All Films

Quicker'n a Wink

1940 • 10 min • United States of America

In this Pete Smith Specialty short, Dr. Harold E. Edgerton demonstrates stroboscopic photography, which he helped develop. This process allows us to see in slow motion what happens during events that occur too fast to be seen by the naked eye. Examples shown here include a bullet in flight as it shatters a light bulb, the moment of impact when a kicker kicks a football, and the motion of a hummingbird's wings as it hovers.

Famous Movie Dogs

1940 • 10 min • United States of America

Well-known canine performers of the 1930s vie for a part in an upcoming movie.

Young Bill Hickok

1940 • 54 min

Bill Hickok, assisted by Calamity Jane, is after a foreign agent and his guerrilla band who are trying to take over some western territory just as the Civil War is coming to a close.

Girl in 313

1940 • 56 min • United States of America

A priceless necklace goes missing at a plush party. Police close in on the jewel thieves but is one cop getting too close to one of the crooks?

Mighty Hunters

1940 • 8 min • United States of America

Native American children play in the canyons of Arizona.

Christmas Under Fire

1940 • 10 min • United Kingdom

How Britain coped with a Christmas during the war.

Young Buffalo Bill

1940 • 59 min • United States of America

It's 1860 and the old Spanish land grants are being surveyed. Montez is after part of Don Regas' rancho and gets the surveyor to alter the boundary. But Don Regas still has the original grant written on a bandanna. Montez sends Indians after it but Bill Cody and Gabby fight them off and a wounded Gabby unknowingly ends up with the missing million dollar deed wrapped around his arm for a bandage.

One for the Book

1940 • 18 min • United States of America

In this entertaining short, famous literary figures step out of the pages of books after dark.

Salvage with a Smile

1940 • 6 min • United Kingdom

Wartime propaganda short in which a professor enlists the help of a dustman to explain the importance of saving paper, bones and metal to help the war effort.

The Ranger and the Lady

1940 • 52 min • United States of America

While Sam Houston in in the nation's capital trying to get Texas into the Union, his aide is trying to impose a self-serving tax on the use of the Santa Fe trail. The lady owner of a wagon train is using the trail, and a Texas Ranger comes to her assistance.

Married and in Love

1940 • 59 min • United States of America

Two married couples become engulfed in a storm of emotional fury when Doctor Leslie Yates runs into writer Doris Wilding, his old college flame, whom he has not seen in ten years. After reminiscing about their past, Doris and Leslie make a dinner date with their respective spouses. On the eve of the Yates's dinner party, Leslie's wife Helen brings home a magazine article written by Doris, which sparks Leslie's memory of his separation from her.

Goodbye, Mr. Germ

1940 • 14 min • United States of America

A doctor explains to his children the dangers of tuberculosis, what it is and how to prevent against contracting it.

Wild Horse Valley

1940 • 58 min • United States of America

Bob Evans' Arabian stallion is stolen and Bob, with his friend Shag Williams starts on the trail that takes them to the horse ranch owned by Kimball and his daughter Ann, where the stallion is running wild. Baker, the ranch's crooked foreman, is utilizing the stallion as a decoy and, with his henchmen, Raymer and Winton, corrals the mares that follow the stallion in a hidden corral, intending to sell them across the state line.

Times Square Animation

1940 • 18 min • United States of America

Otto Messmer [Felix The Cat] animation that was originally shown as animated lights in Times Square.

Blame It on Love

1940 • 47 min • United States of America

A short film put out by the Hotpoint Company to demonstrate their Electric Ranges.

Cavalcade of the Academy Awards

1940 • 17 min • United States of America

This 1940 presentation features highlights of earlier (1928 onward) Oscar ceremonies including Shirley Temple and Walt Disney, plus acceptance speeches for films released in 1939 with recipients and presenters including Vivien Leigh, Judy Garland, Hattie McDaniel, Fay Bainter, Mickey Rooney, Thomas Mitchell, Sinclair Lewis, and more, with host Bob Hope.

Calling Dr. Porky

1940 • 7 min • United States of America

A dog thinks he is being chased by small pink elephants, and goes to the hospital. While Porky is working on medication, the pink elephants find him and cause havoc. Porky finally gives him some medication, that only works temporarily, but then sees them again. He rushes back in and is once again ill.

Donald's Vacation

1940 • 8 min • United States of America

Donald takes a kayak trip. When he gets to his campsite, he unloads the kayak, fights with his folding chair, and goes to sleep. Meanwhile, the chipmunks of the forest (precursors of Chip 'n Dale), attracted by his squawking, make off with the huge pile of food he carelessly unloaded. They get the attention of a bear, who Donald is soon battling.

Teddy the Rough Rider

1940 • 19 min • United States of America

This short follows the political career of Theodore Roosevelt, beginning in 1895, when he was appointed police commissioner of New York City. In 1897 he was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy. His charge up San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War in 1898 is re-created. He becomes vice president in March 1901 and assumes the presidency when William McKinley is assassinated six months later. According to the narrator, Roosevelt refused to be beholden to political bosses, doing what he believed to be right for the American people.

The Dipsy Doodler

1940 • 11 min • United States of America

A concert film

Good Bad Boys

1940 • 10 min • United States of America

Alfalfa and the gang decide to turn to a life of crime, but Spanky tries to trick them with a fake burglary.

Bedtime for Sniffles

1940 • 8 min • United States of America

Christmas Eve, and Sniffles is determined to stay awake to see Santa. Not an easy task.

The Tulsa Kid

1940 • 57 min

A protegee of notorious outlaw Montana (Beery), young Tom Benton decides to stay on the good side of the Law upon reaching maturity. Montana, however, has no such inclination to reform, the result being a climactic gun duel between the ageing gunman and his former pupil.

Rhythm of the Rio Grande

1940 • 53 min • United States of America

Tex and Shorty ride into Cinco Valley, a gold rich area terrorized by marauders ostensibly lead by one Pablo. Tex, however, recognizes Blackie, whose boss is Bannister, an American. Suspecting that Bannister and his henchmen are trying to drive the settlers off their potentially valuable land by posing as Mexican banditos, Tex convinces Pablo to help him set a trap for the marauders.