Film #134: What On Earth!

I first remember seeing What On Earth! as a between-features offering on HBO in the early 1980s. May I say, what a great time for that channel it was; you could see all manner of short movies on it then--everything from the latest "videos" (on a feature they called Video Jukebox) to things like 1978's Special Delivery or Jim Henson's 1966 curio Timepiece. This was about 15 years after What on

Film #134: What On Earth!

I first remember seeing What On Earth! as a between-features offering on HBO in the early 1980s. May I say, what a great time for that channel it was; you could see all manner of short movies on it then--everything from the latest "videos" (on a feature they called Video Jukebox) to things like 1978's Special Delivery or Jim Henson's 1966 curio Timepiece. This was about 15 years after What on

Film #116: Begone Dull Care and Film #117: Neighbours

"I was inspired to make Neighbours by a stay of almost a year in the People's Republic of China. Although I only saw the beginnings of Mao's revolution, my faith in human nature was reinvigorated by it. Then I came back to Quebec and the Korean War began. (...) I decided to make a really strong film about anti-militarism and against war." --Norman McLaren The Scottish-born McLaren had been

Film #116: Begone Dull Care and Film #117: Neighbours

"I was inspired to make Neighbours by a stay of almost a year in the People's Republic of China. Although I only saw the beginnings of Mao's revolution, my faith in human nature was reinvigorated by it. Then I came back to Quebec and the Korean War began. (...) I decided to make a really strong film about anti-militarism and against war." --Norman McLaren The Scottish-born McLaren had been

Film #33: Special Delivery

This cartoon, by John Weldon and Eunice Macauley, is one of the funniest bits of animation I have ever seen. Everything works together: the soapy organ music, the inventive scripting, the sardonic narration, and the fun colored-pencil animation style. I saw this on HBO in the 1980s, not long after it took home an Oscar in 1978 for Best Animated Short. I remember being slightly shocked at the

Film #33: Special Delivery

This cartoon, by John Weldon and Eunice Macauley, is one of the funniest bits of animation I have ever seen. Everything works together: the soapy organ music, the inventive scripting, the sardonic narration, and the fun colored-pencil animation style. I saw this on HBO in the 1980s, not long after it took home an Oscar in 1978 for Best Animated Short. I remember being slightly shocked at the