The Oscar-nominated animated short, Sisyphus (1974), by Marcel Jankovics.
“The Hubcap Thief” from SNL (back when it was just called “Saturday Night”) first season, airing May 15, 1976. I have never found the actual short online anywhere. It was a stop action film where our hero tries to pry a hubcap loose from a mid-60s Volvo 122, but while he’s trying to remove it, hunched over with his feet pressed against the tire for leverage, the car’s driver gets in and starts driving away. The thief spins around and around (thus the need for stop motion) until the car stops, and he stands up and wobbly totters away.
And, of course, Bambi Meets Godzilla
Your Face
Yeah, well – great minds think alike. (I cited that one above.) Glad to find that you’re a fellow fan of this, Professor!
Steinbecks’ Flight
And To Be:
Twenty years ago I heard about a “must see” short film called The Paraclete. I ordered the DVD, and it was indeed a great film.
Six years ago I tracked down the director. He was (and still is) working at his brother’s restaurant in Southfield, MI. I told him how much I loved the film. He then sent me four DVDs of the film for free, and even paid for shipping. I still have them, in their original wrapping.
I don’t think it’s available to watch anywhere on the internet. PM me if you want to borrow one of the DVDs.
I’ll give you two very odd ones.
The Strange Thing About the Johnsons - from the director of Hereditary. A boy…abuses his father.
Imprint - Takashi Miike (a short film so scary/intense, Showtime refused to air it)
La Jetée (1962, France, dir. Chris Marker)
Hardware Wars (1978, U.S., dir. Ernie Fosselius)
The Wizard of Speed and Time (the 3-minute version) (1979, U.S., dir. Mike Jittlov)
If I had enough time, I could list a lot more.
C’etait un Rendezvous (1972) Claude Lelouch:
After Lucas released the “Special Editions” of the original Star Wars Trilogy, someone – not Ernie Fosselius – released Hardware Wars – The Special Edition. Like the originals, it has the original film, augmented by CGI effects – only they’re really bad CGI effects. The very idea had me laughing. Unfortunately, Fosselius didn’t like the idea.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x69wnp4
I attended talk given by Mike Jittlov at a science fiction convention at which he showed a lot of his short films I haven’t seen before (or since). Great stuff!. He showed the short version of The Wizard of Speed and Time, and spoke about the feature-length film he hoped to turn it into.
Fast-forward to 1989, and a feature-length TWOS&T is released – bu it’s not the film Jittlov had described to us. I suspect that he couldn’t get the funding he needed for his vision, so he did the next best thing and made what he could.
I also sat through the Red Balloon and The Little Match Girl (which I haven’t seen mentioned yet) in school as kid (and the Little Match Girl dies in the end of that one!) but an obscure one that stuck with me was one I saw on Night Flight in the 80s (or maybe early 90s). It was call Dot. It was in black & white in a dystopian authoritarian world where everyone was sick and starving (the illness giving them dots on their faces). I don’t know if it was good but it definitely stuck with me.
I remember spending a lot of time looking for it online years later and eventually I found it (but I since lost the link) and my memory is it didn’t hit the same as it did watching it late at night as kid but I still remember it all these years later.
I will watch every singe one of these. Thank you, guys.
Keep ‘em coming.
My favorite part of that film’s Wikipedia page:
[Kevin Murphy] describes the soundtrack as a droning and nondescript tune, somewhat reminiscent of Jazz and Baroque pop.
The soundtrack is by J. S. Bach. Who would no doubt be amused to hear his music described that way (and by the film itself).
For the skiers, No Friends on a Powder Day. Watch until the end.
Kiwi! is brilliant and yet tragic.
I’m a big fan of Don Hertzfeldt, and so…
The Dot and the Line, animated by Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble (but apparently more by the latter), based on a book by Norman Juster (who also wrote The Phantom Tollbooth, which Jones directed the animated portions of)