Vanguardism in the Short Silents

Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí present 16 minutes of bizarre, surreal imagery.

The clock strikes midnight, the bats fly from the belfry, a dog howls at the full moon, and two black cats fight in the cemetery: a perfect time for four skeletons to come out and dance a bit.

With the screen split asymmetrically, one part in positive, the other negative, the film documents the evolution of simple celled organic forms into chains of cells then more complex images from tribal cultures and contemporary modernist concepts. The images react, interpenetrate, perhaps attack, absorb and separate, until a final symbiosis (or redemption?) is achieved.

A woman--a pained expression on her face--burns letters in a stove.

Popular science descriptions of two marine crustaceans, both of whom camouflage themselves in found objects, moving, eating, interacting.

In a building site, a worker agonizes, after an accident, and tells his son about the virtues of honest work, but he's not heard. Turned into a vagabond and having mean people as company, the youth decides to get arrested in order to find a solace against winter. When he finally decides to follow his father advice and get himself a job, he falls under the influence of a policeman, under the false accusation of robbery.

Two people stand on a road, out of focus. Seen distorted through a glass, they retire upstairs to a bedroom where she undresses. He says, "Adieu." Images: the beautiful girl, a starfish in a jar, city scenes, newspapers, tugboats. More images: starfish, the girl. "How beautiful she is." Repeatedly. He advances up the stair, knife in hand, starfish on the step. Three people stand on a road, out of focus. "How beautiful she was." "How beautiful she is." "Beautiful."

An impoverished girl tries to sell matches on NYE. Shivering with cold and unable to sell her wares, she sits in a sheltered nook. Striking a match to keep warm, she sees things in the flame.

A would-be movie star experiences the surreal horrors of dehumanization at the bottom of Hollywood's social ladder as his hopes for success vanish and his identity is reduced to a number.

Hans Richter, noted for his abstract shorts, has everyday objects rebelling against their daily routine.

A coin found on the street turns out to be unlucky for those who attempt to possess it.

An expressionistic film based on Poe's story, about a murderer and his mental breakdown.

Obsessed with a general's woman, a clergyman has strange visions of death and lust, struggling against his own eroticism.

While playing his trombone, Zero sees Beatrix and falls in love. They spoon, kiss, and find happiness until she receives a letter from Kabul, demanding that she return to the palace of the grand vizier. The lovers part, heartbroken.

An avant-garde take on Poe's classic story of a traveller taking shelter at a household under a mysterious curse.

A long series of unrelated images, revolving, often distorted: lights, flowers, nails. A lightboard appears from time to time carrying the news of the day. Then, an eye. A woman in a car drives along country roads. Farm animals. She descends from the car, again and again. Images: dancing legs, seashore, swimming fish, geometric shapes, cut glass. A man removes his starched collar. It rotates. A girl has garishly painted eyes. No, she's only fooling. Those were her eyelids.

A young wife is contacted by a former boyfriend, who informs her that he has a collection of her love letters that he will turn over to her husband unless the woman pays him off. She and her butler hatch a plan to get the letters from the blackmailer before her husband sees them.

Tired of being ignored by her husband, a young woman heads off to a nautical-themed nightclub, frequented by rowdy sailors. Her attentions is caught by a handsome naval officer.

Shot in three days, this surreal, silent short shows a native white girl teaching a futuristic African airman the Charleston dance.

A couple is brutally murdered in the working-class district of Paris. Later on, the narrative follows the lives of their two daughters, both in love with a Parisian thug and leading them to separate ways.

A bill collector working in a tough neighborhood manages to rescue a young socialite from kidnappers.

A spiral design spins dizzily. It's replaced by a spinning disk. These two continue in perfect alternation until the end: a spiral design, a disk. Each disk is labelled and can be read as it rotates. The messages, in French, feature puns and whimsical rhymes and alliteration. The final message comments on the spiral motif itself.