All Films

The Children's Jury

1938 • 9 min • United States of America

A montage of elephants, children, Native Americans, logging, a barnstormer, a blimp, people on and in the water, and a man who sings like a bird.

Titans of the Deep

1938 • 47 min • United States of America

Prominent scientists Dr. William Beebe and Otis Barton, using the Bathyspere invented by Barton, descend several thousand feet to the ocean floor off of the shores of Bermuda to study and film sea creatures seen and filmed at that depth for the first time. A sometimes staged semi-documentary that was often sold and advertised as an exploitation/horror picture.

Photographic Studies in Hypnosis: Abnormal Psychology

1938 • 10 min

Silent film showcasing hypnosis and its effects.

Crociato 900

1938 • 10 min • Italy

A precious animated short from the pioneer of Italian animation Liberio Pensuti, commissioned by the Italian National Fascist Federation against Tuberculosis (Federazione Italiana Nazionale fascista per la lotta contro la tubercolosi), part of a massive awareness campaign enacted from 1930 to 1940.

How to Figure Income Tax

1938 • 9 min • United States of America

A man humorously attempts to give an overview of income taxes.

Schiff ohne Klassen

1938 • 21 min • Germany

German documentary short about the life on board the passenger ship Wilhelm Gustloff.

Plegaria gaucha

1938 • 56 min • Argentina

A gaucho hosts a stranger who will try to fall in love with her wife and so he ends up dueling with him.

The Pygmy Hunt

1938 • 9 min

The Captain runs a safari business. He sets off to catch a live pygmy, with help from a tracking dog, but the dog isn't the world's most efficient, distracted first by some flowers, then when he actually encounters a pygmy, by the bone in his hair. Ultimately, he buries the pygmy; the Captain comes chasing along. With this crew, the pygmy's in no danger. Eventually, the pygmy swaps clothes with the Inspector; he runs off and grabs his whole tribe, and the safari crew takes off.

Honest Love and True

1938 • 7 min • United States of America

Betty Boop and her players put on a theatrical show of wintry Canada, with a villainous cad, a mounted officer, and the leading lady herself as the heroine who sings the title song.

The Spider and the Fly

1938 • 13 min • United States of America

Few amateur films with sound were produced in the 1930s and fewer remain extant. A charming artifact that demonstrates the expressive possibilities and technical limitations of amateur talkies, "The Spider and the Fly" includes a backyard Labor Day gathering, a trip to the Riverview Amusement Park, and a homemade Halloween parade of witches and ghouls.

The Expose of the Nudist Racket

1938 • 10 min • United States of America

A short documentary supposedly looking into the nudist movement.

Pots of Plots

1938 • 4 min • United Kingdom

Tod Slaughter introduces himself in brief vignettes of some of his most famous parts (Sweeney Todd, Squire William Corder, etc.)

Ballet of the Mermaids

1938 • 10 min • Canada

Swimmers demonstrate synchronized swimming in a lake. The film tells the story of a sprite playing along the lake shore, who comes across the swimmers, who she thinks are mermaids. The sprite watches the swimmers and joins them in the water.

Madeira: 'Isle of Romance'

1938 • 9 min • United States of America

This Traveltalk short takes the viewer to Madeira Island, the largest of the group of Madeira islands in the Atlantic Ocean.

Rural Sweden

1938 • 10 min • United States of America

This short film takes the viewer to several towns and historical sites of rural Sweden.

Cairo 'City of Contrast'

1938 • 9 min • United States of America

This Traveltalk series short takes a look at Cairo's landmarks, people, and culture.

Col. Stoopnagle's Cavalcade of Stuff #2

1938 • 8 min • United States of America

A parody of newsreels, presented by Colonel Stoopnagle.

Buzzy Boop

1938 • 7 min • United States of America

Betty's young cousin, Buzzy, takes the train to visit Betty.

Now That Summer Is Gone

1938 • 6 min • United States of America

Summer is gone, and throughout the forest young squirrels are working hard gathering acorns for the long cold winter ahead. But one such squirrel has a better idea: winning acorns by shooting dice.

Bookstalls

1938 • 9 min • United States of America

A short made by Joseph Cornell in the late 1930s-- An ode to imagination, travel and literature. In true Cornellian fashion, the film borrows footage from, among other films, a Burton Holmes travelogue; Sightseeing tours of Dutch Marken and agrarian Asia therefore become the dream of a boy at a bookstall.

The Playful Polar Bears

1938 • 8 min • United States of America

Hunters visit the home of a polar bear community, causing a bear parent to have to rescue its cub.

Porky's Naughty Nephew

1938 • 8 min • United States of America

Porky and Pinky go to the beach. As Porky tries to nap, Pinky keeps whacking him with his little shovel. Then he fakes drowning in a shallow puddle. Porky enters a swim race, and Pinky sets a fake shark to follow him.

An Optical Poem

1938 • 7 min • United States of America

A dance of shapes. A title card tells us this is an experiment in conveying the mental images of music in a visual form. Liszt's "Second Hungarian Rhapsody" is the music. The shapes, all two-dimensional, are circles primarily, with some squares and rectangles, and a few triangles. The shapes move rhythmically to the music: receding from view or moving across the screen. Red circles on a blue background; light blue squares; white rectangles. Then, a red background of many circles with a few in the foreground. Red gives way to blue then to white. Shapes reappear as Liszt's themes re-occur. Then, with a few staccato notes and images, it's over.

Jack's Dream

1938 • 4 min • United States of America

A lucid dream turned nightmarish reality. A ship sinking into a world of fear. A short film that’s mostly puppetry by one of America's most prolific twentieth century artists.