Another chapter of talking rodents from Tales of the Riverbank, otherwise known as Hammy the Hamster, a British children’s television show of talking animals that originated in Canada; created by David Ellison and Paul Sutherland. One day, Hammy the Hamster is told of a strange craft seen moving down the river. On inspection it turns out to be an old boot and Hammy decides that it would make an ideal home for him. He and his critter friends pull it ashore and up the hill and start work on converting it into a house. As darkness falls, Hammy moves in and finds that his friends have prepared a house-warming party for him.
Squeak the Squirrel (Color, 1957)
You've heard of lab rats, well how about an adorable lab squirrel? No, he's not being tested with make-up or medication; scientists are testing his intelligence by setting up a series of obstacles on his way to his sweet nutty rewards. Will he learn to use a step stool and a pulley? Will he ever get that nut he's after?
Zippy's Birthday Party (B+W, 1940s)
It's primate powerhouse Zippy the Chimp's birthday and he wants nothing more than a party with his friends. Everyone's having a grand old time, in their pretty party dresses, watching zippy roller skate in a white tuxedo and open his presents; until the town bully comes to the party with a jack in the box and a bad attitude. When the bully steals Zippy's cake, the birthday boy is done monkeying around and plots a sinister (especially for a children's film) revenge on the human child. Not necessarily the best lesson we've learned, but revenge by bodily harm certainly is sweet when administered by a chimpanzee.
In A Harem (B+W, 1941)
Who doesn't love a talking animal short? Especially one from the cheese-master himself Jerry Fairbanks! This barktacular is an all-dog, “talking” short from Paramount’s “Speaking of Animals” series. A little pooch falls asleep and dreams he has his own exotic harem of singing bitches (they are dogs, after all).
Zoo (B+W, 1962)
Hilarious docu-comedy by the brilliant Dutch filmmaker Bert Haanstra. Many exotic creatures can be observed going through life's daily rituals in this swinging little documentary: the inhabitants of the zoo and its equally fascinating human visitors. Director of the 1959 Oscar-winning short Glass, Haanstra must have spent many days shooting to capture these amazing shots. Utilizing a hidden camera and brilliant editing , “natural” animal and human behavior/interaction is cleverly exposed.
"Observing people and animals when they don't know you're there is
fascinating: I bonded with them" – Bert Haanstra
The Test (B+W, 1935, condensed version)
A condensed highlight reel from the short feature starring wondermutt German Shepherd Rin Tin Tin Jr. Rinty is on the case when a thief has been stealing furs from the local fur trappers. Watch him flex his poochy prowess as he tracks down the thief and saves the day! Co-starring Grant Withers and Grace Ford and directed by Bernard B. Ray.
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 150 shows at Oddball on everything from puberty primers to experimental animation.
About Oddball Films
Oddball films is a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Silicon Valley, Kurt Cobain: The Montage of Heck, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.
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.
