All Films

Three Penguins

1961 • 10 min • Soviet Union

Penguins Peak, Pak and Pok built a monument in honor of their friendship. But, having fought because of the fish, they destroyed it and missed the fish.

Rice Bowl

1961 • 25 min • Japan

Overripe with psychosexual poetry and stark, oneiric rituals, Adachi's filmmaking debut, made while he was still an undergraduate, counts among the more resonant accomplishments of the now famous Nihon University Film Club. Adachi's obvious fascination with the wide-eyed watchfulness of childhood and the uncanny is an expression of the important surrealist strand running throughout the post-WWII Japanese avant-garde. - Harvard Film Archive

Five Fingers : Dossier

1961 • 60 min • United States of America

From the TV series Five Fingers. Released theatrically in the UK in August 1961 as supporting film to Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

Trumpets of Dragačevo

1961 • 16 min • Yugoslavia

Documentary about the first Assembly of Trumpeters in Guča.

Kipling's Women

1961 • 60 min • United States of America

The nudie film is inspired by a Kipling poem and follows retired soldier Tommy Atkins, who recounts his experiences with women around the world while enjoying a pipe and Scotch in a pine lodge.

The Phantom

1961 • 24 min • United States of America

The Phantom, along with canine companion Devil, investigate wicked doings at the plantation of Mrs. Harris. An unsold TV pilot based on the popular superhero.

La Soirée

1961 • 7 min • France

Unfinished film by Jean Eustache . A couple kisses. A group of friends talk inside a room. One of them reads from a paper.

Zoo is Company

1961 • 7 min

Loopy helps an elephant with a mouse problem and that mouse is Bigelow Mouse.

Plus 50000-nen

1961 • 10 min • Japan

A short movie by Otogi Production.

Chico, the Misunderstood Coyote

1961 • 45 min • United States of America

A witness to his mother’s death at the hand of a man, the coyote, Chico, has learned to hate and fear him. Taken into captivity and exhibited in a small desert roadside zoo, he learns much but never loses his bitterness toward his enemy: man. Chico makes his escape and bounds off for a life of adventure in the desert where he mates with Tula. He sees an eagle grab one of his pups and worries when his mate raids a chicken coop. Realizing the dangers of man, Chico decides to take his family deeper into the desert to help his family try to win the battle for survival.

Faena

1961 • 20 min • Argentina

The images connect the workings of a slaughterhouse with a city that is also divided between executioners and dead people.

Trainers

1961 • 36 min • Soviet Union

A family movie about two schoolchildren, Grisha and Irisha, who decided to raise a dog for the border guards.

Tricky Tricks

1961 • 5 min • United Kingdom

In this 8mm short from Pete Walker, a young woman learning magic tries to make a vase disappear, but keeps making articles of her clothing vanish instead.

Of Stars and Men

1961 • 53 min • United States of America

Of Stars and Men is a 1964 animated film from the Hubley family of animators, based on the 1959 book of the same name by astronomer Harlow Shapley, who also narrates. Made in the style of a documentary, it tells of humankind's quest (in the form of a child) to find its place in the universe, through themes such as outer space, physical matter, the meaning of life and the periodic table. There are no character voices; instead, they "talk" through their actions. It has been cited as an example of an "animated documentary".

How a puppy got a taste for honey

1961 • 10 min • Czechoslovakia

The story tells about how a puppy discovered a beehive and honey in it, which he took from the bees, for which he was punished. Subsequently, a bee guide appears to him in a dream, who explains to him how honey is produced and how difficult it is to produce. That same night, three naughty mice are going on a robbery expedition. It's up to the puppy to stop them and protect the beehive from another robbery.

Lickety-Splat

1961 • 6 min • United States of America

Wile E. Coyote chases the Road Runner with roller skis, a bow, a rifle, a boomerang, an anvil, and several exploding darts let loose from a balloon.

Phantom of the Horse Opera

1961 • 6 min • United States of America

In the ghost town of Spooksville, Arizona, Woody Woodpecker tangles with an outlaw who disguises himself as a ghost to scare Woody away.

Schritte in der Nacht

1961 • 42 min • Germany

Eratosthenes

1961 • 3 min • United States of America

The Greek mathematician Eratosthenes estimates the circumference of the earth.

Ballad of the Colorado Ute

1961 • 17 min • United States of America

Featuring stylized visual storytelling, this rarely seen film by famed experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage was produced for the Colorado Department of Public Relations and is one of two films (the other being "Colorado Legend") to explore Colorado myths. This film tells the story of the Ute people and the tension between the youth, “the Braves”, and an elder, “Smoking Water”. The cultural objects were provided by the University of Colorado Museum and Denver Art Museum.

Monster Rumble

1961 • 35 min

An encounter of monsters.

The Forgotten Faces

1961 • 18 min • United Kingdom

“The Forgotten Faces (1961), a film reconstruction of the Hungarian revolution of 1956, won Watkins another amateur Oscar, and to this day, the film is praised in England as "one of the most memorable amateur films ever made".

A Reel of Home Movies

1961 • 25 min

An eclectic compilation of home movies and early cinematic experiments. Preserved by Anthology Film Archives with support from the National Film Preservation Foundation. “From the age of 12 onward until 17 (the restless years) the Kuchar brothers lived life to the fullest and tasted the spices of the lower class, the sugar of the bourgeoisie and the kasha of the jet set. At this time their films were seldom longer than four minutes.” –George Kuchar

Bopin' Hood

1961 • 6 min • United States of America

A trumpet-playing cat and his jazz band invade Ye Olde Squaresville, a kingdom that has outlawed all but the squarest music.