All Films

Red River Shore

1953 • 54 min • United States of America

When an oil discovery is reported at Paxton, Oklahoma, Marshal Rex Allen immediately suspects that where there is oil, there is trouble. Rex arrives just as a band of desperadoes stage a bank hold-up and escape with $25,000 which ranchers have invested in prospective oil drillings.

The New Neighbor

1953 • 7 min • United States of America

Donald moves into a new home, and discovers his new neighbor is a slob, a mooch, and has a dog that comes crashing through the fence and digging in Donald's garden. Eventually it escalates into a full-scale war, with crowds cheering and TV coverage.

The Story of William Tell

1953 • 30 min • Italy, United Kingdom

A short that follows the legend of Wilhelm Gorkeit of Tellikon (William Tell), the legendary archer and hero from Switzerland.

The Unexpected Party

1953 • 23 min • France

This musical comedy produced in 1953 for the General Government of Algeria, features the comic trio composed of Rouiched, Mohamed Touri and Sid Ali Fernandel, accompanied by the orchestra of the master of the Algiers Chaâbi El Hadj M'hamed El Anka, the singer Fadhéla Dziria, Mustapha Skandrani on the piano. Some scenes were filmed at the Summer Palace (the current Palace of the Algerian Presidency, called the People's Palace). André Zwobada, the director, will play an important role after the independence of Algeria in 1962, in the production and preservation of the first Algerian newsreels.

Secret of Outlaw Flats

1953 • 55 min • United States of America

Two episodes from the "Wild Bill Hickok" TV series edited together and released as a feature.

Son Of The Renegade

1953 • 56 min • United States of America

Red River Johnny gathers his friends and returns to claim the heritage of his father who was outlawed many years ago by the sheriff...

Det var dans bort i vägen

1953 • 13 min • Sweden

Film adaptation of a Gustav Fröding poem.

The Drayton Case

1953 • 26 min • United Kingdom

During the early years of World War II, a bomb from a German airplane uncovers the corpse of a strangled woman.

The Assignation

1953 • 8 min • United States of America

Long considered lost, The Assignation was Curtis Harrington's first color film. It was shot in Venice, Italy, and follows a masked figure through the labyrinthine canals of the city, building to a spectacular climax. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2006.

Ghost-Cat of Arima Palace

1953 • 49 min • Japan

Okoyo, the mistress of Lord Arima, fears that she is being replaced by a younger woman named Otaki. In a fit of jealousy, she kills the younger girl. The dead woman's cat licks her blood and becomes a demon, seeking revenge on Okoyo

Working for Peanuts

1953 • 7 min • United States of America

Chip 'n Dale live next door to a zoo and spot the elephant's stash of peanuts. They go after them, but both the elephant and his keeper, Donald, are too clever. Then the boys realized the visitors throw peanuts, so they put on a song-and-dance act. Then they paint themselves white and pose as albino chipmunks.

Cobs and Robbers

1953 • 6 min • United States of America

In this Barney Bear animated short, Barney is plagued by crows.

The Unicorn in the Garden

1953 • 7 min • United States of America

Based on James Thurber's short-story about a mild, henpecked man who, while preparing his breakfast, looks out the window and sees a unicorn eating flowers in the garden. He rushes upstairs to inform his domineering wife, and she accuses him of being crazy and threatens to have him put away. He persists that he did see a unicorn in the garden, and she phones for the authorities to come take him away. But when they arrive, with strait-jackets, they find the wife rambling and raving about seeing the unicorn, and promptly take her away.

Wee-Willie Wildcat

1953 • 6 min • United States of America

Barney, outraged by his neighbor William Wildcat spanking his son, borrows the lad to try applying child psychology. But the boy's grasp of psychology (and explosives) is much better than Barney's.

Fowl Weather

1953 • 7 min • United States of America

Granny is Tweety Bird's mistress on a farm. She assigns a bulldog named Hector to take care of Tweety while she's away. Sylvester Cat disguises himself as a scarecrow to sneak up on Tweety. Tweety runs into a chicken coop and is protected by a mother hen and an aggressive rooster. Hector, seeing that Tweety is gone and fearing Granny's wrath, paints Sylvester yellow and puts him in Tweety's cage to fool Granny. Tweety returns and makes like a cat since turnabout is fair play.

Melody

1953 • 10 min • United States of America

An owl teaches his class full of birds about melody. It's all around in nature. Only birds and man can sing; man "sings" even when he speaks. We see a quick survey of the stages of life, as captured by songs: the alphabet song for primary school, Here Comes the Bride, The Old Gray Mare, etc. Some inspirations for song are outlined in song: love, sailing, trains, the West, motherhood, etc., but "we never sing about brains." Finally, an example of how a simple melody can be expanded into a symphony: an elaborate version of the simple tune that opened the lesson

Bread

1953 • 7 min • United States of America

Presented without voiceover, various kinds of breads are displayed and broken in a joyous celebration of starch, seed and salt.

Capriccio Italien

1953 • 10 min • United States of America

Johnny Green conducts the MGM Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Tchaikovsky's "Capriccio Italien".

Loose Loot

1953 • 16 min • United States of America

The stooges are willed a lot of dough from a rich uncle, but the executor of the estate, Icabob Slipp, is a crook who absconds with the money. The stooges trail him to a a theater where they engage in a wild chase and ultimately recover their inheritance.

O Dreamland

1953 • 13 min • United Kingdom

Lindsay Anderson's early documentary film of a British amusement park, the irony of its manufactured fun on full display.

Hysterical History

1953 • 7 min • United States of America

An amusing look at American history, starting with Columbus' discovery of America, and touching on the formation of the original thirteen states, the Gold Rush, and several other important events. The cartoon ends with the song Yankee Doodle Boy, presented as a singalong.

Malin Goes Home

1953 • 55 min • Sweden

Old lady Malin Klintbom is being promised a cosy and comfortably life at the residential home she is invited to visit. However, she finds the home impossible to live at and flies in panic to her cabin.

The Simple Things

1953 • 7 min • United States of America

Mickey and Pluto go fishing. Pluto has a run-in with a clam, who eventually lodges in Pluto's mouth; Mickey thinks the clam is Pluto's tongue and can't understand why Pluto keeps begging for more food. After they get rid of the clam, Mickey's attempts to use his minnows as bait are thwarted by a hungry seagull; he brings his friends, and they chase our heroes away.

Bubble Trouble

1953 • 17 min • United States of America

The stooges are pharmacists who invent a fountain of youth formula that can turn old people young. They turn an old lady into a beautiful young woman, but when her husband takes the formula it turns him into a gorilla.