Bert Haanstra's Oscar-winning short subject about glassmaking is a lot of fun to watch. It has a nice jazzy score that complements the visuals, especially when the glassblower puffs out his cheeks to make a hollow object, with chops as large as Louis Armstrong's, or when one of the workers in an industrial glass plant uses the still-hot glass to light his cigarette.
It's a well deserved Oscar, and I wouldn't imply otherwise. However, given that the major studios, and even the minor ones, had given up regular short subject production, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences effectively opened the category to foreign pictures.
