Cinematic Era: 1940 Vintage

Film from 1940

Otto Messmer [Felix The Cat] animation that was originally shown as animated lights in Times Square.

Doctor Satan Strikes: Copperhead had already left the box when the delivery truck parked, substituting sacks of ore to maintain the box's weight.

Part of BFI collection "If War Should Come."

Live action adaptation of Snow White fairy tale.

Aviatrix disappears when her plane crashes onto a remote island inhabited by fugitives from the law.

Deems Taylor joins Clifton Fadiman and the Information Please regular panel members, Oscar Levant, Franklin P. Adams and John Kieran, for this entry in the series based on the radio program.

A comic look at prehistoric life.

Filmed operetta about a wealthy Provencal man who puts those lining up for his inheritance through a series of colorful adventures, only to reveal to them at the end that the whole thing was just a joke.

Following in the footsteps of a woman, a young farmer travels to the city and there he ends up triumphing as a singer on a radio.

In pre-independence India, a wealthy young zamindar brings a village girl of illegitimate birth into his household after her mother’s death. As she grows up, their bond deepens into love—challenging family expectations and deep-rooted societal prejudices.

A tour of Stratford-upon-Avon's houses and hamlets, stomping ground of a young William Shakespeare.

A mouse sings a lullaby to her baby. Since he doesn't want to fall asleep, she turns to her neighbors for help.

Two fishermen and pelotaris, Josechu and Mikel, compete for Mirentxu's love.

An amateur adaptation of Frankenstein.

A film about military service dogs and their use in air signal, guard, medical and communications services.

Naval Instructional Film A63.

A man returns to the town where he abandoned his wife and daughter for ten years.

Hajnally Ödön, engaged to the wealthy daughter Buday Klári, faces financial ruin as he struggles with debt. Anticipating a substantial dowry from Klári’s affluent family, he reconsiders and ultimately flees, abandoning both the wedding and his obligations. His decision causes scandal, heartbreak, and significant distress for Klári, who is left to navigate the aftermath of his abrupt departure

Shows how the RAF's barrage balloon squadron are trained, and then on the job.

A comic look at prehistoric life.

An Italian movie.

Len Lye’s camera-less film animates “swing” versions of the popular Lambeth Walk—featuring Django Reinhardt on guitar and Stéphane Grappelli on violin—through scratched and painted imagery directly on celluloid. Sponsored by the Tourist and Industrial Development Association after Lye and his family fell into hardship, the film blends vibrant visual rhythms with music, free of advertising slogans, and stands out as one of Lye’s most playful experiments in direct cinema.

A short documentary about the 'chess village' of Ströbeck, Germany, that ends in a game of human chess.

Commercial for Hylins Rakin shaving cream where Lasse Krantz uses the shaving cream to get smooth skin and become more believable when he dresses up as a woman.

Carmen Concha’s final film.

A parodic trial, in which one sees a merry luron, tried for trifles, rallying the whole court to him as soon as one learns that he inherits a large fortune.

Short World War II documentary showing examples of how skilled craftsmen of peacetime apply their skills to essential wartime production.

Successful playwright goes undercover to get new material and finds romance.

A farmer is badly disappointed by his thumb-sized son who eventually makes good by sending away for some free garden growth pills.

The story is based on the historical events of Gongor, a national hero who successfully performed his duty as a border guard. The fact that he played the hero Gongor himself in the main role helped to convince the audience of the fact that it became a movie. The fact that Sh. Gongor is fighting alone and winning against the enemies who violated the border has a tone that preserves the traditional characteristics of the Mongolian folk epic hero.

In Murcia, a southern province of Spain rich in fruits and vegetables parcels, a girl and a boy are in love but he is so shy that she accepts a rich competitor proposal. From the zarzuela of the same name.

Short World War II documentary showing how the everyday work of British housewives aided the war effort.

Enriqueto, the proud owner of a splendid mustache, feels his heart divided between the kindly Manolita and the feckless Lilí. (A redubbed version of the Austrian film Immortal Melodies —Unsterbliche Melodien, 1935—, an operetta based on the life of the Austrian composer Johann Strauss, the Waltz King; with a new humorous plot and new music and songs. The original soundtrack was lost around 1949; only a 2014 subtitled version is preserved.)

This short dramatizes how profoundly the inventions of Thomas A. Edison have affected the world in which we live. In addition to the electric light, Edison developed the system of alternating current that carries virtually all of the world's electricity, as well as storage batteries and electric motors. Other highlighted inventions include the phonograph, automatic stock ticker, wireless telegraphy, mimeograph machine, and, of course, the world's first motion picture studio.

The second Egyptian cartoon starring Mish-Mish. While Mish-Mish Effendi is doing a cabaret number with his bride-to-be, there's an announcement over the radio saying that Egypt has gone to war. Mish-Mish wins fame on the front by throwing electric rays at the enemy. Therefore, the latter is forced to surrender.

Part of BFI collection "If War Should Come."

Victor Young and his Orchestra play "Tiger Rag".

Documents the long and arduous journey made by Muslims every year, from North Africa to Mecca. Footage inside the city was filmed by a Muslim crew.

A genealogical documentary about the “great men” of a nation that supposedly “needs to be seen standing up for itself”.

This early 1940s black and white film about the mindset of a fighter pilot during WWII is presented by The Ministry of Information, produced by British Movietone News, and written and narrated by Air-Marshal Sir Philip Joubert, a senior commander in the Royal Air Force during the 1930s and in WWII

A real Buckinghamshire schoolteacher - the kindly Mrs James - is the star of this persuasive WWII propaganda film. Shot on location in Ashley Green, it shows how evacuees from surrounding towns adapt to village life and wartime conditions. With its images of happy, healthy children, the film was clearly designed to give reassurance to city-dwelling mothers separated from their offspring.

The coming of the pioneer settlers in 1840, the making of their first homes in the wilderness, the gold rushes, the Maori wars, the stage coaches, and the frontier towns. A panorama of New Zealand's history and scenery, its social and economic development from 1840 to 1940.

Dad Rudd wants the size of a local dam increased for the benefit of local farmers but faces opposition from a wealthy grazier, Henry Webster. When the local Member of Parliament dies, Webster runs for his seat, and Rudd decides to oppose him.

Two mobs fight for control of the jukebox racket.

A prince, fresh from his foreign education, returns to find his kingdom plagued by intrigues and rigid traditions. Disillusioned, he decides to venture among the poor in search of genuine love and freedom. During his adventures, he meets a simple village maiden, and they fall in love, leading to a series of thrilling and comedic encounters. The film blends this underlying serious theme with a light-hearted, slapstick comedic approach.

On the outbreak of the Second World War an idler is forced to join the army by his domineering wife.

Part of BFI boxset Ration Books and Rabbit Pies: Films from the Home Front.