VCR ALERT! "The Dot and the Line" airing on TCM early Sunday morning

Cafe Society
1

Please tell me I’m not the only fan of this little gem . . .

My 8th-grade geometry teacher showed the movie to our class back in 1980 or so, and I absolutely loved it. Years later I came across the book (not this one, but the out-of-print version) at Half Price Books and thought I died and went to heaven. I tried to track down the film (all 10 minutes of it), but found that it’s out of print, with only a short clip included in a Chuck Jones collection.

Then one day last year Mr. S started shouting at me to come quick into the living room. It was on the TV, on Turner Classic, as part of their “31 Days of Oscar”! He’d had to watch for a minute or so to realize what it was (he’d never seen it), but it was too late to get a tape in the VCR. I just watched what was left of it, in total rapture but feeling a little helpless.

This year I planned ahead and scoured the TCM schedule for it. It’s on Sunday morning at 5:30 am Eastern, so 4:30 here. I’m sleeping on the couch, with a couple of alarm clocks set, just to make sure I don’t screw up the timer recording.

I’m so excited!!

2

Wow, thanks! I love this little film! Haven’t seen it since I was young.

3

According to TCM, this is the only time it will be airing it this month (it’s part of an Oscar-related installment of its Festival of Shorts series).

Thanks for the heads-up! :slight_smile:

4

You’re welcome! I wanted to share the joy.

(Also invoking the “one bump” rule in case anyone else who cares missed this yesterday. Set those VCRs, folks! This is a rare event.)

5

So I recorded it and just now got around to checking the tape. I ended up with a short about the 1939 Oscars. Very interesting to watch, but not exactly what the OP was heralding. Did I get the wrong channel/time (TCM, 5:30am)? Or did everyone get this?

6

No, you did everything right. TCM SCREWED US OVER!

I wrote them a very salty e-mail this morning (for all the good it will do). You can “suggest a movie” that you would like to have shown, but they don’t (normally) put shorts on the schedule. So what good would it do if they won’t tell you when a short will be on?

I checked the schedule, hoping that they had just inadvertently run the wrong “Festival of Shorts” and might show this one later, but it’s the only one on the 31 Days of Oscar schedule.

Every other time I’ve wanted to tape or watch something on TCM, the schedule has been spot on. But the one time I’m prepared to catch a VERY RARE item, they screw me over. It’s not like I’m trying to dodge out of buying it – I’d gladly pay top dollar for a copy IF IT WERE AVAILABLE.

FUCK FUCK FUCK!

7

Thanks for reminding me. I have this on tape from 20+ years ago :slight_smile: I’ll dig it out later. Had no idea that Chuck Jones was involved.

Where do classic shorts like this end up? (I’m also thinking of the early CGI anglepoise-lamp flick) They don’t really fit into any genre so where would they fit in a TV schedule?

8

Well, color me pleasantly surprised – apparently the salty wheel gets the grease, er, or something like that. Anyway, they offered to make me a VHS dub of “Festival of Shorts #3” and of course I enthusiastically took them up on the offer. If they actually follow through I will be thrilled!

9

FWIW, Cartoon Network has aired it on occasion (and it is one of Chuck Jones’s best) but they don’t have any nice searchable listing and I think they may have even pulled all of their classic cartoon programming at this point for their new stuff…

10

Help me out here … is this the cartoon that is composed solely of geometric imagery? A dot and a line are a couple, but the dot becomes enamored of a squiggle and leaves the line? And the line learns how to make all sort of beautiful constructs with angles and wins her back? And the whole thing is narrated by a quite-proper-sounding British guy?

Oh … spoilers in the above paragraph. Sorry.

Is that the one?

11

Yup, that’s the one.

12

Ooh, except that the dot and the line are not a couple at first – he just has a crush on her, but she’s got a thing for the trashy squiggle. (Art imitates life, eh?)

13

Thanks, Scarlett67. I figured it was the same one – how many cartoons are there with a dot and a line featured as the central characters?

So who does the narration? That and the musical score add as much to this particular cartoon as the visuals, in my opinion.

14

For those who like abstract animation (and some semi-animation and live-action), there’s aways Norman McLaren. That link points to a collection with various things he’s done, including some animation, the piece I like best (Pas de deux), and the one I like least (Neighbours). There’s more of his stuff at Canada’s National Film Board, especially a series that looks like a complete film-bio on this page. One or two of the early ones aren’t for sale online.

15

I am royally ticked with TCM for not airing “The Dot and the Line.” What a letdown.

But I’d like to thank Scarlett67 again. Roses to you; onions to TCM.

16

I want to say Robert Morley; the “movie” link in the OP has the IMDb particulars.

17

According to my sources, it is schedued to be added as an extra on the upcoming DVD release of “The Glass Bottom Boat” on April 26th.

18

Euty, THANK YOU! That’s fabulous news. (DVD beats VHS every time!) I found this site that has details.

19

I’ll bet you’re thinking of Luxo, created by Pixar. It, and a handful of other Pixar shorts are available here.

20

The 8 greatest minutes of film never actually filmed has to be his absolutely brilliant Begone Dull Care. I have it on tape, but I’m tempted to get that DVD for that one short alone (and his other stuff is almost as good).