Cinematic Era: 1948 Vintage

Experimental short by Elwood Decker. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2011.

About the film: Based on the eponymous book by the Norwegian skier Tomm Murstad, Skiing with Per and Kari shows two children who receive skis for Christmas and then enroll in Tomm Murstad’s ski school for children. The film was shown to children all over Norway.

During King Fernando's reign an Andalusian gentleman adventures as much with bulls as with women, and also politically joining the liberal cause against the absolutist King.

All the winners. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2000.

Bollywood 1948.

Amateur filmmaker, James Poppleton, delivers an account of WWII from the home front in Melbourne, Australia. Newspaper headlines set the scene and provide a timeline, starting with the declaration of war and various wartime activities such as air raid drills, marching, sandbagging and trench digging. Poppleton concludes with the end of World War II and marks the occasion with the Victory Day celebrations and marches that took place on the streets of Melbourne.

A movie actress gets arrested and has a hard time finding sleep at the police station. Then her director appears and saves her.

Waverley Steps - subtitled ‘a visit to Edinburgh’ - is an evocative minor classic. John Eldridge’s film takes the semi-documentary form of a collage of scripted vignettes, at first disconnected but gradually overlapping. With visual grace, and a certain wit, the film entwines a coalman’s working day with students’ revels by night, the proceedings of a court with the rituals of a courtship.

Filmed in Wanzerbé, Niger, this short documentary records ritual, market exchange, and ceremonial practices, documenting divination, sacrifice, and collective rites intended to protect the village and its inhabitants.

An abstract cartoon built over Bernhard Christensen's music. It is the first of its kind in Denmark, as it is drawn directly on film stock.

Heckle and Jeckle wind up blowing out a tire on the car they are in and go up to a bear's cave to try and find a place to stay for the night.

Woody is offered a movie role providing he arrives at the studio at 9:00 a.m. and *must* wear a top hat. His sole hat is eaten by moths so he goes to Wally Walrus' hat store to purchase a new one (and, for once, does not give Wally a hard time). After a few attempts to get the hat to fit Woody's head, he buys the hat but it blows away landing on a goose in a meadow. After tussling with the goose, he gets his head back but loses his job at the studio anyway.

The common house-cat's imagination exceeds reality.

Part of the series of shorts Musical Paintbox. A typical Welsh public house which contains pictures around the walls of Welsh beauty spots. The Welsh legend of Devil's Bridge is brought to life with cartoon characters.

Holger Harrivirta and Aimo Jäderholm follow the 25 reindeer tracks assembled by Aslak Juuso on their journey from Kaaresuvanto to Kilpisjärvi in ​​the spring of 1948. The camera's images don't just show the spring sunshine, they also capture a sudden snowstorm brought by the changing weather. But the reindeer can withstand all the weather in Lapland, "the reindeer is so wild that it doesn't even learn its name". The journey continues on the ice of Kilpisjärvi past the sacred Saana, Pohjola rides reindeer...

The images show a special summer. As on 20th June 1948, the currency reform is proclaimed, the precarious situation for the people from Hamburg changes. There is something to buy. Overnight, the shops are full. People no longer depend on the black market or have to exchange their last possessions for something edible. The mood rises. It is a time of new beginnings, a time in which a future is possible again - documents that reflect this mood are rare.

Motifs from the life of the Macedonian people, through their folk art presented with fabrics, carvings, architecture, agricultural crops specific to this region, up to the folk songs and dances that cultural and artistic societies have the opportunity to present at the festivals in Bitola and Shtip.

As well as a story on emergency measures to keep the nation's fuel supplies moving during freezing weather, it includes a feature on Dunfermline miner Tom Syme, an Olympic ice-hockey hopeful in training at his local skating rink before heading for St Moritz.

Delivery of the packet "Pátria" to the Colonial Navigation Company. The sound of the film has been lost.

Educational short about the Duisburg harbour.

A Hong Kong Cantonese film released in September 1948.

The first film to be produced by the Dagenham Cooperative Film Society, ‘Seeds of Time’ focuses on young people in the area in 1947-8. It’s great for the rare colour footage of the area from this period with shots of the Civic Centre and the world famous Dagenham Girl Pipers.

An early animated short film from Gyula Macskássy

A BAFTA Special Award winning feature about a family excited at the news of the return of their daughter.

