All Films

National Zoological Garden

1951 • 17 min • Chile

Report on the Santiago Zoo, located on San Cristóbal Hill. It is presented as a modern park, inaugurated in 1925. The focus then shifts to the zoo’s facilities and its main attractions, including the polar bear, seals, monkeys, and the beloved elephant Fresia.

An Eye for an Eye

1951 • 3 min • France

Mimiche feuds with his nameless unshaven nemesis.

Road of October

1951 • 28 min • Soviet Union

The film was made for the 100th anniversary of the creation of the railway in Russia.

A New Heart for Donna

1951 • 12 min • United States of America

...another short film for children about a young girl leading her friend to Christ by means of a “wordless book,” a 1950s evangelistic tool used in many conservative churches. A “wordless book” contained colored pages with no commentary, from black pages to show a person’s sinfulness, through the red blood pages of Jesus’s sacrifice, to a heart made whiter than snow, to the gold streets of heaven. It was used in evangelism to show and tell about the plan of salvation. - Terry Lindvall and Andrew Quicke, CELLULOID SERMONS: THE EMERGENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN FILM INDUSTRY 1930-1986

Alphabet Antics

1951 • 9 min • United States of America

Hommes Des Oasis

1951 • 28 min • France, Morocco

Men of the Oasis is a short film by Georges Régnier, shot in Morocco and presented in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 1951. From birth to death, the life of the oasis dweller is linked to that of the date palm, which he must plant, care for, and ensure is pollinated. Filmed in the Goulmina oasis, on the edge of the Tafillet region, this film tells the simple story of the life of Saïd, son of Ahmed.

't Schot is te Boord!

1951 • 19 min • Netherlands

Short impression of the work of fishermen on the Dogger bank.

Images pour Debussy

1951 • 22 min • France

This film illustrates Debussy's works "En bateau", "Arabesques", "Reflets dans l'eau" and "Arabesques en sol". As a visual counterpoint to the music it shows playful reflections, transparencies, and iridescence of water.

The Rainmakers

1951 • 28 min • France

Rain rituals with possession dances among the Songhay and Zarma of Simiri, Zermaganda, Niger. Dry Season: The village of Simiri; water carriers, the rainbow tree. Possession of the faithful making their way to the spirits' hut on the seventh day of the seventh month of the dry season. All of the inhabitants of the village go to the spirits' hut to celebrate the Yenendi, the festival of the rain. Preparation by the musicians: under the shelter, gourd drummers. The chief of the village, old Wadi Sorko, prepares his violin. Dance of the "spirit" horse (possession dance).

No. 7: Color Study

1951 • 15 min • United States of America

16 mm, color, silent, 5:25 or 15 min. "Optically printed Pythagoreanism in four movements supported on squares, circles, grillwork, and triangles with an interlude concerning an experiment."

What's Cooking?

1951 • 2 min

Mrs Cunliffe wins the North West Area Festival Fare cookery finals. Manchester

Amazone

1951 • 4 min

A compilation of archival material, Vedrès’s dreamlike short explores the multiple meanings of the word “Amazon,” particularly its etymological and cultural ties to femininity. –MoMA

Beginning Responsibility: Taking Care Of Things

1951 • 9 min • United States of America

Instructs children how to care for toys, clothing and other property; to have a definite place to keep belongings, and how to store and handle possessions properly.

Circus at the Zoo

1951 • 9 min

A chimpanzee with the voice of an old man describes the workings of a circus from his point of view.

Getting Ready Emotionally

1951 • 10 min

This was part of the “Are You Ready for Service?” series and was shown to high school boys to prepare them for being drafted into the military. “Get yourself ready to take your part in education for war,” the narrator says as the film addresses some of the biggest problems among young draftees: homesickness, taking orders, self-discipline and fear of combat.

Feeling Left Out

1951 • 11 min

Attempt to develop sympathy and understanding for the socially isolated by offering suggestions for overcoming this condition.

Getting Ready Morally

1951 • 11 min

Part of the “Are You Ready for Service?” series, this film was shown to high school boys at school or church youth groups. It illustrates how many drafted young men succumb to temptation after being “cut loose” from the moral standards of their family, church and community. Alcohol, gambling and venereal disease were big problems for the young, wide-eyed recruits who could be kept out of combat due to imprisonment or hospitalization.

The Farm They Won

1951 • 10 min • United States of America

A biographical look at the Powers family - reminiscent of the Joad family in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.

Museums For School Children

1951 • 18 min

Pictures the facilities and explains the educational value of children's museums in the United States. Shows Richard and a group of children as they visit the Brooklyn Children's Museum. They watch and operate mechanical displays, handle and pet animals on exhibit, and participate in projects such as movies, doll making, folk dancing, and photography.

Essais pendulaires

1951 • 2 min • France

Candidate for Murder

1951 • 6 min

Amateur film by Don Coleman, made in the '50s using an original script by Oswell Blakeston. Filmed at various locations in London. Not to be confused with another amateur production of the same script, made by one Sidney B. Shenker.

Hartlepool Charter 1951

1951 • 36 min

A promotional film produced by The Charter Film Group to celebrate the 750th anniversary of the granting of a Charter to Hartlepool by King John in 1201. The film documents services provided by Hartlepool Council such as housing, emergency services, transport, and leisure facilities. Footage includes material on the local industries shipbuilding, fishing and magnesium production in the Hartlepool area.

Little Iron Pillar the Boy

1951 • 17 min

On a highland with beautiful scenery, there lived some small animals. They had a good friend named Xiao Tie Zhu.

Sud

1951 • 14 min • France, Madagascar

Landscapes and ritual ceremonies of Madagascar: a circumcision, a Betsileo funeral, the life of the fishermen of the South, the song of the baobabs...