishnu, ultimately finds a place in sky as the brightest star (Dhruva Nakshatra) and finds solace at the place.

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An animated adaptation of the legend of Pan Twardowski

Muratti was a German brand of cigarettes. Fischinger transforms bunches of standing cigarettes into things that resemble human beings. At first they walk daintily around packages of Muratti tins. Gradually as the film progresses their motions become more graceful, as they do "slides" and other motions and formations associated with dance. The apotheosis of the film is remarkable: Dozens and dozens of cigarettes, arranged in Busby Berkeley-like fashion, repeatedly bow to the horizon, where a giant sun labeled "Muratti" rises in response to to their worshiping activity.

First Venezuelan animation movie.

“An excellent one reel musical anecdote, written, composed and directed by Max Brand, marked by the good humour of the disturbers of the peace and the disturbed and the bemused officiousness of the police who have to stop the fun. Film societies should find it very useful in making up a programme.” - Monthly Film Bulletin, January 1935.

A playful, partially animated vision following the manufacture and assembly of a Ford V8 motor-car.

A preview of the preparation works for the etnographic exhibition to take place in Oporto.

Volhynia, 1905. Jan Bereza is exiled to Siberia, while his wife dies in a fight with the military police. Bereza's daughter, five-year-old Hanka, remains unaware of what has happened. Years pass. The orphan Hanka grew up without care. She fell in love with a wandering poacher, mocking the superstitious village. Misunderstandings on this basis lead to vigilante justice... Having escaped death, Hanka finds herself in a gypsy camp. The king of the gypsies falls in love with her, but the tireless poacher Zbych finds Hanka and causes her to break up with the king. Threatened, they escape and return home together, where they find Hanka's father, Bereza. The year 1920 arrives. War breaks out, from which Zbych returns victorious to his Hanka. They set to work together and create a new, happy home.

To save the family estate Stjärnehov, one of the twins Stiernhielm, Bertil, marries the rich sausage maker Magnusson's daughter Britta.

In "The Wrong Bottle", Tom is annoyed since his freeloading brother-in-law lives with them and he's quite thoughtless. After some arguing, the brother-in-law informs Tom that his insurance policy has lapsed....and soon after this Tom thinks he's accidentally drank poison. However, when he heads to the store to buy some antidote, he's frustrated by a dopey druggist and other store employees....and there's more craziness after this.

A low-budget production by Film Art Productions, a unit established by B. Vivian Braun and Irene Nicholson. Braun and Nicholson were the editors of Film Art, a film journal covering experimental and modernist filmmaking. This film, made with a hand-held camera, is directly related to the major interests of the journal in two main ways: firstly, it reflects its interest in 'poetic' filmmaking, stressing strong visual composition; secondly, it reflects an interest in modernist themes, notably rationality and mechanisation.

Krazy Kat is a gondolier in Venice, Italy, so he sings "Santa Lucia." As he and his fellow gondolieri travel through the canals, it turns out everyone sings opera, even the cats and dogs.