This wartime publicity trailer by Norman McLaren focuses on wartime inflation and the role of price control. Single-frame animation is used with pen drawings made directly on 35mm film stock. Music is by Louis Applebaum, a leading composer and advocate for the arts in Canada.
This publicity clip for Canada Post is Norman McLaren's first film for the NFB. For this animated short, McLaren drew symbols by pen onto clear 35 mm stock, which was then superimposed on a photographed painted background. Benny Goodman's rendition of Jingle Bells provides the accompaniment. (NFB)
In 1928, Georges Lacombe, then assistant to René Clair, filmed the ragpickers who lived in the "zone". As his camera was stationary, he took particular care over the framing and he offers the viewer a document that is imbued with both realism and poetry. We even see the once-famous cancan dancer "La Goulue", sunk into poverty at the end of her life. - MHEU
Animated musical fantasy about a scarecrow that saves an orphaned girl from the evil clutches of a maniacal count. Brought to life through magic and love, and aided by his two sidekicks -- a cantankerous mouse and a flying broom -- he's willing to sacrifice everything to win her freedom.
Adaptation of Pushkin's fairy tales. The tale is about a fisherman who manages to catch a Golden Fish which promises to fulfill any wish of his in exchange for its freedom. The storyline is similar to the Russian fairy tale "The Greedy Old Wife" and the Brothers Grimm's tale "The Fisherman and His Wife".
Taking "Isle of the Dead," a work by the Swiss symbolist painter Arnold Böcklin as his starting point, Norman McLaren creates a deeply disturbing surrealist dream.
Whilst celebrating Lleu's 18th birthday, Lleu and two friends go for a boat ride, when they discover beneath the water the golden doorway to the Mabinogi (the Otherworld). They swim down and are transported back in time many centuries to the Mabinogi. There they encounter some problems with mediaeval life, and they have to deal with the conflict between fate personal choice and magic
Mankind's numerous ways of measuring the passage of time through history are depicted through stop-motion animation, from ancient sundials to simple mechanical devices, up through complex modern timepieces.
Andy Panda conducts the "Hollywood Washbowl Orchestra" (an ensemble of farm animals, on a farm) in the title tune. After Andy removes a frog from under his wig, he begins. All is well until his shirt gets stuck on a nail; while he's fighting it, the orchestra breaks into a swinging tune. Back under control, a talkative squirrel in the audience annoys the pig sitting next to him; the pig zips the squirrel's mouth shut. A bird lands on Andy's baton; he waves it, and 2, 3, 4, and 5 birds appear (apparently, his baton's become a magic wand). He waves some more, and the birds disappear one by one, finally replaced with a very happy cat. Two ducks dance as ballerinas; then one fox and one duck, but the second duck is not as easily captured.
Bartholomew Cubbins has SO MANY HATS. Every time he removes one in the presence of the King, it is replaced magically with another. This enrages the King, who brings him to trial, and to the ultimate sentence.
Porky Pig soon discovers that a termite is responsible for his belongings crumbling to dust. When he can't exterminate the termite himself, he goes to a shyster who offers him a series of unsuccessful methods to remove the termite.
Woody is shooting pool at a farm house when one of his pool balls rolls into a nearby henhouse. He takes the ball back but must battle with the hen who thinks the woodpecker is taking one of her eggs. Woody makes several attempts to get the ball back from the protective poultry finally disguising himself as a macho continental rooster whom the hen falls for causing Woody to retrieve his ball. But it doesn't last long.
Wally Walrus is a day sleeper and requires daily rest while his neighbor in the adjacent apartment, Woody Woodpecker, is a night sleeper who does his chores during the day. Needless to say, Woody's noisy chores tend to keep the hapless Wally from getting any slumber particularly when he burns his leaves in the backyard, the smoke from the burning pile travelling into Wally's room eventually turning the pipes in his bed into a musical organ! But Wally gets the last laugh...
The 1890s; a picnic in the park. A man is pitching woo to his girl, while behind them a steady stream of ants is methodically devouring and carting off their food. Some other interludes include four ants eating Russian rye bread, then breaking for a Russian dance; a torch singer that sends everyone scurrying for some kind of ear plugs; a chef ant that coordinates the creation of three sandwiches that the humans eat.
An emaciated canary, singing like Frank Sinatra, is getting on the nerves of a pipe-puffing parrot, who speaks like Bing Crosby. The parrot spots Sylvester, foraging through the trash. Telling the cat he needs more vitamins (which the canary has been swallowing in bulk), he lures the cat inside to snare the canary. The straightforward approach fails (the canary bops him in the nose). He carves a female canary from soap, lures Frankie there; the birds slide down a greased counter, into the sink, and down the drain, but only the soap bird goes through the pipe and down Sylvester's throat. A trail of birdseed into the garage seems to work, but Frankie jacks Sylvester's mouth open. Sylvester laces the vitamins with buckshot; like all cartoon magnets, his attracts everything metal in sight except his prey.
Driving down a U.S. highway, Woody Woodpecker passes a billboard which reminds him that he should renew his driver's license. He heads to the Department of Motor Vehicles and asks Officer Wally Walrus, who takes an immediate dislike to Woody, to give him the test. He puts Woody through the eye test, the reflex test, and the fingerprint test...with Woody constantly making short work of the walrus' patience.