Cinematic Era: 1953 Vintage

Heckle and Jeckle, the talking magpies, have trouble sleeping because they live under a bowling alley...

Breer's earliest experiments in animation are wonderfully dense yet lyrical abstractions based on Breer's own geometric paintings. - Harvard Film Archive

From the military planning to front-line operations of discover conquest of Mozambique by the Portuguese, to counter the Vatuas insurgency of 1894, when they were led by Gungunhana, a cunning strong African leader. Against the background of Marracuene, Coolela, Manjacaze, Chaimite and Macontene historical battles, two soldiers fight for the love of a coloni st's daughter.

Once upon a time, there was a young prince who wanted to fulfill his greatest wish: to marry a princess! One night, there was a violent storm, and someone knocked on the castle gate. A princess stood before the king, who opened the door. She was soaked to the skin and did not look noble at all, but she insisted that she was a real princess. Not wanting to see her son unhappy again, the queen devised a plan. She prepared a bed for the young woman with mountains of mattresses and blankets, but placed a pea on the floor. In the morning, the princess wakes up feeling terribly bruised, having slept on something hard all night.

Scroll paintings prepared like film strips with successive images.

A man returning to his hometown after the war - a sea of ruins - meets a boy who awakens his faith in the future.

A relatively wealthy family takes a child from a village to the city to serve in their house. The child patiently and dedicatedly uses his minimal free time for education and becomes an active and valuable person in his youth. While Hamid, the eldest son of the family, who grew up in prosperity, becomes a delinquent youth. The two fall in love with a young girl.

Besides presenting an actual exhibition, this film about a Monument of National Literatuře also presents an interpretation of the history of Czech literature that was subject to the mores of that time. It looks at the exhibition chronologically, it comments on documents from the beginnings of the national literature up to the 1950s, emphasises the importance of the relationship of the present time with the national cultural tradition. It labels the museum itself as a “people’s university” and draws attention to its educational role.

An aristocrat short of the readies, Gontran, is to marry a wealthy girl of common birth; but he has to get rid of his lover.

A violent hunter is ambushed and defeated by a flock of birds and other animals.

Radar Station is a 1953 Canadian short documentary film produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) as part of the On The Spot series made specifically for television. The documentary involved an account of a visit to a radar station while it is involved in a simulated air attack, and is based on first-person interviews of the staff at the radar station. Squadron Leader Bill Lee of the Royal Canadian Air Force discusses the northern Canadian radar defense post's operations, revealing the little-known role of these isolated posts scattered across Canada's Arctic. Note: This film was distributed separately on 16mm for schools and libraries, qualifying it as a standalone documentary.

The town rebels against a landowner in La Rioja.

An insecure young teen boy who has just reached dating age learns how to plan and enjoy a date (with a girl at least one foot taller than him). With Studs Terkel (Swimming Coach).

A short burlesque act with comedians and strippers, shot in 3D

Experimental filmmaker James Davis draws parallels between reflective surfaces both real and artificial.

A study of the behavior of four and five year old children at home and at nursery school. At four the vacillation between infantile helplessness and vigorous self-assertion is seen, and at five the development of independence and the beginning of cooperation. Parents observe that, unpredictable as their behavior may be, it's fun to help in the development of the fours and the fives.

A sheep rancher entrusts his goofy sheepdog Dizzy to guard his herd one night. The dog is told to blow a whistle when he sees a wolf, but he spends his time fooling his master by "crying wolf," and he proceeds to blow the whistle for no reason other than to excite the farmer. The fun begins when a real wolf shows up to steal the flock after Dizzy has worn out his warning. Taken from the "Boy Who Cried Wolf" story.

When one of the quarry workers dies, the management asks the workers to continue, saying people die every day. This incites the workers, and, led by one of them, they approach the owner, whose daughter is not sympathetic to their arguments.

In a bad dream, a man finds himself on a pirate ship where the barber gives the crew a rather violent shave. Philips Philishave commercial by Dutch puppet animator Joop Geesink.

After a robbery, a gang of bandits led by Kulaus-Ramperi flees Helsinki on the Kuopio express train "Lentävä kalakukko" and tries to hide in the crowded train filled with music and singing. The cheerful conductor Saastamoinen protects the motley crew traveling on the train.

An insight into the economic life and beauty of the city of Hamburg.

Presented without voiceover, various kinds of breads are displayed and broken in a joyous celebration of starch, seed and salt.

The love of a mother for her two children.

Shows endangered human lives and material damage done by this natural catastrophe, struggle against flooding by construction of dikes on Sava river, and the action of medical staff in prevention of epidemics.

A film that satirizes politics and portrays family relations and romance, played by child actors.

First Bi-lingual movie made in Odia & Bengali. Bengali version name was "Pana Raksha". Produced with a budget of Rs. 64,000, the Odia movie was a hit however the Bengali version was unsuccessful.

