All Films

South African Scenes

1950 • 10 min

Amateur film of scenes in South Africa. Opens on a house (residency), then landscape views from a train, city buildings and streets (possibly Durban), agricultural workers with oxen ploughing a field, group riding on a donkey cart, sunset, views of the Union Buildings at Pretoria, industrial scenes, desert landscapes, coastal scenes, ends on birds flying over the sea.

Abstractions

1950 • 11 min • United States of America

Denver Sutton's hand-painted films. This rarely seen cluster of four (?) films dates from 1949 - 1950.

Reykjanes, Austurland, Norðurland

1950 • 21 min • Denmark, Iceland

The photographer Hannes Pálsson made this documentary when he was travelling in south-west, north and east Iceland.

Brücken über Europa

1950 • 15 min • Germany

On Stage!

1950 • 30 min • Canada

A film aimed at helping amateur theatre groups stage plays. There are practical tips on casting, rehearsing, sets, and costumes.

The Debate Continues

1950 • 30 min • United Kingdom

This historic film documents the restoration of the House of Commons, which was severely damaged by a bombing raid in May 1941. It also commemorates the secret location, in nearby Church House, where MPs met following the destruction of the Commons chamber. The film features Sir Winston Churchill giving a lighthearted commemorative speech to mark the occasion of the reopening of the restored House of Commons. There is also rare footage of King George VI delivering an address to both House of Parliament in Westminster Hall - the only monarch to have done so since Charles I. Many of the skills employed to restore the chamber to its original condition are also featured in sequences showing the craftsmen at work.

Chicago Light-Motion Study

1950 • 3 min • Denmark

Experimental 16 mm black/white film from Chicago from 1950 by Danish photographer Keld Helmer-Petersen (1920-2013).

Marian Congress Ottawa June 1947

1950 • 20 min

On a brilliant day in June 1947, all the thoughts and wishes of Catholicism converged on the Canadian capital where a Marian Congress was inaugurated, the memory of which remains indelible. Of all the ceremonies of this congress, the Marian procession is one of the most touching. Offered to the veneration of the crowd that throngs along her journey, Mary is represented there at different times of her life.

Art and Life in Italy

1950 • 10 min • United States of America

Shows how classical Rome, the church, and the life and times of the people have influenced Italian artists. The Gates of Paradise by Ghiberti, the Arena Chapel in Padua. Giotto's frescoes, and other historic Italian monuments and works of art are pictured. For junior and senior high school, college, and adult groups.

Highway to Hawaii

1950 • 28 min • United States of America

A tourist video of the visit to Hawaii, promoted by United Airlines.

Círio de Nazaré

1950 • 2 min • Brazil

Cab Calloway Home Movie #4

1950 • 16 min • United States of America

A compilation reel of 16mm home movies filmed by Cab Calloway during a tour of South America, with both Kodachrome and black-and-white film edge codes indicating years of 1950 and 1955.

Experiment With Bricks

1950 • 1 min • Denmark

The film works with a combinatorics of a limited set of elements: blocks shot perpendicularly from above, illuminated from two sides and moved in stop motion on squared paper. (DFI)

The Fly

1950 • 16 min • Yugoslavia

Short feature film shot in 1950 and directed by Branko Ćelović. It is an adaptation of the theater play of the same name by Branislav Nušić. In the film, the famous Serbian actor Mija Aleksić appears in his debut role as the scribe.

Hell Is A Place Called Hollywood

1950 • 21 min • United States of America

A beauty queen called Sheila Anderson wins a part in a Hollywood motion picture. The film turns out to be a cheap nudie film, she is then shunned by the theatrical community and ends up working as a nude model. Soon she is old news and struggles to get work, resulting in abject poverty.

Un reportaje gráfico del Estado de Oaxaca

1950 • 11 min

Ai-Ye

1950 • 24 min • United States of America

The elements of Ai-Ye (Mankind), by the noted etcher & engraver Ian Hugo, consist of footage shot in various parts of the South American Coast. From this rich and ageless material he has created a beautiful, moving allegory of Man's universal story through the milleniums. This vivid, experimental documentary film has a sound accompaniment of drums and native chants improvised by Osbourne Smith.

Why Korea?

1950 • 30 min • United States of America

This film examines the reasons why the United States decided to engage in the Korean War. Scenes describe Russia's attempt to gain power following World War II (Korea included), and its refusal to allow free elections in the country. Footage shows Soviet-backed North Korean troops' movement into South Korea on June 25, 1950, the United Nations' response, and the armed struggle against both North Korean and later Chinese troops led by General Douglas MacArthur. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation in 2005.

Buying Food

1950 • 11 min

An educational short offering practical guidance on smart grocery shopping, with a focus on making sense of food labeling and grading systems.

Legato

1950 • 2 min

Abstract experimental film set to music.

Reality A

1950 • 6 min

1950 Danish short

O Desterrado - Vida e Obra de Soares dos Reis

1950 • 28 min • Portugal

Teaser Girl in High Heels

1950 • 8 min • United States of America

A short performance by Bettie Page.

Jungle Stampede

1950 • 60 min

While most of the footage is indeed authentic and the safari journey and the reason is real, this is far from being qualified as a documentary since it is filled with stock-footage and staged-incidents to add to the film moments of suspense and/or peril that were not part of the actual expedition, i.e., the camera shows a wild beast stalking the safari with the narrator explaining that the man is unaware that he is being stalked until the animal jumps and kills him. Obvious question would be why didn't the cameraman warn him? The film tells the story of two explorers, George Breakston and Yorke Coplen, setting out to make a photographic record of animal life, and the lives of the tribes they encounter along the way. It is broken up into three segments---the journey from Nairobi to the Land of the Pgymies; the trip from there to the territory of the Masai tribe; and the Masai tribe itself.