A lyrical recreation of Lightnin’ Hopkins’ decision at age eight to stop chopping cotton and start singing for a living. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.
Hymn of the Nations, originally titled Arturo Toscanini: Hymn of the Nations, is a 1944 film directed by Alexander Hammid, which features the "Inno delle nazioni," a patriotic work for tenor soloist, chorus, and orchestra, composed by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi in the early 1860s. (For this musical work, Verdi utilized the national anthems of several European nations.) In December 1943, Arturo Toscanini filmed a performance of this music for inclusion in an Office of War Information documentary about the role of Italian-Americans in aiding the Allies during World War II. Toscanini added a bridge passage to include arrangements of "The Star-Spangled Banner" for the United States and "The Internationale" for the Soviet Union and the Italian partisans. Joining Toscanini in the filmed performance in NBC Studio 8-H, were tenor Jan Peerce, the Westminster Choir, and the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2010.
In the years before the Second World War, a tomboyish postulant at an Austrian abbey is hired as a governess in the home of a widowed naval captain with seven children, and brings a new love of life and music into the home.
An animated parody of television commercials and the television audience. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive.
A walking figure emerges from a changing, circular cycle; his inner self emerges and precipitats a series of violent struggles with himself, adapting various animal forms along the way. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive.
"Marlborough" and "The Arab", lounging on the pool terrace, are alienated characters in some future time, living in a world where art work comes to life, phones continuously ring, televisions hum all night, and smog seeps into their brains. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive.
Begins with a three beat announcement drawn out in time which thereafter serves as a figure to divide the four sections. Each return of this figure is more condensed, and finally used in reverse to conclude the film. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2004.
A greedy King Midas is visited one day by a mysterious visitor who grants him the ability to turn all things he touches to gold. He learns his lesson when the food he tries to eat and his own daughter are turned to gold as well. The visitor reappears and offers him the opportunity to return to his old self, which he gladly does. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2004.
An aging, decadent landlord’s passion for music becomes the undoing of his legacy as he sacrifices his wealth in order to compete with the opulent music room of his younger, richer neighbour.
The film is based on a poem by James Weldon Johnson depicting the power of the southern black American preacher's telling of the biblical creation story.
Bambi is nibbling the grass, unaware of the upcoming encounter with Godzilla. Who will win when they finally meet? Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2009.
Early 'visual music' film by John Whitney. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 1999.
A musical about an unhappy couple and the man that stands between them. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2015.
Two brothers are stood up and lament through song. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2015.
Two short fragments resulting from experiments in controlling the mechanical development of the instrument. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2005.
A classic tale retold with Harryhausen's trademark animation. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2004.
A compilation of four Mother Goose stories "photographed in three-dimensional animation" and unified by a prologue and an epilogue with Mother Goose herself magically setting up a projector to show the films. The familiar nursery rhymes are "Little Miss Muffet," "Old Mother Hubbard," "The Queen of Hearts," and "Humpty Dumpty." Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2004.
Stop-motion puppetry version of the classic fairy tale. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2004.
The first Studies were synchronized with records (Fischinger made a total of 13 Studies all without sound). It was only with the introduction of sound, beginning with Study No 6 that the films did full justice to this musical principle. The play of the white lines, the arcs, and the upside-down U’s running hither and thither like ballet dancers was brought into perfect synchronization with the music, and thus the films offered an abstract illustration of the melodies. Study No 6 is certainly the best of his films in terms of forms. - Hans Scheugl and Ernst Schmidt, Jr. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2001.
On Christmas Eve, a lonely young boy, shut out from the shiny world of presents and holiday parties, peers into a candlelit window, where a gray-haired lady sits sadly at a bare table. Taking the last bit of bread and cheese from his pocket and adding wine, they share this meager Christmas dinner together. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.