This travelogue emphasizes Copenhagen's harmonious residents and tone. We see well-known landmarks and get a quick history of some of them.

Lost short film by Edward D. Wood Jr. Possibly a pilot for a would-be TV show.

A BAFTA special award nominated documentary looking at the formation of the coalfields; explanation of the appearance of coal seams at different levels; modern methods of assessing and locating quality of new coal deposits. (Part of the "Coal-mining as a Craft" series)

Mother Mack, a Scottish terrier, has a litter of seven puppies. Her owners decide to keep the smallest puppy and give the others away. What's unusual about this film is that the puppies are given away to black families, Hispanic families and Asian families--three groups of people that were seldom if ever seen in classroom films, let alone mainstream productions.

The Yokohama and Kawasaki factory district, industrial heart of Japan. In 1953, a Kanagawa Prefecture May Day (International Workers’ Day) took place here, spreading links of solidarity among workers. Workers criticize the Korean War-era transformation of Japan into an American military base and protest remilitarization. A new print will be screened.

Two boys and their grandmother visit a farm. Filmed in 3-D.

A young horse breeder will show his grandfather how they can adapt to the times and prove his theory.

This is a film about how an ordinary man, a restaurateur in a small Danish town and owner of Café Håbet, has his happiness shattered one morning. Restaurateur Christian Christiansen has just prepared for his big trip to visit his only son, who wants to build a house, and now he has to help with a loan, which he can afford. He has saved every penny, and now his son is well on his way and is going to build, not a poor house with a cardboard roof and cheap materials, no, a proper brick villa with red bricks and tiles.

Short biographical documentary of the town of Jajce. From details dating back to the period when the Romans lived in the area, to those that show the centuries-old invasions of many conquerors in these parts of Bosnia. The walls of the heroic city are located near Pliva Lake and its famous waterfall.

Amina lives in Al-Saqqa neighborhood. She becomes seriously ill and is forced to be transferred to Dr. Jasser’s hospital, where his son, Dr. Kamal, treats her. Meanwhile, love grows between Amina and Kamal, and Kamal wants to marry Amina, but his father Jasser does not approve of this marriage, but he marries her. Dr. Kamal suffers an accident that prevents him from working.

Documentary about young prisoners who are reintroduced to society.

Chancellor Adenauer is accompanied on a tour of the United States and Canada.

The city prosecutor, due to overwork, neglects his wife. In this situation, a bad friend deceives his wife, and she elopes with him. From then on, the prosecutor himself takes on the guardianship of his only daughter.

A documentary/nature film edited from over 975,000 feet of footage shot by naturalists Ed N. Harrison and Frances Roberts in North and South America over a span of several years. Narrated by Marvin Miller, it ranges from volcanic eruptions to idyllic ranges of pasture, forest and mountain ranges; and species such as the bears of the northwest to terns, sea lions and pelicans of the southern lands. —Les Adams

A short documentary film about teaching youngsters to swim at the Lissa Bengtsen school in California directed by Jack Eaton. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.

“It’s the most freedom we had on a film shot in Italy. We had to write with the camera, outside of any theoretical preconceived notions. My episode was a short satire of Italian male attitudes, a montage of heads turning to follow a girl”. (A. Lattuada)

A Scotland Yard inspector investigates the murder of an old recluse.

Illustrates the need of pets for adequate care, urges children to care for their city pets and shows by example how such care is administered.

A boy plays in the sand on a beach. He notices smoke rising from the slag heap of a nearby coal mine. A young woman appears before him and speaks gently to him. In her, he glimpses the image of his deceased mother, though she relates to him like a sister. The next day, he returns to the same spot, waiting patiently for her to reappear, only to find a marble buried in the sand.

The NFSA has restored Giorgio Mangiamele’s uncompleted (and therefore mute) first feature film 'Il Contratto' (The Contract). A remarkable film in the context of Australian cinema of its era, 'Il Contratto' was the only feature of the 1950s to unflinchingly show the isolation, alienation and loneliness of Italian migrants to Australia. Mangiamele based his script on the experiences of the fellow countrymen with whom he travelled to Australia in 1952. The film’s authentic portrayal of immigrant hardships was accentuated by his casting of people who had lived through the events they were portraying. While Mangiamele later focused on loners who were up against the system, the characters of 'Il Contratto' are sustained by their unity.

The true-to-life story of Miss Finland Armi Kuusela who was crowned Miss Universe in the first Miss Universe pageant held in 1952. In 1953, some nine months after she won the Miss Universe title, Armi was invited by the Philippine International Fair Committee to crown that year’s Miss Philippines, in the course of her stay, she met Virgilio Hilario, a Filipino businessman, through a blind date in Baguio, the two were eventually married in Tokyo that year. Kuusela chose to relinquish her crown shortly before her reign ended as Miss Universe