All Films

Following the Steps of Knightly Fathers

1940 • 9 min • Yugoslavia

The Yugoslavian Royal Army's review at the Banjica neighborhood of Belgrade in 1940.

Bullets for Rustlers

1940 • 58 min • United States of America

Steve Beaumont, an operative for the Cattleman's Protective Association, is assigned the difficult task of breaking up a murderous gang of rustlers led by Ed Brock and Strang. He takes Sheriff Webb, Judge Baxter, and rancher Ann Houston into his confidence, and works his way into the rustler stronghold and confidence by "turning rustler" himself.

Matjan Whispered

1940 • 60 min • Indonesia

Follows two men who are raised as brothers and compete for the love of the same woman.

Il Teatro Delle Meraviglie - Documentario Di Propaganda N. 3

1940 • 8 min

In a theatre in Rome, Aldo Fabrizi entertains an audience with a series of anti-English anecdotes and jokes based on an unpleasant experience with two British tourists when he was a poor cabman. This small propaganda film by Cines is part of a triptych commissioned by the Fascist government on the eve of its declaration of war with England and was never distributed. It is an extraordinary document because it was Fabrizi’s first screen appearance – although 1942 is the year associated with his debut in Avanti c’è posto… by Mario Bonnard, also produced by Giuseppe Amato for Cines – and was a precursor of his unforgettable cabman role three years later in L’ultima carrozzella (The Last Wagon) by Mario Mattòli, which Fabrizi himself wrote with Federico Fellini.

Way Back When a Nag Was Only a Horse

1940 • 6 min • United States of America

A comic look at prehistoric life.

Auto-Lite on Parade

1940 • 23 min • United States of America

Tour of an auto parts and accessories factory climaxing with a stop-motion product parade.

Vaudeville Deluxe

1940 • 12 min

In Vaudeville Deluxe, Cornell assembles footage of performers, like a man who balances in his mouth a frame that supports a seated woman. (Release date is approximately 1940s.)

Wots All th' Shootin' fer

1940 • 6 min • United States of America

The cats of two feuding hillbilly families make for a Romeo and Julliet love affair. the gun play mounts in fury until they realize the two have kittens, and quarrel ends.

Children from Overseas

1940 • 10 min • Canada

A WWII film about children evacuated from Britain and sent to Canada for their safety. The film begins in England with children seeking shelter as anti-aircraft guns roar outside. On their arrival in Canada, they are thrilled by the brightly lit cities, powerful Canadian trains, hot dogs and ice cream. They find, too, that instead of becoming Mounties or cowboys, they have to go to school. The closing sequence shows them learning to ski and skate and preparing for Christmas in their new homes.

Private lives

1940 • 28 min

Private Lives, a play by Noël Coward, starring Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier

What's For Dinner

1940 • 9 min • United Kingdom

The challenge of what to feed her family weighs on the mind of hard-pressed Mrs Bond in this surreal wartime film made for the Ministry of Food.

The Fulla Bluff Man

1940 • 6 min • United States of America

A persistent door-to-door salesman tries to sell his wares in a gated community that doesn't allow peddlers. He makes a killing selling clubs to a bunch of battling street brawlers.

The Thirteenth Instant

1940 • 17 min • United Kingdom

One fateful Friday 13th, a man rubs a gold ring and turns into a chimpanzee...so he has a look around Dublin and Chessington Zoos.

Pindi Events

1940 • 12 min • United Kingdom

Life in the bustling Punjabi city of Rawalpindi before partition.

Spook Sport

1940 • 8 min • United States of America

It's midnight in a graveyard. The principal characters are spooks, ghosts, bats, bells, and, at the end, the sun. As midnight strikes, 12 spooks appear, then two ghosts. They move to the music's rhythm. Against the black night, they are blue and yellow. Bats appear as does a xylophone of bones. Mist rises, spooks swirl. A bell tolls. The sky turns light blue, the ghosts' dance slows. Then black night returns bringing intimations of frenzy. Bones play snare drums; spooks peek out of square graves. Scary faces appear. Frenetic movement takes over. A rooster crows and all return to earth as the sun's light appears.

Granite Hotel

1940 • 6 min • United States of America

It's just another day at the Granite Hotel.

Swing Social

1940 • 8 min • United States of America

The Deacon is on his way to church in the Deep South and sees a brother from the congregation setting out to do some Sunday fishing. The preacher advises the fisherman that he will not be catching any fish on the Sabbath, as the fish are having their own underwater camp-meeting.

The Chewin' Bruin

1940 • 7 min • United States of America

A bear hunter tells Porky the tale of a hunt 30 years ago: a bear got a taste of his chewing tobacco and chased him down to get it; the hunter took the bear on with his bare hands rather than lose the tobacco. Or at least, that's the way he told the story.

The Curse of the Swastika

1940 • 45 min

An illustration of the insidious rise of the Nazi Party from its post World War One origins through Adolf Hitler’s conniving to become the leader of the party and eventual dictator of his self-styled Third Reich.

Happy Holidays

1940 • 7 min • United States of America

A small child pulls the pages off a calendar, one for each month, revealing a short skit on a holiday for that month

The Dandy Lion

1940 • 6 min • United States of America

An American Indian girl disguises a friendly mountain lion as a dog in order to keep him as a pet.

The Trouble with Husbands

1940 • 11 min • United States of America

Benchley, in his own unique way, starts to drive his wife crazy. First he waits until just as she is serving dinner before he goes to wash his hands and shave. Then she sends him to the store for some butter, and he comes back with everything - except butter. Finally, he decides to install a small shelf on the wall - and makes a major production out of it.

Adolf's Busy Day

1940 • 8 min • United Kingdom

Lance White portrays the Fuhrer as a short-tempered incompetent in his slapstick Adolf's Busy Day.

Springtime in the Rock Age

1940 • 6 min

Oversize garden pests overcome the springtime urge to garden. The story opens in the spring. A caveman starts working in his garden, where a humongous locust comes and eats his goods. After going inside, he finds another huge (Stone Age-sized) bug at the table eating. The caveman then makes his own meal, only to be infested at his door by bees! It's caveman vs. big bugs in this hilarious entry, loaded with great gags plus caricatures of Groucho and Harpo Marx.