All Films

The Autumn Feast

1961 • 17 min • United Kingdom

A deliberately non-synchronous film, shot in 8mm with the sound on tape. Piero Heliczer reads his poem "The Autumn Feast," and the visuals interact with, but does not literally represent, what is read.

Dog Barbos and Unusual Cross

1961 • 10 min • Soviet Union

This is the very first silent slapstick comedy short about adventures of Worldly, Coward, and Fool. What's more fun: fishing with worms, or dynamite? Three friends decided to have a blast! Unfortunately their dog Barbos just loves playing fetch. And this time that stick was used for blast fishing. Barbos saw people throwing a smoking stick in a water, and fetched it right back to his owners. The "unusual cross" part begins when owners try to outrun the dog with dynamite.

Arthur Clears the Air

1961 • 30 min • United Kingdom

A National Coal Board film produced to promote a 'Housewarming Plan' initiative following the 1956 Clean Air Act.

Footprints

1961 • 20 min • Czechoslovakia

This early short by Jaromil Jireš anticipates the formal and stylistic experimentation that would characterize VALERIE AND HER WEEK OF WONDERS.

Alvin's Solo Flight

1961 • 7 min • United States of America

Little Lulu and Tubby take the bratty Alvin to the beach with them, but they soon lose track of him when he steals some helium balloons and flies into the air.

Boys from Our Courtyard

1961 • 19 min • Soviet Union

A short film about young delinquents terrorizing a neighbourhood.

Two Faced Wolf

1961 • 7 min • United States of America

Loopy unknowingly befriends a scientist who turns into a monster on and off without Loopy knowing that the monster is really him.

After Mein Kampf?

1961 • 43 min • United States of America

By combining actual footage with reenactments, this film offers both a documentary and fictional account of the life of Adolf Hitler, from his childhood in Vienna, through the rise of the Third Reich, to his final act of suicide in the waning days of WWII. The film also provides considerable, and often shocking, detail of the atrocities enacted by the Nazi regime under Hitler's command.

On purge bébé

1961 • 57 min • France

Mr. Follavoine plans to supply the French army with chamber pots. In preparation for this lucrative contract, he invites a doctor from the Ministry of War. The business dinner takes a different turn when Mme Follavoine appears, obsessed by their son Toto's constipation.

They Come Across the Borders

1961 • 22 min

Werner combines two extremely different theatres of flight and misery: the mountainscape near Oujda where refugees from the Algerian War cross the border to Morocco for safety and respite, and Hong Kong, which was dealing with hundreds and hundreds of thousands escaping the famine caused by Máo’s Great-Leap-Forward policy.

The Adventures of Superboy

1961 • 30 min • United States of America

Jimmy, Clark Kent and Lana Lang's friend, is ashamed that his father works as a doorman at the Smallville theater. His opinion changes when Superboy is able to thwart a robbery with Jimmy's father's help.

Strike!

1961 • 3 min • United States of America

One of Les Blank's student films: a horror film following a young couple.

The Lovers

1961 • 8 min

Spending time with her boyfriend on a lonely beach, a girl suddenly remembers the Hiroshima bombing of 1945. He, in turn, remembers the 1960 riots against Japan's peace treaty with the USA.

Call Me Captain

1961 • 27 min • United Kingdom

The Norfolk Broads tourist film promotes the pleasures of boating.

The Pied Piper of Guadalupe

1961 • 6 min • United States of America

Sylvester the cat imitates the Pied Piper of Hamelin to lure a group of mice into a jug that he seals with a cork. But Speedy Gonzales won't be hypnotized by Sylvester's flute and gradually rescues his friends from Sylvester's clutches.

Catch Meow

1961 • 7 min

Loopy tries to discourage a cat from chasing a mouse, and succeeds. Later, Loopy begins to regret his interference.

Zip 'n Snort

1961 • 6 min • United States of America

Wile E. Coyote tries to catch the Road Runner using a sling shot, a grenade in a toy airplane whose propeller detaches and leaves the plane behind.

David

1961 • 50 min

During the fertile early years of Drew Associates following the breakthrough of Primary, came this seldom-seen portrait of David Allen, a jazz trumpeter struggling in the Santa Monica drug rehabilitation center Synanon House. Pennebaker’s love of music drew him to David and the film prefigures later portraits such as Dont Look Back. He teamed with Life photographer William Ray and producer Gregory Shuker.

Switchin' Kitten

1961 • 9 min • United States of America

Tom becomes fearless when he feels like going into the eerie castle.

Danger! Men Working

1961 • 55 min

In Ulster, Major Trumbull is put in charge of overseeing the completion of a hospital on time. As the pressure increases, he replaces well-liked foreman Desmond Doherty with brash Scanling, which angers the men.

New Janko the Musician

1961 • 10 min • Poland

In the modern village of the future, everything is mechanized, but the dreams of the village musician remain the same. He wants to become an artist. Thanks to the fact that an Art Nouveau goddess gave him a helping hand, Janko Muzykant saves his life and escapes from the village on a Pegasus.

Morning on the Lièvre

1961 • 13 min • Canada

This short film offers a picturesque tour through the maple-wooded hills alongside Québec's Lièvre River in autumn to the accompaniment of acclaimed poet Archibald Lampman’s poem Morning on the Lièvre. Trees are ablaze with colour, and their splendor is reflected in the mirrored surfaces of the water, offering a glimpse of the landscape Lampman knew so well through the poet’s eyes and words. Lampman’s poem is read by broadcaster and poet George Whalley, with accompanying score by composer Eldon Rathburn.

Gabby's Diner

1961 • 6 min • United States of America

In a Florida swamp, starving Gabby Gator has a little diner. Things are slow; he is just waiting for a good meal to come along.

Daniel Boone: The Wilderness Road

1961 • 60 min • United States of America

Daniel and his friends have troubles with Indians on their way to Kentucky.