All Films

Weather Wizards

1939 • 10 min • United States of America

Modern meteorology and a hard-working government weather team put their science and organization to work as a cold front moves from Alaska toward the citrus groves of Southern California. First, the scientists predict the storm's course, giving several days' warning to farmers and growers. The growers, typified by the Morgan family, prepare the oil-burning pots throughout their grove. Then, as the temperature dips below freezing, they light the pots. The cold snap continues as oil-supplies dwindle; the smoky air slows traffic, including trucks bringing more oil. The scientists strive to predict how long freezing temperatures will last: can the Morgans hold out?

Three Magic Words

1939 • 12 min • United States of America

Short film from the H.L. Handy company about pork.

Wotta Nitemare

1939 • 7 min • United States of America

Popeye is having a dream. In it, Bluto interupts his and Olive's flirtations with one another and keeps having the upper hand.

Never Sock a Baby

1939 • 6 min • United States of America

Popeye spanks Swee'Pea and sends him to bed without supper. He wrestles with his conscience over this, while Swee'Pea packs a bundle and runs away from home.

Believe It or Else

1939 • 8 min • United States of America

In this Ripley's Believe It or Not! parody, some of the supposed curiosities we are shown are a man who daily drinks fifty quarts of milk, the world's loudest hog caller, a human basketball, a new giant telescope showing life on Mars, and a man who saws people in half.

Jengibre contra Dinamita

1939 • 13 min • Mexico

He shows us a poor Cantinflas like a rat that walks with a sad hatter and ends up in a bar where he will have a clash with the dangerous bandit "Ojo Tapado" (Covered Eye).

A Commandant of Birds Island

1939 • 55 min • Soviet Union

A few very hard days from the life of Kositsyn - the sailor from the coast guard ship.

Law of the Wolf

1939 • 55 min

When a man is wrongly accused of murder, a dog helps clear his name.

Seeing Red

1939 • 19 min • United States of America

When he is fired from his job, Red puts a hex on his boss. That evening, the boss goes to a nightclub and discovers that the hex worked.

Torchy Blane... Playing with Dynamite

1939 • 59 min • United States of America

Torchy Blane and Steve McBride try to nab a gangster by tracking his moll.

Lining the Blues

1939 • 3 min • Canada

An experimental animation film in which the images were hand-drawn directly onto clear film by Guy Glover. The colourful moving forms capture the spirit of Andy's Blues, played by pianist Joe Sullivan. Originally made in 1939, the film was restored in 1984.

Death Rides the Range

1939 • 58 min • United States of America

A wounded archaeologist crawls into the camp of three kindhearted cowboys. When the cowboys bring him to a nearby trading post, he's murdered after he lets slip a secret about a hidden cave. Investigating his death, Ken and his friends encounter a land dispute between a pair of neighboring ranches, an arrogant German baron and a mysterious shack that houses a great secret.

A Day on Treasure Island

1939 • 10 min • United States of America

This Traveltalks entry visits the Golden Gate International Exposition. Sponsored by 11 western states of the United States and 28 foreign countries, this "world's Fair of the West" was built on Treasure Island, a man-made island in San Francisco Bay. Viewers see the exteriors of many exhibition halls and the pavilions of foreign nations. The art, sculpture, and flowers on display are also featured.

Spoilers of the Range

1939 • 57 min • United States of America

Hero Jeff Strong (Starrett) comes to the rescue of a group of victimized ranchers. The villains are a gang of crooked gamblers, who demand a valuable dam as payment for a $50,000 debt. The ranchers hope to earn the money by getting their cattle to market on time, but head bad guy Cash Fenton (Kenneth MacDonald) and his flunkey Lobo (Dick Curtis) intend to prevent this.

Donald's Penguin

1939 • 8 min • United States of America

Admiral Byrd ships Donald a penguin from the South Pole. Donald is amused by it, until he thinks it has eaten his goldfish. It hasn't - yet - so Donald gets a fish from the fridge to make amends. When he comes back, though, he's got a reason to be upset with the penguin.

Ancient Egypt

1939 • 9 min • United States of America

This entry in the TravelTalks series visits the ancient Egypt. starting Valley of the Kings in a remote and desolate part of Egypt, the entrance to tomb of King Tut is shown, though the ts priceless treasure is now in the Cairo museum. A visit to Luxor and the ancient city of Thebes, which date to 1500 BC, follow with subsequent visits to Karnak. The film closes by noting that past and present are in harmony with the water wheel and village well still in wide use in the modern age.

The Scared Crows

1939 • 6 min • United States of America

Betty Boop and Pudgy, doing the spring planting, are plagued by crows.

Surgery

1939 • 39 min • Soviet Union

A short movie based on Anton Chekhov novels.

Porky's Hotel

1939 • 7 min • United States of America

Porky runs a small-town hotel. An old goat with gout checks in for a rest, but a talkative goose child will prevent him from getting it.

Little Brother Rat

1939 • 7 min • United States of America

Sniffles the mouse has to get an owl's egg for a scavenger hunt, but once he's gotten it, the egg hatches and draws the attention of the mouse-eating father owl.

The Devil's Daughter

1939 • 53 min • United States of America

Sylvia Walton returns from Harlem to take over a Jamaican plantation from her vindictive half-sister, amid the growing sound of drums.

Slapsie Maxie's

1939 • 17 min • United States of America

In this comedic short, when a waiter accidentally knocks out boxing champ Tiger Dorsey in Slapsie Maxie's restaurant, Maxie arranges a boxing match between the reluctant waiter and the champ.

Fighting Mad

1939 • 60 min • United States of America

Ann Fenwick is a witness to a bank robbery in the U.S. and the bandits, led by Trigger and Leon capture her and when she disappears, a warrant is issued for her arrest as a material witness. The bank robbers flee across the border into Canada where they steal a trailer in which they lock Ann and the loot. The hitch breaks and the trailer plunges into a lake. Sergeant Renfrew and Constable Kelly, of the Canadian Mounties, rescue Ann and she tells them she is a hitch-hiking tourist and gives a false name. Renfrew sends Kelly for aid, Ann escapes and Kelly returns with the news that she is wanted. The leader of the gang, Cardigan, sends the gang back for Ann and the loot, which Ann has hidden in a trappers cabin, just before Trigger recaptures her. Renfrew goes to her rescue, but is also captured. But reliable Constable Kelly is somewhere in the woods.

The Old Fire Horse

1939 • 8 min • United States of America

Terrytoons cartoon short