Greats Moments in Film

Have you ever woken in the night unable to move, certain that you are not alone? This is an experimental documentary examining what happens when dreams leak into waking life. It is about what is real, what is not, and if it even matters.

Betty Boop goes to work on the subway (Trample 'Em R.R. Co.); Pudgy the Pup follows her and gets more ride than he bargained for.

When Mama hen takes her chicks out to get breakfast, little Wilbur is soaked in a sudden rainstorm and comes down with a head cold. Mama puts him to bed, then goes back out to get the doctor. A conniving weasel, seeing Mama leave, disguises himself as a doctor and comes calling on the unattended chicks.

An aging hero is looking through the photo album and remembering the Gay 90's, and in particular a picnic interrupted by villainous Roger St. Clair, who tries to tempt Emily to the big city and away from Harold; when that fails, he takes her by force. Six months later, Harold is still searching; Emily is forced to sing on the stage of Roger's bar, accompanied by a barbershop quartet on "All Is Not Gold That Glitters." Harold passes by and hears her. Roger beans him with the curtain and ties Emily to the railroad tracks. Harold rescues her; there follows a sawmill scene, a shootout, and ultimately victory for our hero. Back in the present day, they wonder what happened to Roger, which is his cue.

Emily the chicken lives in Hickville but dreams of Hollywood. Her chance comes when director J. Megga-Phone happens to drive past and gives her his card.

When the lights of the city go dim, all of the kitties are let outdoors to prowl. Holding a meeting, they come up with a plan to rid themselves of a neighboring dog. The cats proceed to torment him, chase him with a water hose, and try feeding him.

We take a tour of Porky's Poppa's farm, to the tune of Old MacDonald. After meeting several animals, "on this farm, he has a mortgage" which he frets over, particularly since Bessie has stopped producing milk. Poppa orders an Acme milk producing robot, and the beast vs. machine battle is on.

The mice are on the loose after hours in a doctor's office, playing with the various pieces of medical apparatus. Susie Mouse is caged for research until her lover Johnnie frees her. A mouse orchestra plays a swinging wedding song. But throughout, a cat is stalking...

Literary characters come to life late at night in a bookshop, serenading Sniffles the mouse with swing music until the Frankenstein monster intrudes.

Three witches need a worm to complete their potion; they dispatch a raven to catch one, and he goes after a bookworm. He chases the worm into the horror section, where the monsters attack but soon, Paul Revere rides Black Beauty to the rescue, along with the Police Gazette, and other assorted war heroes; eventually, the Boy Scouts build a match-stick bridge, leading the worm to safety.

Porky and his friend Dizzy Duck go fishing, but their trip is cut short by a thunderstorm. They take refuge in an old building that appears haunted, though the biggest hazards are an old bearskin that lands on a swivel chair, a dog that gets tangled up in chains and a diving helmet, and their own clumsiness generally.

A hen adopts an abandoned egg which hatches into a turtle. The baby turtle becomes the butt of all the real chicks' jokes until danger threatens.

Once again, the mysterious minah bird hops his syncopated way into Inki's lion-hunting expedition. This time the little black bird has a new reality- defying way to disappear: he hops into a haystack which gradually (and with the same catchy hip-hop) shrinks down to a single straw, which vanishes.

This early Mighty Mouse cartoon -- actually, he was still called 'Super Mouse' at this point -- is one of the better ones, due to the large number of good comedy gags inserted -- cats hiding behind skinny trees, mice running down cats' gullets and into their tails, and so forth.

Barney's settling in for the winter. But water leaks, a loose shutter, a noisy fire, a teakettle left on, and some stray embers all get in the way, and Barney also locks himself out. And that's just the beginning.

The Two Curious Puppies wander into a theater and run afoul of a trickster magician's rabbit, a playful seal and an intimidating little bird.

The bull makes short work of the matador, and then turns on Porky, a tamale vendor who wanders into the ring accidentally. But then he makes the mistake of actually eating most of Porky's extra hot tamales.

Blackout gags about the holidays. New Year's (the baby speaks to us). Valentine's Day, Washington Day, etc.

A young horse says hi to little donkey Spunky. But the horse's mother pulls him away, saying we don't associate with that kind. Spunky makes a few more overtures, and eventually they set off on a chase, running across a bull from time to time. The horse stops to eat a lot of apples and drink far too much water; this leaves him too bloated to move much at all. The two continue to anger the bull, which gives chase; Spunky saves the colt, and they all live in harmony.

The mouse, tired of being chased by the cat, convinces him there's no reason for it, and that the cat should talk to the dog and convince him too. The talks are not successful...