Oddball Films presents Antique Animal Antics!, a program of vintage 16mm films full of adorable, hilarious and anthropomorphic animals from the 1940s-1970s. Decades before youtube, CGI, and the Buddies franchise, these furry film stars were doing tricks, wearing clothes, talking, singing and raising hell! This time around we've got singing bears, car-racing capuchin monkeys, hibernating hamsters, daring dachshunds, a talking horse (of course) and so much more. Find out whether a bear or a hippo might be the perfect pet for you - and hear it from the hippo's mouth - in the Speaking of Animals short: Your Pet Problem (1944). Tiny capuchin monkeys zoom around the track in tiny little race cars in Monkey Go 'Round (1961). Otto the German dachshund runs away from home rather than take a bath and sets off for adventure in A Doggone Story (1940s). Hollywood primate Zippy the Chimp hits the big top in Small Fry Circus (1956). Two bear cubs head out for some mischief and tangle with ants, bees, and bacon before destroying a campsite in Black Bear Twins (1952). In Carroll Ballard's bittersweet The Perils of Priscilla (1969), a neglected pussy sets out on her own and hits the big city. The sexy siren Mae West sets a date with the world's most famous talking horse in an extremely bizarre slice of television history in Mae West Meets Mr. Ed (1964). Hammy the Hamster is back and learning all about Hibernation (1961) from his talking animal friends. For the early birdies, The Blackbird (1979) is a bizarre live action tale of a bird wreaking havoc on a whole house and its inhabitants from Hungary.
Featuring:
Tiny monkeys in tiny racecars! A retired circus performer in Germany falls on hard times. His family is made up of little capuchin monkeys, whom he can’t afford to feed anymore and is thinking of sending to a zoo. The monkeys repair the mini cars they had used in their old circus act and perform in a new act racing the cars on a mini race track. The crowd loves them. They sign a contract to start performing their show around the world.
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Small Fry Circus (B+W, 1956)
Your Pet Problem (B+W, 1944)
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The 1960s were a hard time for many of the great stars of the 1930s and 40s. Joan Crawford made a turn towards schlocky horror and Mae West headed for the horse stables of Television. In this bizarre episode of the classic TV program, Mae West sweeps into town and requests that Wilbur redesign her horse stable, with all the luxury fit for a Hollywood Queen. Ed overhears the conversation and begins to resent his own surroundings, shabby by comparison, but soon realizes pampering isn't what it's all cracked up to be.
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Hammy the Hamster in Hibernation (B+W, 1961)
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The Perils of Priscilla (Color, 1969)
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A delightfully misinformed nature film from Encyclopaedia Brittanica starring a pair of baby bears that can't wait to get away from mom and cause some trouble! They scamper around the forest wreaking havoc and tussling with a beehive. A (human) family spots the cubs' tracks and stupidly attempts to lure the bears to their camp by hanging bacon from a tree (like a hipster Christmas decoration). The bears come to camp and help themselves to the bacon, then decide to come back later and destroy the entire camp!
For the Early Birds:
The Blackbird (Color, 1979)
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Our screenings are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educational films, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.