Cinematic Era: 1943 Vintage

A detective in training is about to take his final exam. He is sent to room 13, where his professor befuddles him with a tricky doorknob. Next, he goes to a tea party with his professor loosely disguised as an old lady; the butler serves a pot of "T.N.Tea" even though his back is full of knives. The professor keeps disappearing; the student tracks him by his footprints, even though the footprint powder at one point becomes train tracks and the doors he opens have a skeleton and some card-playing ghosts. Finally, the budding detective phones for the police; when they arrive (driving on the phone lines) and pile into the phone booth, he passes, and is given the first, second and (under bright lights) third degree.

Technicolor 2-reeler on the US Coast Guard.

How to distinguish and deal with various insects that destroy vegetables.

Soundie featuring "The Three Chefs" performing the song "Be Careful"

Propaganda film about the contribution of the American farmer to the war effort.

Focuses on the life of the Guarditas family as representatives of Uruguay's middle class. Shows their house; the father, Manuel, leaving for his work as a woolbroker; the boy at school; the girl doing her homework; the maid cleaning the house; and the mother working in the garden. Gives a very good impression of what middle-class life was like in Montevideo in the 1940's. (Jane M. Loy, Latin American Research Review, vol.12 no.3, 1977)

The dogs which live and love 'Down Old Mexico Way!' Featuring an incredible dog conga line, with various canines whooping it up in a cantina spotlighting a Carmen Miranda pooch.

Alexandre Alexeïeff illustrated the song "Et moi je m'enfouiyais" (En passant) using the pinscreen technique. Norman McLaren illustrated "C'est l'aviron" using drawings on a fixed background, with the characters pasted in as they were drawn.

"Action Stations" documents the work of a Canadian corvette escorting Allied convoys across the North Atlantic during World War II. Combining staged battle reconstruction with observational footage, the film portrays shipboard training, life at sea, and the pursuit and sinking of an enemy submarine.

An Indian film drawing on the ancient concept of the "poison maiden." It depicted a mysterious and dangerous woman whose very touch or presence could be lethal.

Featuring Jimmy Dorsey

Early giallo directed by Giacomo Gentilomo.

Lani McIntyre's Orchestra plays us a song.

A Soundie with The Four Ginger Snaps.

Three female performers – pianist Renara, tap-dancer Irene Cutter and singer Shirley Lenner – are supported by Harry Parry and his band in this short film. Cinema audiences were cheered up through WWII by entertaining revue films such as this.

A film by K. Narayan Kale.

An unusually photogenic ethnographic film about the rhythm of summer work - mowing meadows in Liptov with a scythe.

Indian horror movie from 1943.

In this tale, told as a musical story, a little girl imagines that her two dolls come to life and go through a adventure involving a villain.

Begins with a three beat announcement drawn out in time which thereafter serves as a figure to divide the four sections. Each return of this figure is more condensed, and finally used in reverse to conclude the film. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2004.

The world’s first trial against German war criminals took place in Kharkov in December 1943. The film covers the trial of three Germans and one Russian: Corporal of German Secret Field Police Reinhard Retzlaw; Captain of the German Military Counter-Espionage Service Wilhelm Langheld; SS Obersturmbannführer, Company Commander of the SD Sonderkommando Hans Ritz; and collaborator, assistant to SD Sonderkommando, driver of the “gas van” Mikhail Bulanov. In the presence of 40,000 Kharkov citizens, the criminals were hanged on the Blagoveshchensk market, where the invaders themselves had previously carried out mass executions.

A short animated film promoting the use of war savings stamps at Christmas. Although a "wee thing," one war savings stamp is large enough to buy seven rifle bullets.

A ruthless businessman arrives to a small town. He is prepared to do pretty much anything to win beautiful Vera Odelman's heart.

Brothers Fredrik and Pontus own a family company. Fredrik is the manager of the old school and Pontus is a professor of psychology, which theorizes that men is more intelligent than women. Astrid, a young woman, opposes these theories and Pontus decides to hires her, which Fredrik doesn't like. Astrid gets installed as in charge of advertising, and soon she begins her modernizations.

