Oddball Films presents Car-Toons: High-Octane Animation, an evening of 16mm animated shorts from the 50s and 60s - the golden age of car culture - with the need for speed. From road rage explosions to educational treasures, mid-century predictions for the future of cars, and stylish children's shorts, it's a night of animation in the fast lane. The little mole has the need for speed and soups up a toy convertible in the stunning Czech animation The Mole and the Car (1963). The National Film Board of Canada and Kaj Pindal bring us What on Earth? (1966) a martian's point of view of our auto-obsessed world. Insane Italian animator Bruno Bozzetto gives us Mr. Rossi Buys a Car (1966) a berserk cartoon in which bureaucracy and road rage lead one man on a bloody rampage throughout the city. Di$ney and dogman Goofy team up to help you be a better driver in two classic edutaining shorts - Motor Mania (1950) - Goofy turns into a road rage monster, and Freeway Phobia (1964) demonstrating how not to drive on a freeway. Another Di$ney classic Magic Highway USA (1958) predicts the future of cars and highways - from self-moulding roads to self-driving cars. British animation duo (and married couple) Halas and Batchelor predict a very different and dark future of a car culture in Automania 2000 (1963). Woody Woodpecker gets taken for a ride by Buzzy Buzzard-used car salesman in Hot Rod Huckster (1954). Discover Miss Esta Maude's Secret (1966) in a super chic adaptation of the children's book about a mild-mannered school teacher with a hidden hot rod. Plus more high-speed cartoons for the early birds!
Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com
Featuring:The Mole and the Car (Color, 1963)
Another adorable and stylish cartoon from Zdenek Miler's beloved Little Mole series. The little mole wakes up underground beneath a busy street. When he emerges from his tunnel, he sees all the bright shiny and speedy cars and dreams of having one for his very own. After a nasty little boy destroys his toy car and leaves it in the street, our rodent hero fixes her up and speeds off in his very own set of wheels.
Mr. Rossi Buys A Car (Color, 1966)
Freeway Phobia (Color, 1964)
What On Earth! (Color, 1966)
If aliens looked at planet Earth from outer space, what would he or she see? In this film, automobiles are perceives as life forms – with particular habits and behaviors! See beautifully animated lines of cars, dancing figures and stoplights, and other objects dancing. This psychedelic simplified world of shapes and signs, emphasizes consumerism and the ways in which earthlings are being conditioned! Produced by the National Film Board of Canada and directed by Les Drew and Kaj Pindal.
Magic Highway, U.S.A. (Color, 1958, excerpt)
Live action, archival footage, culminating in stunningly beautiful mid-century animation from D*sney examines the past, present (circa 1958) and paleo-future of transportation (*note* a small portion of the end of this wonderful film has been lost no doubt to a hungry high school film projector).
“As father chooses the route in advance on a push-button selector, electronics take
over complete control. Progress can be accurately checked on a synchronized
scanning map. With no driving responsibility, the family relaxes together.
En route business conferences are conducted by television.”
Hot Rod Huckster (B+W, 1954)
Miss Esta Maude's Secret (Color, 1964)
A super chic 1960s rendering of a beloved children's book from W.T. Cummings about a school teacher's hidden need for speed. Her secret is a slick hot rod she speeds around in when nobody's looking.
Motor Mania (Color, 1950)
Otto the Auto in Buckle Up (Color, 1976)
An iconographic motion picture based on drawings made by kindergarten children in Paris, France, which show the adventures of Alexander on sea and land as he drives his car around the world while meeting different creatures and people. This classic children's film tells the story of a little old car which escapes from a junkyard and crashes into a tree right outside Alexander's house. The left headlight is broken, but Alexander manages to fix it and together they go off on a journey that leads from Paris to the jungle and back home again. On the way they have many adventures, pick up various animals and damage the headlight once again. The film is based on drawings by French children, uses sound effects by children in West Germany and the voices of children in the United States.
Curator’s Biography
Kat Shuchter is a graduate of UC Berkeley in Film Studies. She is a filmmaker, artist and esoteric film hoarder. She has helped program shows at the PFA, The Nuart and Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater and was crowned “Found Footage Queen” of Los Angeles, 2009. She has programmed over 250 shows at Oddball on everything from puberty primers to experimental animation.
About Oddball Films
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.