All Films

Baryshnikov at the White House

1979 • 60 min

Mikhail Baryshnikov and the New York City Ballet perform at the White House's East Room.

Puff the Magic Dragon: The Land of the Living Lies

1979 • 23 min • United States of America

Sandy is a little girl with a penchant for whoppers. However, when her lies start go so far as to implicate the innocent for her own misdeeds, Puff decides to step in. Using his magic, Puff takes Sandy to the Land of Living Lies where everyone tells the most ridiculous lies and honesty is persecuted. Only when Sandy realizes the need for honesty can she help Puff escape this insane world. Written by Kenneth Chisholm

Correction, Please: or, How We Got into the Pictures

1979 • 52 min • United Kingdom

Experimental essay in film history, associating very early archive material (circa 1909) and studio shot footage in an attempt to provide insights into the way in which "film language" developed during the silent era, with emphasis on the process by which spectators came to be increasingly "contained" with the space time of narrative.

Flying

1979 • 1 min • United States of America

The Hanna-Barbera Hall of Fame: Yabba Dabba Doo II

1979 • 45 min • United States of America

In this retrospective on creators Hanna and Barbera, Bill Bixby hosts a behind-the-scenes look at technical and sound artistry. Segments spotlight families and famous women in cartoons as well as romance.

O Youth and Beauty!

1979 • 58 min • United States of America

Cash Bentley and his wife Louise lead an average upper-middle-class life in suburbia, with a nice home and two fine children. But Cash grows increasingly unsettled in his life, yearning for the glories of his athletic youth and watching them fade further in the distance with accumulating age. Louise worries about him as his difficulties with mid-life pull him further away from happiness and comfort with his family.

The Fern Flower

1979 • 17 min • Soviet Union

There lived a Ukrainian lad. He was nice and not stupid, but poverty prevented him from choosing a wife that he loved. To achieve his goal, he went on a very dangerous and serious step, having sold his soul to evil powers. Since then, his life has changed dramatically, becoming prosperous and even luxurious, but the hour of reckoning will come, which inevitably puts pressure on the protagonist...

Le Petomane

1979 • 33 min • United Kingdom

The incredibly true story of the legendary French entertainer Joseph Pujol, who performed impersonations with his self-described 'elastic anus' and a surfeit of wind.

Maria Yi: My Recollection

1979 • 11 min • China

Documentary about Maria Yi recalling her film work in the 1970s, particularly with Bruce Lee.

Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected: The Landlady

1979 • 24 min • United Kingdom

The unnamed Landlady (Siobhan McKenna) is the titular main villainess from "The Landlady", episode 1.05 of Tales of The Unexpected (airdate April 21, 1979), based on the Roald Dahl short story of the same name. The episode begins with Billy Weaver (The main protagonist), arriving in Bath as part of a work trip. While there, he looks for accomdation, and sees a bed and breakfast sign in the window of a house. The unnamed woman then invites him in, claiming that a hotel he had been planning to stay at was booked out. Although finding the landlady's overly friendly demeanour off-putting, Billy decides to spend the night.

Norman Granz’ Jazz in Montreaux presents Ella and Basie '79—"The Perfect Match"

1979 • 45 min • France

The two musical masters swing out.

First Case, Second Case

1979 • 53 min • Iran

A documentary about a teacher who sends a group of pupils out of the classroom when one of them does not own up to talking behind the master's back.

Squirrel On My Shoulder

1979 • 25 min

The story of an abandoned baby grey squirrel found by chance in the Oxfordshire countryside.

Seven Women of Different Ages

1979 • 16 min • Poland

Each day of the week is represented by a ballerina beginning with a young child and ending with an older ballet teacher.

Punk Can Take It

1979 • 19 min • United Kingdom

Julien Temple's wartime documentary parody "Punk Can Take It" (1979) - a theatrically released promo for the UK Subs, complete with narration by BBC voice-over veteran John Snagge - paints a glorious picture of England in a punk rock "identity crisis". Punk morale was higher than ever before. Punks were fused together not by fear, but by a surging spirit of revenge, immortality, and the courage never to submit or yield. This proved that punk won't go away and that punks themselves are becoming younger and nastier everyday. They have no time for the precarious thrills of nostalgia nor for its trivial rules.

Martha

1979 • 56 min • East Germany

Martha Bieder is the last rubble-woman in Berlin Rummelsburg. Every day, rain or shine, she stands at the conveyor belt - as she has for decades - sorting through rubble. After a retirement party thrown for her by her male colleagues, she tells her story of being a rubble-woman in post-war Germany.

City Lights: John Huston

1979 • 48 min • Canada

American film director John Huston is interviewed in this episode of a Canadian television series.

Pig Earth

1979 • 49 min • United Kingdom

“Pig Earth” marked John Berger’s first return to television after “Ways of Seeing”. The film, boldly using mostly still photographs, is based on John’s book of the same name, which was both a work of fiction as well as a history of French Peasant experience, as told by John ‘the story teller’, as if in the peasant’s own voices. All of which was given brilliant visual expression in the film through a series of beautifully edited sequences, each constructed from vivid and moving photographs of peasants and their lives, in black and white and colour, by John’s friend and long-time collaborator, the Swiss photographer Jean Mohr.

But Still We Sing

1979 • 48 min • United Kingdom

This BBC Bristol documentary, Narrated by Bert Lloyd looks at the Gaelic music of the Outer Hebrides. It won the Silver Harp award. Directed by Barrie Gavin.

Golgotha

1979 • 16 min • Yugoslavia

Millstones have always been produced in Lesnovo, placed in the Zletovo area, by cutting the rocks at the surrounding mountains. The production of these millstones and their transport through the steep slopes is a real Sisyphus labor.

Every Child

1979 • 6 min • Canada

This animated short follows an unwanted baby who is passed from house to house. The film is the Canadian contribution to an hour-long feature film celebrating UNESCO's Year of the Child (1979). It illustrates one of the ten principles of the Declaration of Children's Rights: every child is entitled to a name and a nationality. The film took home an Oscar® for Best Animated Short Film.

Heimlichkeiten

1979 • 27 min • East Germany

It's Gretel's birthday. Not only Kasper, but all his friends prepare surprises. The devil causes confusion as he tries to steal Kasper's book of inventions.

Big Wheels and Sailor

1979 • 55 min • United Kingdom

Children of long distance lorry drivers, travelling with their fathers, become involved in attempted hijacking.

The Wizard of Speed and Time

1979 • 3 min • United States of America

In the original short film, a young man in a green wizard costume runs throughout America at super speed, much like the superhero The Flash. Along the way, he gives a pretty girl a swift lift to another city, gives golden stars to other women who want a trip themselves. He then slips on a banana peel and comically crashes into a film stage, which he then brings to life in magical ways.