All Films

Reverón

1952 • 23 min • Venezuela

Directed by Margot Benacerraf, Reverón is a poetic and visually striking documentary that delves into the life and artistic vision of Venezuelan painter Armando Reverón. Set in the sun-drenched coastal landscape of Macuto, where the artist lived in near isolation, the film captures his eccentric lifestyle and unique creative process. Through evocative imagery and a contemplative narrative, Reverón explores his deep connection to nature, his experiments with light and texture, and his profound artistic genius. This seminal work stands as a tribute to one of Venezuela’s most influential painters and a landmark in Latin American documentary filmmaking.

The Little Wise Quacker

1952 • 7 min

Barney Bear goes duck hunting, but is forbidden by the rule book to shoot the one duck available: a duck that is asleep.

Oily Hare

1952 • 7 min • United States of America

A Texas oilman fights Bugs over property rights to his rabbit hole.

Latuko

1952 • 56 min • United States of America

In 1950, Edgar Monsanto Queeny returned from equatorial Sudan with 80,000 feet of exposed footage. From this mass of images, Queeny, the chairman of the Monsanto Chemical company, fashioned a fifty-minute color film about the "savage" Latuko tribe.

Swift Water

1952 • 16 min • United Kingdom

Terry from London, on holiday in Devonshire, is introduced to sailing and bird watching on the River Dart.

Houen Zo!

1952 • 20 min • Netherlands

Ode on the resilience of Rotterdam, where people are working hard on the reconstruction of the city that was destroyed in the war. Winner of the prize for best realistic film at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival.

Towards the Future

1952 • 38 min • Sweden

A politically motivated dramatic short film from Social Democrats ahead of the 1952 elections.

Lynmouth - A One Time Beauty Spot

1952 • 9 min • United Kingdom

A holidaying family captures the picturesque Devon coastal village of Lynmouth, both before and after a tragic flood event.

Flight to the Future ...to the World of Plastics

1952 • 39 min • United States of America

Marge, a young flight attendant, is offered the chance to work a chartered flight her boyfriend Bill is piloting. On the trip are four members of a company engaged in the manufacturing of various plastics - Messrs. Arnold, Duncan, Harmon, and Casey. Mr. Arnold engages Marge in conversation about many of the ways plastics are used in modern life. Then Mr. Duncan tells her about more uses of plastics. Then Mr. Casey tells her about further uses of plastics. Then Mr. Harmon tells Marge about additional uses of plastics.

Cent ans de gloire

1952 • 52 min • France

A fictionalized military documentary.

Midsommar med Snoddas

1952 • 9 min • Sweden

Snoddas performs at a midsummer gathering.

Las manos del hombre

1952 • 25 min • Puerto Rico

Educational documentary which extols the different forms of labor, and its importance to Puerto Rico’s progress.

Emergency Ward

1952 • 16 min • United States of America

Shot in Manhattan’s St. Vincent Hospital, creating what would be the antecedent of the direct cinema (or cinema verité) movement of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Sabotage

1952 • 49 min

With the support of dramatic staging, a narrative teaches about sabotage and espionage directed at Sweden.

Bop Scotch

1952 • 3 min • United States of America

An early film by Jordan Belson from 1952. "[Belson's] early films animated real objects (pavements in Bop Scotch [1952]) and scroll paintings prepared like film strips with successive images (Mandala [1953]). Belson subsequently withdrew these films from circulation as imperfect and primitive, but they already reflect his refined plastic sensibility, fine color sense, and superb sense of dynamic structure. They also foreshadow his more accomplished expressions of mystical concepts, Bop Scotch seeming to reveal a hidden soul and life-force in "inanimate" objects."

A Phantasy

1952 • 8 min • Canada

An animated film drawn entirely in pastels. Various fantastical plant-like things "grow" from the ground, eventually launching five spheres. The spheres drift in space while changing shapes and come back down to another setting, which eventually becomes more fantastical and symbolic than the opening one. The soundtrack has a jazz slant, with an ensemble of four saxophones and synthetic sound (i.e. sound created by drawing directly on the soundtrack).

Cracked Quack

1952 • 7 min • United States of America

Daffy Duck takes shelter from a blizzard by sneaking into a cozy home owned by Porky Pig. Daffy tries to secretly mooch off of Porky for an entire winter, but Porky's dog realizes that Daffy isn't the stuffed ornament he pretends to be and keeps trying to alert Porky to Daffy's ruse.

Atomic Energy Can Be A Blessing

1952 • 28 min • United States of America

For most of us, including actor Fred MacMurray who presents the film, the noun atom and the adjective atomic are synonymous with devastation, period. Of course, there was Hiroshima and Nagasaki but atomic energy is also - at least according to Father James Keller, who produced the documentary - "a Gift from God". For atomic power can also (and should only) be beneficial for mankind. In 1952, it is already effective in various fields, such as industry, agriculture and medicine. Let the atom be a blessing instead of a curse.

Sport Competition in the Forest

1952 • 10 min • Hungary

Fable about woodland creatures holding a competitive sporting event. However, when the wolf and fox kidnap the napping pig, everyone bands together to boil the kidnappers alive.

Uncle Cankle and the Dancing Ankle

1952 • 12 min • Sudan

A film following the elderly Cankle Chiyembekezo, a once skilled dancer suffering from undiagnosed arthritis. Unable to cope with his rapid deterioration, Cankle shuts himself off from the world. The majority of the film was destroyed in a bombing raid during the Sudanese civil war, only 12 minutes of footage remain.

The Magic Shelf

1952 • 22 min

A stage magician learns how to perform some real magic... with Campbell's Soup.

The Dike Builders

1952 • 22 min • Netherlands

Nature Girls

1952 • 8 min

Two naturist girls spend an afternoon in the sun.

Dead City

1952 • 17 min • Yugoslavia

A visit to the deserted city of Perast.