UNLV Short Film Archive

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1928 - UN CHIEN ANDALOU. Luis Buñuel. Created a scandal when first screened in Paris; The Age of Gold; Land Without Bread.

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1928 - THE TREASURER’S REPORT. Fox. Only because this one is such classic perfect Benchley otherwise Sex Life of a Polyp 1928 is also right there.

1929 - BIG BUSINESS. Hal Roach. Any Laurel and Hardy is okay by me. But it’s between Two Tars and this for a quintessential work of Laurel and Hardy art.

1929 - BLOOD OF A POET, Jean Cocteau. The first work of the significant poet, playwright and surrealist Jean Cocteau is one of the most important contributions to early avant-garde cinema--a stunning, primal and powerful work that uses jagged, poetic, harsh and highly personal images, dreams and symbols to reflect an artist's inner life. The work is composed in four illogical, timeless sequences. French with English subtitles.

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1929 - RUFUS JONES FOR PRESIDENT. Vitaphone Corporation. 8 year old Sammy Davis Jr. dreams he runs for president. Ethel Waters is his mom in this short that shows how deeply entrenched racism was in this country. Many find it beyond offensive but the performances without validating the social and political repression demonstrate the vitality of the African American spirit even in the worst circumstances.

1933 - A FATAL GLASS OF BEER. Paramount. Again any of the Fields shorts, especially The Dentist, this one is just so perverse.

1933 - SNOW WHITE. Fleischer Brothers 1933. The majesty of the Fleischer studio’s erotic imagination by way of commercial American animation combined with the brilliance of jazz as Cab Calloway performs “St. James Infirmary Blues” and spooks Betty Boop.

1929-1933 - THE FILMS OF JEAN VIGO: 1) A Propos de Nice, 1929, Jean Vigo (Avant Garde Program #10 & 12) 2) Zéro de conduite. 1933. In 41 minutes Jean Vigo creates a genre and offers a cinematic tone poem. But after Columbine does the meaning this film makes change?

1941 - NEIGHBORS. Film Board of Canada. Norman McLaren. During the two decades I came of age when shorts were shown, this was one that was always included. BLINKETY BLANK. 1955. Norman McLaren played with after-imaging in this five-minute story of birds meeting and mating. Delicate and evocative where Neighbors is heavyhanded. Both visually fascinating.

1942 – THE WAR SHORTS OF JOHN FORD: DOCUMENTARIES: Battle of Midway. U.S. Navy 1942. The Japanese attack Midway, John Ford filmed it. A beautiful piece of war time filmmaking.

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1943 - MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON. 1943. Maya Deren powerful film evokes emotion beyond meaning, offering imagery that resonates beyond comprehension. Poetry. A painting, a dream, a memory.

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