The story of the British Sailors Society, a voluntary welfare body.

Film by Emiel van Moerkerken

Social documentary short from Australia, on the welfare of children, especially those from a poor background.

A loyal Sakharam moves in with Kakasaheb Deshmukh after his father passes away. When he grows up, he falls in love with Chandra Deshmukh and also faces opposition from a rebel peasant, Peera Dhaigude.

Based on the freedom struggle and Quit India Movement of 1942.

A Marathi film by Raja Paranjpe.

Part of the Speaking of Animals short film series.

Three elementary pupils learn that everyone attaches personal meanings to words and that the wording of newspaper stories, conversations, advertisements, and politics, for example, needs careful analysis to prevent confusion.

A short animated retelling of the rhyme in the "follow the bouncing ball" style.

Tom Puss and Mr. Bumble buy a magic hammer from an Oriental magician, which they use to conjure up various musical instruments and eventually a Philips radio set.

A film about the National Health Act that established the NHS, and how it benefitted communities. It starts with a bleak look, when coordinated patient care is non-existent, patients cannot see the right specialist when they need to and a family is split up over Christmas.

A man can't understand why prices on everything have suddenly risen sky-high. He mentions it to his grown son, and is told that the main reason for the price hikes on everything is monopolistic business practices that push prices artificially high so companies can make bigger profits. The main is somewhat skeptical about that, so his son takes him to his local union hall, where he learns that his son was indeed right, and is also shown how the union movement can help to bust these price-fixing conglomerates and bring prices back to reality again.

This film treats the subject of vandalism. It is intended to show children that by wantonly damaging public property they cause mischief not only to themselves but to the community at large. The film shows that public utilities like the Post Office perform very important National tasks. Anything which prevents them from working efficiently can cause damage or even loss of life.

Pedestrians and motorists share the responsibility for accident prevention. Filmed on the streets and sidewalks of Oakland, California, and on a tabletop with model cars and dolls representing pedestrians.

Cartoon featuring the characters "The Colonel and Willie (the Worm)", with the colonel attempting to catch the Loss Ness monster.

Infofilm made by Norsk Film and NSB in 1948 about the plans and work to complete the Nordlandsbanen line to Bodø. On December 10, 1947, the Nordlandsbanen opened the section from Dunderland in Rana to Lønsdal on Saltfjellet, a section that was mainly built with the help of Soviet and Serbian prisoners of war. The film focuses on the work that is underway on the last planned stretch, through Saltdal to Rognan, Fauske, Tverlandet and Bodø.

Subject unknown. Co-winner in the Documentary category at the first Canadian Film Awards presentation in 1949.

Cartoons that illustrate four popular Christmas and New Year time songs.

Produced to encourage farmers to take the advice of Government Agricultural Officers, the film compares two black farmers. One is keen to improve and listens to the advice of the agricultural officer, while the other is lazy and ignores all advice. The keen one improves his crop, the other's crop remains poor.

Radio personality Martin Block interviews Ray Noble and Buddy Clark and introduces a few performances by Clark singing with Ray Noble and His Orchestra.

A vision of the chaotic Buenos Aires of the mid-20th century and an urban solution

An educational short focusing on school safety.

A comic short film by Riccardo Freda.

The Adventures of Junior Raindrop is the story of cutesy raindrops who… well… go wrong once they get to earth. Because of forest fires or badly managed land, raindrops like Junior become “hoodlum raindrops” (!), get involved “with gangs” (!!), and turn into “gangster” raindrops (!!!).

Filmed in Firgoun, Niger, the film documents an initiation ceremony in which a young Songhay woman undergoes ritual preparation for the dance of possession. Led by zima (ritual priests), the ganandi ceremony teaches the structured movements and ritual practices required for participation in spirit possession rites associated with Kirey, the spirit of thunder. The film records the process through which the initiate is prepared to serve as a ceremonial medium within the community’s ritual tradition.

The coast of Arnhem Land in Australia's Northern Territory has been the home of Aboriginal people for many many centuries. Some still live a traditional lifestyle. This film is a record of a 1948 expedition to Arnhem Land led by anthropologist Charles Mountford. It depicts the ancestral fishing, hunting, building and boatmaking techniques used by the communities of the region.

Documentary about the building of the Durres-Tirane railway.