Alice's Wonderland

A stop-motion film from Émile Cohl with tin soldiers, children's drawings and cannibals.

A child dreams of the Bible tale, reenacted by toys.

Ko-Ko and Fitz emerge from an inkwell into the sultan's harem.

Graduation day is finally here, marking the end of Koyomi Araragi's eccentric high school life full of peculiar relationships with otherworldly beings. However, Araragi is unexpectedly absorbed into his own bathroom mirror and trapped inside a bizarre world where everything he knows is completely reversed—the haughty Karen Araragi is shorter than usual, poker-faced Yotsugi Ononoki is brimming with emotion, and cute ghost girl Mayoi Hachikuji is a grown woman! But not everything is as it seems.

Oswald takes a job as a lifeguard to keep an eye on Miss Rabbit, who in turn stages a boating accident hoping Oswald will come to save her.

One of Oskar Fischinger's earliest films, Seelische Konstruktionen (as it is known in German), clearly points the way to the masterpieces of musically-blended experimental animation he would conceive in the decades to come. The sense of masterful timing and rhythm, the easy and natural -- though patently Fischinger-esque -- character traits of the subjects, and the smooth precision of both line and movement are all present already. Unique is the black-silhouetted, semi-cartoon characters (not nearly as rigidly self-contained as Lotte Reiniger's cut-out forms) which seem to adhere to no physical limitations whatsoever. Morphing into shapes, structures, objects, patterns, and even one another, as though they were made of pure mercury and set to music. As for the "story", it's rather non-sensical, and certainly silly, but also has a slightly dark and devious tinge to it as well; men becoming monsters, uncontrollable shape-shifting and the constant, almost desperate movement.

Koko Back Tracks

For the production of this film, Oskar Fischinger tinted various layers of hot wax. After cooling, the resulting lump of wax resembled a marble cake. Fischinger then began to cut off slices from the lump, photographing each step.

Bell Telephone instructional film shows how - and how not - to treat your upright desk telephone set. Don't wiggle the hook excessively, don't tangle the cord, keep away from water, etc.

Artist Max Fleischer draws a spool of thread and a needle. The needle then penetrates a blank canvas and, stitch by stitch, we see Koko the Clown being "drawn." Very clever. There is always a new and innovative and method of introducing Koko in these old Fleischer brother Koko The Clown "Out of the Inkwell' silent animated shorts.

In the city of Orario, beneath an impossibly tall tower, lies the dungeon. Only adventurers who form partnerships with the gods themselves have any hope of defeating the monsters that lie within. But the dungeon is not the only place where monsters exist. Far from Orario, in the ruins of an ancient city, a new threat arises. To counter this threat, the goddess Artemis has come to Orario in search of a champion—but it’s not Ais Wallenstein (the legendary Sword Princess) nor Ottar (the strongest warrior to ever enter the dungeon) that she chooses. Rather it is Bell Cranel, a newbie adventurer partnered with a low-tier goddess.

This fascinating series features Max himself, filmed in live action, sitting at a drawing board and concocting adventures for his star performer Ko-Ko the Clown. Max is supposedly the guy in charge, and he takes sadistic glee in putting Ko-Ko through various forms of hell, but the clown usually fights back and sometimes gets the best of his Uncle Max. FADEAWAY elevates this charged relationship to new heights (or depths?) of nightmarish surrealism; it's also one of the most enjoyable Inkwell cartoons I've seen to date, packing lots of imaginative, unpredictable twists and turns into an eight minute running time.

Four customers are having a peaceful game of cards in a quiet café. The atmosphere being heavy, the waiter falls asleep and has an unsettling dream about the ills of alcohol, among other things.

After an organ grinder's monkey grabs a little girl's lollipop with his tail, the musician explains why monkeys are so clever with their tails.

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, goes in pursuit of Peg-Leg Pete.

'Sky Scrappers' finds three characters -- Oswald, a Big Pete-style bully and a Minnie-ish female character -- all engaged in knockabout humour on a building site.

An Oswald the Lucky Rabbit short, Walt Disney's earlier character, before going on to create Mickey Mouse. Here he is canoeing in the wilderness.

A lonely pig named Pearl dawdles long enough in a field of dandelions to meet a bone who speaks to her.

Zlatovláska

The second adventure of Alice who steps through the looking glass and finds herself in a wonderful mirror land populated by chess figures and weird creatures.