All Films

Tin Can Concert

1961 • 6 min • United States of America

Doc, a feline with musical talents, conducts an all-alley-cat symphony orchestra in a rendition of Giacomo Rossini's Cinderella overture. He enters the rehearsal hall and, with a touch of spring, is projected to the top of a grandfather clock that is the podium from which he directs the orchestra. A mouse is peacefully sleeping on his matchbox bed inside the clock, underneath the swinging pendulum. As Doc is directing the orchestra, he leans over and playfully lowers the pendulum so that the mouse is caught and swings with its motion. The band plays on. The mouse, now angry, endeavors to out-scream the band, but he's muffled by Doc.

Play

1961 • 16 min • Poland

A boy plays alone in a well of a big city yard. His mother, being in their tenement flat, passes him an empty bottle using a string. The boy has to go to a shop. His alcohol fun begins – at an off-licence shop, at a purchasing centre, at a gate.

Asleep

1961 • 4 min

Stephen Dwoskin's first film, made in New York. A woman's feet during a whole night of sleep contracted into four minutes.

Rooftops of New York

1961 • 11 min • United States of America

Rooftops of New York is a 1961 English language documentary directed by Robert McCarty. He takes his camera up high to look down on the roof tops of New York, to watch vignettes unfold. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.

A Salute to Father

1961 • 48 min • United States of America

Various Goofy cartoons, showing Goofy as a father, are featured as Walt Disney dedicates the show to all fathers.

Strangers of the Earth

1961 • 41 min • France

Les inconnus de la terre starts like a traditional feature film: in the beginning of the film all the leading roles are given a short introduction. This is followed by a number of interviews, in which the makers unashamedly appear themselves. They include an interview with a lonely shepherd and one with three unmarried brothers who try to run the parental farm for better or worse. Notwithstanding the fact that this mode of interviewing has now become classical, les inconnus de la terre works rather refreshingly. The film is more than just an enumeration of problems. In an honest way it shows the ties of those involved to the land and to nature, in addition to being a plea for the modernization of French agriculture.

The Dragon

1961 • 21 min • Soviet Union

An animated movie based on tales from Southeast Asia (Maynmar) about a sword the hero received from a turtle that defeats only one dragon, and in order to see the other, you have to look around and look inside yourself because the second dragon is there.

A Almadraba Atuneira

1961 • 26 min • Portugal

The life of tuna fishermen and their families during the fishing season on Pumpkin Island in Tavira (Algarve). The documentary depicts their fishing methods and their return home after fishing. This was the last activity of "frame" or "almadraba" tuna fishery, before the camp was destroyed by the sea in the winter of the following year, in 1962.

The Dwarf

1961 • 53 min

In a small circus campaign, the act of Valentine, the dwarf, is one of the highlights of the show. But then one night, he grew suddenly and turns into a handsome young man of six feet tall. First mad with joy, he will face harsh reality of normality.

Marcel, your mother is calling you

1961 • 8 min • France

The Goatling

1961 • 10 min • Soviet Union

Valuable Kopeck

1961 • 16 min • Soviet Union

Animated short film dedicated to the redenomination of the Soviet ruble that happened on January 1, 1961.

Reporter from Overseas

1961 • 16 min • Soviet Union

An inexperienced reporter, Bob Sketch, is hired by the Strykoroba Corporation to cover Moscow, where his sensational and inaccurate reports lead to a series of misadventures and a reprimand from his boss upon returning to the US.

Hold Back the Sea

1961 • 30 min

Holland is threatened from all sides by water. The film tells about the creation of Holland millions of years ago, the history and methods of land reclamation in the last five centuries. The film sets the everlasting struggle of its inhabitants against the sea in a clear perspective, combining prints, animation and traditional photography.

Enchanting Bournemouth

1961 • 22 min • United Kingdom

Bournemouth offers a variety of sports, pastimes, steamer trips, and fine dining for holidaymakers, competing with cheaper foreign holidays and offering a variety of transportation options.

Where is Mama

1961 • 16 min • China

The narrated film describes the adventures and misadventures of a group of tadpoles in search of their mother.

Visual Thinking

1961 • 3 min • United States of America

In a mix of puppetry and animation, Harry demonstrates the Art of Visual Thinking to Kermit—and what it does to you once it gets out of control.

Novice

1961 • 15 min • Soviet Union

A little tractor arrives on a farm but can't do any of the things that the farm animals are good at.

Das Stacheltier - Ein Pferd müßte man haben

1961 • 10 min • East Germany, Germany

Psichinski rings Mr. Semmler's doorbell and alerts him to strange noises in the attic. Together they sneak upstairs and discover a full-grown horse, which they report to the police officer. He triggers the alarm. The fire department and several workmen marvel at the event and ponder how it could have gotten there in its full size. The return transport requires structural measures and reconstruction work. After completion, Psischinski's house resembles a "jewel box". Later, the policeman asks Psischinski how he "managed" the matter and learns that he had brought a foal there 1½ years ago in order to draw the attention of the public, especially the tradesmen, at the appropriate time so that work that was difficult to carry out could finally be completed. Shaking his head, the official, who also owns a house, leaves the property with the comment: "You should have a horse!"

Who is the Strongest?

1961 • 16 min • Soviet Union

The brothers Papolya and Nyakochi argued over who should chop the wood and who was stronger. In the struggle, Nyakochi knocked down his brother, but slipped on an ice floe. So the ice floe is stronger than Nyakochi? But the sun melted the ice floe, the cloud covered the sun, the wind dispersed the clouds, the rock stopped the wind, the tree destroyed the rock, and Nyakochi and Papolya cut down the tree. Based on a Nenets folk tale.

The Beast of Yucca Flats

1961 • 54 min • United States of America

A refugee Soviet scientist arrives at a desert airport carrying secret documents, but is attacked by a pair of KGB assassins and escapes into the desert, where he comes in range of an American nuclear test and is transformed into a mindless killing beast.

The Black Jack's Treasure

1961 • 11 min • Poland

Jack, an old and experienced pirate, notices a young sailor nearby. The sailor fishes out a bottle. It turns out that the bottle contains a map of a treasure island. The protagonists try to eliminate each other, but they will reach the island together.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

1961 • 60 min • United States of America

A corrupt young man somehow keeps his youthful beauty, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.

Les amis du plaisir

1961 • 27 min • Belgium

Ethno-fiction: a sociological portrait of a small Belgian village, Moulbaix, through the passion for amateur theater.