All Films

Shadows of Tombstone

1953 • 54 min • United States of America

Rancher Rex Allen captures a bandit, Delgado, a henchman for crooked Sheriff Webb and saloon owner Mike, who run the town to suit themselves, but Rex forces the sheriff to jail Delgado. When Marge, who runs the town newspaper tells Rex she is afraid to attack the sheriff in print, Rex decides to run for sheriff. Webb and Mike frame Rex and his partner Slim on a murder charge and they are jailed.

Mr Beamish Goes South

1953 • 33 min • United Kingdom

An amateur detective investigates a string of acid bath murders while on holiday.

Diplodocus at Large

1953 • 2 min

This is the story of a dinosaur that attacks a small town.

Forest Republic

1953 • 17 min • Bulgaria

Brist

1953 • 17 min • Sweden

A short about a conductor and his small-change cash.

The Story of King Midas

1953 • 10 min • United States of America

A greedy King Midas is visited one day by a mysterious visitor who grants him the ability to turn all things he touches to gold. He learns his lesson when the food he tries to eat and his own daughter are turned to gold as well. The visitor reappears and offers him the opportunity to return to his old self, which he gladly does. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2004.

Rugged Bear

1953 • 6 min • United States of America

It's a peaceful day in a national forest...until hunting season begins at which point all the bears hide out in a cave but one bear, Humphrey, doesn't make it. He hides out in a cabin and, seeing hunter Donald Duck approaching, hides the bearskin rug in a trunk and takes its place. Masquerading as the rug tends to be an unpleasant experience for Humphrey as Donald opens nuts and bottles in his mouth and washes him in the washer/dryer among other things. Finally, when hunting season ends and Donald leaves, Humphrey is relieved but makes a startling discovery.

Notes on a True Story

1953 • 5 min • Italy

On the evening of March 11, 1950, Annabella Bracci, a 12-year-old girl, was brutally killed and thrown into a pit on the outskirts of Rome, near the village of Primavalle. A brief and poetic account of the events and their impact on an impoverished community. A handful of wild flowers and a painful catch in the voices.

The Girl on the Park Bench

1953 • 30 min

Trudy is incensed when her rent goes up after the city relaxes rent control. She marches down to the mayor's office and threatens to make his name mud if he doesn't reinstate the controls. He doesn't, so she calls some reporters and sets up housekeeping in the city park.

I Am a Truck

1953 • 18 min • South Korea

Worldy renowned for his masterpiece The Housemaid (1960), Kim Ki-young debuts with his first short film I Am a Truck (1953), which was sponsored by UN and made a year after the armistice of the Korean War. This film is a fascinating glimpse into the mind of a soon-to-be powerful auteur and influential filmmaker in the post-war Korean cinema, if not the whole history of Korean cinema.

There Auto Be a Law

1953 • 7 min • United States of America

This documentary-style cartoon tells of the development of the automobile in America and the comical effects of cars, traffic, and road design on various kinds of people.

Magic Bird

1953 • 19 min • Soviet Union

Folktale about knitting craftswoman Natalya and the challenge for her between the rich and lazy young man and the skillful commoner.

Prowlers of the Everglades

1953 • 32 min • United States of America

Part of the "True-Life Adventure Series"; Disney filmmakers take their cameras to Florida, not to document the swamps that would become Walt Disney World, but to capture the lives of creatures in the everglades. Focusing primarily on alligators, we also see the behavior of animals such as snakebirds, raccoons, and even otters who like to "play" with the alligators.

To Kill a Child

1953 • 10 min • Sweden

In a Swedish village, situated in a rural idyll, a father, mother and little daughter are preparing breakfast on a Sunday morning. The family is looking forward to the boat trip that is to follow. The little girl's thoughts are already completely on the water. But there is no sugar in the house, so the mother sends her little daughter to the neighbor across the street to quickly get some. Two villages further on, a young man is filling up his car with gas so that he can drive to the Baltic Sea with his girlfriend. In their convertible, the young people feel blithe and free on the country road and race towards the village where the little girl is just crossing the street with the sugar to return home.

Victory over Annapurna

1953 • 56 min • France

In 1950, a French expedition led by Maurice Herzog went to central Nepal to conquer the highest peak (8,091 meters): Annapurna. The film is not only made of what we see, but even more of what we don't see. Its imperfections are the negative imprint of the adventure. Memory is the most faithful of films.

Booty and the Beast

1953 • 16 min • United States of America

The stooges do a good turn and help a stranger open a safe in what they think is the man's house. Actually the man is a crook and the boys were unwitting accomplices to a robbery. Once they realize what's happened, the stooges go after the bad guy and who's left on the train to Los Vegas. The boys trap the villain and recover the booty.

Savage Frontier

1953 • 54 min • United States of America

Sam is a parolee who has paid for his dirty deeds. Now determined to go straight and help take care of his hot headed brother and devoted sister, he becomes set upon by both the law, represented by Federal Marshall Rocky Lane, and by his former outlaw buddies led by the notorious William Oakes.

Belle Boys

1953 • 6 min • United States of America

Woody Woodpecker and Buzz Buzzard are hotel bellhops in this Walter Lantz Technicolor Cartune (production number 8330.) The are admiring Ga-Ga Gazoon, glamorous French actress, in a fan magazine, when the desk informs them she is about to arrive at the hotel. Woody and Buzz compete (with dirty tricks) to serve her.

Blind Date

1953 • 6 min • United States of America

Heckle and Jeckle read in the newspaper about a reward offered by a millionaire for the finder of his childhood sweetheart. Since they have a storehouse filled with any kind of costume, they decide to collect the money by convincing the millionaire that Jackle is his lost love, so Jeckle shows up disguised as a woman---or female of whatever species applied. JUst as Jeckle has about convinced the millionaire that he is a she and his long-lost sweetheart, a slew of impostors walk in with the same claim.

Southern Fried Rabbit

1953 • 6 min • United States of America

Bugs Bunny attempts to shake off Yosemite Sam (here, cast as a Civil War-era colonel), who is preventing him from crossing the Mason-Dixon Line.

Study III

1953 • 5 min • Sweden

In this preliminary study for Study IV “Liberation” a man hauls his alter ego through various spaces. The scene is reminiscent of Luis Buñuel’s “An Andalusian Dog”, where the man drags along a piano, two priests, and two dead donkeys. Weiss was not happy with this first, more personal version. He gave up the attempt to re-edit it.

Boos and Saddles

1953 • 6 min • United States of America

Back in the Old West, Casper the Friendly Ghost meets a little boy who calls himself Billy the Kid.

Hot Noon or 12 O'Clock for Sure

1953 • 7 min • United States of America

Woody Woodpecker is the small town sheriff who must face the feared gunslinger Buzz Buzzard.

Johannesburg: 'City of Gold'

1953 • 8 min • United States of America

This Traveltalk series short discusses how Johannesburg began as a farming community, but with the discovery of gold in the area, the city embraced mining as its primary industry. Native workers came to the area to train to be miners, and even after their work in the mines ended, many decided to remain in Johannesburg. The natives' music and dance are highlights.