A pleasant patient (1932)

A medical documentary for students.

In the darkroom, 50 unexposed film strips were laid across a surface, upon which a frame of "La sortie des ouvrier de l'usine Lumière" was projected. The stringing together of the individual developed sections make up the new film, which reads the original frame like a page from a musical score: within the strips from top to bottom and sequentially from left to right.

This picture was taken from the front end of a train during a trip from the famous Cliff House to Bakers Beach along the shore of the Golden Gate. The train runs along the brink of the cliff and gives a perfect representation of the objects that meet the eye prior to entering the Golden Gate. One of the features of this picture is the stirring ride along the very edge of the cliff, the track being laid in places within a foot of the brink, and far below can be seen the huge breakers dashing against the foot of the cliff. (Edison Catalog)

Taken while ascending some 2,000 yards into the clouds, and represents a most diversified view of the city of San Francisco, the Golden Gate, Pacific Ocean, and surrounding country for miles. The huge balloon from which this picture was taken is 75 feet in diameter, 250 feet in circumference and about 105 feet high, and it requires some 150,000 feet of gas to raise it from the ground.

Disabled in a thunderstorm, Betty Boop and Grampy's plane lands on a tropic island where Grampy soon re-invents the comforts of home... until hostile, racially-stereotyped natives intrude.

Krazy is at his house reading a magazine. Ignatz comes in and goes inside a jar of jam. Krazy is aware of this, and tries to get the rodent out of the jar. After getting bitten in the paws, he decides to discard the container, along with Ignatz.

Young lovers separate, she to a career on the stage and he to remain in the small village in which they grew up. Years pass and he is hired to be a porter for a theater company and finds her, a far different woman who does not recognize him.

This short follows a day of work for an Everglades wildlife trapper catching animals for zoos around America. In this film, his assignment is to go out into the swamp with his Indian assistant and find a bobcat, 2 black bear cubs and six rattlesnakes.

Mathematics teacher Bernd comes to the conclusion that the youth's morals, values and thoughts (sexuality) are quite different than he thought they were.

A disillusioned modern man is haunted by memories of a previous life as a primitive caveman who lived in a hostile past world. The caveman walks across a harsh landscape, hunts animals for food, battles savage apes, and scales a deep cliff.

Max has a toothache, and it's up to The Clown and a bespectacled rabbit to pull out the aching tooth.

Intended as a publicity film for Chrysler, Rhythm uses rapid editing to speed up the assembly of a car, synchronizing it to African drum music. The sponsor was horrified by the music and suspicious of the way a worker was shown winking at the camera; although Rhythm won first prize at a New York advertising festival, it was disqualified because Chrysler had never given it a television screening. P. Adams Sitney wrote, “Although his reputation has been sustained by the invention of direct painting on film, Lye deserves equal credit as one of the great masters of montage.” And in Film Culture, Jonas Mekas said to Peter Kubelka, “Have you seen Len Lye’s 50-second automobile commercial? Nothing happens there…except that it’s filled with some kind of secret action of cinema.” - Harvard Film Archive

An oppressive droning score makes this rendering of the Faust legend quite disturbing to watch. The film itself consists of a number of impressive ‘appearing out of thin air’ effects, some lavish costumes, sets and backdrops. A climactic sword fight between a man and the Devil is a standout scene.

This is a short, simple ballet performance. Colors are used here, but the print is quite badly damaged.

Made in 1903, Eccentric Waltz showcases an exhibition by dancers Boldoni and Solinski, residents at the famous Eldorado cabaret in the Boulevard de Strasbourg in Paris. The lavish stencil colouring emphasises the woman's swirling skirt. (BFI)

A Japanese-set magic show. There is a lot of visual trickery on display, ending with an amazing effect using reverse footage and superimposing/projecting images on top of one another.

This is a mesmerising little short that employs a peculiar bird’s eye view of a mischievous devil who dances around, performing strange tricks and making sexy ladies appear out of nowhere. The colourful visual effects are very impressive for the time.

This is another short, simple dance number. It’s quite stunning and unusual though with a bat turning into a woman who proceeds to give us a skirt dance before disappearing into thin air. The dance is mesmerising with the skirt stunningly changing colour throughout the film.

With a beautifully painted Arabian backdrop and some vivid colours, this is one of the more visually impressive pieces.