All Films

A Million in the Sach

1956 • 28 min • Soviet Union

The Butterfly and the Candle Flame

1956 • 12 min • Sweden

Episodes about life and death.

A City Decides

1956 • 27 min • United States of America

A City Decides chronicles the events that led to the integration of the St. Louis public schools in 1954. An Oscar-nominated short documentary from 1956.

Flight Into Danger

1956 • 52 min

When the pilot and co-pilot of a commercial flight become ill from food poisoning, a passenger who once flew in WW2 must take the controls and try to safely land the aircraft.

The Bear Patrol

1956 • 48 min • Norway

High summer, and eight scouts are on a hike when they discover a hidden motorbike. The bike is hidden by two post office robbers. They leave the find, but the robbers take one a hostage.

Girl in the Jungle

1956 • 10 min • Soviet Union

One day, while walking through the jungle, the Girl saw in a cage a Tiger caught by hunters. Having pity on him, she released the striped predator. Instead of gratitude, Tiger prepared to eat the Girl. In response to the complaints of the Girl, Tiger declared that there was no justice on earth. To resolve the dispute, they turned to the Parrot and the Palm .

VistaVision Visits Austria

1956 • 17 min

This short travelogue, visiting Austria, was shot in VistaVision.

Sentinels in the Air

1956 • 15 min • United States of America

This short shows the important role played by members of the U.S. Air Force Reserve in the USA's defense against enemy attack.

Letters from Vietnam

1956 • 59 min • Poland

A series of twelve "letters" from different parts of Vietnam in the days following the 1954 Geneva Conference, written in images and narrated in voice-over.

The Ugly Duckling

1956 • 19 min • Soviet Union

Soviet cartoon adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale.

The Black Woodcutter and the White Woodcutter

1956 • 16 min • Japan

On a winter's night a bear, a fox and a squirrel seek refuge from the cold. They are drawn by the hearths in the homes of two woodcutters. One man treats them poorly, while the other welcomes them.

Behind the Scenes with Fess Parker

1956 • 56 min

Fess Parker heads to the set of The Great Locomotive Chase in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Project XX: The Jazz Age

1956 • 52 min • United States of America

The period between the end of World War I and the crash of 1929 is known as the Jazz Age in America, a time of high-energy nightclubs, wild Prohibition evasion and an "America first" attitude. Narrated by Fred Allen. Note: Originally part of Project XX, this film was also distributed separately on 16mm for schools and libraries, qualifying it as a standalone documentary.

Hot Cars

1956 • 60 min • United States of America

Story of a salesman lured into the "hot car" racket.

A Conversation with Marcel Duchamp

1956 • 30 min

Filmed amidst the Arensberg collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where 35 works by Marcel Duchamp are gathered, this 1956 NBC interview features the artist talking with James Johnson Sweeney, former director of the Guggenheim Museum. Duchamp describes his transition away from Impressionism toward a Cubist, and then post-Cubist, approach, providing commentary while standing before Nude Descending a Staircase

Adventures of Murzilka

1956 • 20 min • Soviet Union

The fabulous journalist Murzilka, while on vacation, receives a telegram from the magazine's editor-in-chief in which Murzilka is instructed to make a photo portrait of a good boy or child inventor for the cover of the new issue.

My Child

1956 • 22 min • East Germany, Germany

The film is an appeal by the International Democratic Women's Federation against a new war, calling on all mothers of the world to protect their children.

The Web

1956 • 20 min • United Kingdom

A reconstruction of the Allied landing in occupied France during the Second World War.

Children Who Draw

1956 • 38 min • Japan

Children Who Draw explores the delicate chemistry of school children interacting in an art class through a constant juxtaposition of observational black-and-white portraits of the young children with lyrical passages shot in vivid color exploring their imaginative and expressive paintings. Experimenting with color as an intimate expression of the children’s inner worlds, a tool for deeper psychological investigation, Hani allows his camera to roam freely across the drawings, “de-framing’” and enagaging the artwork in a manner reminiscent of Alain Resnais.

L'éveil de l'amour

1956 • 59 min

The corpse of a man is discovered in Bercy. The murderer, his wife, acted out of fear of sexual diseases that her husband had contracted with a prostitute.

Védjük meg üzemeinket

1956 • 18 min • Hungary

The Wormwood Star

1956 • 10 min • United States of America

A portrait of artist, actress, poet and occultist Marjorie Cameron, it shows images of her paintings and recitations of her poems. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2006.

Old Friends

1956 • 21 min • Soviet Union

The losers the wooden football players overheard the bear's talk about the upcoming water polo championship and decided to win the main prize (the car). To participate in the match, the wooden players took paint and repainted themselves as a water polo players. They called their team "Black swans" and nobody recognized them. But since they trained little and behaved rudely during the match in the pool, they lost again

Nadya

1956 • 25 min • Soviet Union

A young woman named Nadya arrives in Moscow to enroll at a college. After failing her exams, she stays with a man named Vitaly. The two become an item, but their relationship sours when she gets pregnant.