An Admiralty film depicting the functionality and uses of the submarine including an underwater attack on an "Hun" convoy and a surface attack on an U-boat.

A tank driver explains the nature of the armored combat vehicle and the techniques of how the infantry can deal with them in combat.

This short documentary offers an early example of the challenges faced by working mothers. As women entered the workforce in greater numbers during WWII, their young children were cared for by others. At day nurseries, trained staff supervised children’s meals, health and play. Toddlers are taught how to wash and dress themselves and to put their toys away tidily. The film is an intriguing portrait of the nascent mid-20th century world of work for women and their families. - NFB

When Møller Jakob Clausen of "Højmøllen" sits at his wife's deathbed, he makes her promise that if he marries again, he will choose a woman who will be good to their little son, Hans. And in motherly care for her little son, the dying wife mentions the forester's gentle and kind sister, Hanne, who will surely be able to become both a faithful wife for the miller and a good mother for Hans.

Test of observation for amateur detectives. Two crimes are depicted: The Crooked Billet Murder and Back Stage Murder.

"The crime of the cease fire was to capitulate as if France had no empire" - Charles De Gaulle

"A Prisoner Has Escaped" - Franz is imprisoned for blowing up a factory. He escapes in order to prove his innocence.

A training film for OSS agents on how to analyze statistics obtained about German industrialization and war production.

The hotel owned by widow Ida Hentola is full of artists who can't pay their bills. The energetic manager isn't too happy about her daughter Mirjami and painter Akseli Niemelä getting all lovey-dovey. Misunderstandings caused by a lottery ticket mess up the hotel.

A Soundie with Toni Lane.

A German stop-motion adaptation of Sleeping Beauty.

1943 Oscar nominated film in the category Best Documentary, Short Subject.

A young woman appears as an intruder in the house of an invalid friend.

The animal life of on a farm.

Pierre can no longer pay for his medical studies and disappears for several months. During his absence, his fiancée allows herself to be courted by a reveler. Back home, Pierre cannot regain the trust of the young woman, who now leads a dissolute life of which she is ashamed. She tries to kill herself. Pierre saves her and heals her.

A silent color film of Martha Graham dancing extracts of "Lamentation".

Young Pim and the villain Avelino race against each other. In order to win the race, and the prize, Avelino cheats as much as he can.

A look at Britain's and Canada's defensive preparations against an air attack.

Brandenburg an der Havel, 2nd half of the 19th Century: the barber Fritz Bollmann is running his old-fashion barbershop and is well known, while another barber Jean Blank is more modern and haute-couture, who sees him as a huge competitor. When Bollmann wanted to leave to store to go fishing, what he loves, a boy asked for a haircut, but due to his anger he cuts him almost all of his hair. This leads the kids to play a trick upon him and when they through things in the lake in order for Bollmann to fall into the water while fishing, they write a mocking song about him. The song is spread all over the town, much to the hate of Bollmann himself. But he doesn't give up and is off to fight back.

A short anti-war film denouncing the destruction of Polish national culture under the Nazis.

The film skims along close-up head shots of seven day and evening students. It then shows a disassembled bent plywood armchair. Various student projects are presented, including chess pieces made of transparent plastic, posters, a four-part lamp design, a radio design, abstract photography, flexible sculptures of wood, the head shot of a student, objects too dark to be identifiable and a chess set of clear plastic inspired by a design from the German Bauhaus.

A short documentary style film it depicts the story of The British obtaining a special tool from America to help with the building of a tank.

A Gandy Goose cartoon.

A film sponsored by the U.S. Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs to promote friendly relations with American countries just before World War II. Stresses the importance of the Good Neighbor Policy and Western Hemisphere cooperation in the face of Europe's disintegration. The first half is an historical summary of the American continent. Postulating that youth will build a new world, the last half considers youth at work, youth at school, health conditions, defense, and ends with a plea for American solidarity.

A propaganda film which tells us about the daily life of Indonesian people under Japanese military occupation. Showing a happy life as a voluntary army, farmer, planter and seller in supporting Japan's war.

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

A Soundie with Leila Moore.