A Christmas Wish is a heartwarming holiday classic about a family led by (Jimmy Durante) who is down on their luck at Christmas time.Shortly before Christmas, they move into an apartment where Rupert the squirrel lives in the attic rafters. Just as it seems that the holiday will come and go without so much as a Christmas tree, Rupert acts as the family’s guardian angel – not only saving Christmas, but changing their lives forever.
Abbott and Costello’s version of the famous fairy tale, about a young boy who trades the family cow for magic beans.
Two bear cubs want to meet Santa despite their mother telling them that Santa does not exist. With the help of the park ranger, their wish might come true!
A fairy godmother magically turns Cinderella’s rags to a beautiful dress, and a pumpkin into a coach. Cinderella goes to the ball, where she meets the Prince – but will she remember to leave before the magic runs out? Méliès based the art direction on engravings by Gustave Doré. First known example of a fairy-tale adapted to film, and the first film to use dissolves to go from one scene to another.
In late nineteenth century New York a Wall Street broker likes to think his house runs his way, but finds himself constantly bemused at how much of what happens is down to his wife. His children are also stretching their wings, discovering girls and making money out of patent medicine selling. When it comes to light he has never been baptized and everyone starts insisting he must do so, it all starts to get a […]
Ojo and Unc Nunkie are out of food, so they decide to journey to the Emerald City where they will never starve. Along the way, they meet Mewel, a waif and stray (mule) who leads them to Dr. Pipt, who has been stirring the powder of life for nine years. Ojo adds plenty of brains to Margolotte’s Patchwork servant before she is brought to life with the powder. When Scraps does come to life, she […]
A fictionalized account of the real-life adventure of the Sager family. Travelling with a wagon train from Missouri to Oregon, things are going well for the Sagers, until father Sager dies from blood poisoning following an Indian attack, and mother Sager dies soon afterward from pneumonia. The leaders of the wagon train decide to send the children back, but the oldest, John (who had been described by all the adults as lazy and worthless), decides […]
Heidi leaves the mountains of Switzerland for a trip to New York City.
Adaptation of a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, about an emperor who prefers the tinkling of a bejeweled mechanical bird to the song of a real nightingale. When the Emperor is near death, the nightingale’s song restores his health.
A German adaptation of the classic Lewis Carroll story.
A divorced woman (Michael Learned) moves to San Francisco from Omaha with her young son. She’s trying to re-build her life after her divorce, she leaves her son with his grandmother. She joins the choir of a local church. She has some issues with the choirmaster (John Houseman) who tries to get the choir into shape before the Christmas concert. The choir overcome some personal stebacks as they all deal with personal issues. Zoe (Michael […]
When private tutor Thomas Arnold (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) becomes headmaster at Rugby, a boy’s preparatory school in England, he puts into place a policy of strict punishment for unruliness and bulying. Arnold finds an ally in Tom Brown (Jimmy Lydon), a new student who is subjected to hazing and abuse by a group of older boys and is pressured by his friends to keep quiet about it. Fed up, he leads his fellow classmates in […]
An airport redcap works hard to get his family out of the ghetto, only to discover that his son has sickle-cell anemia.
Eleanor and her parents are hunting big game, acompanied by her wimpish fiance.
Scrooge, the ultimate Victorian miser, hasn’t a good word for Christmas, though his impoverished clerk Cratchit and nephew Fred are full of holiday spirit. But in the night, Scrooge is visited by spirits of another color. Straightforward adaptation of Dickens Written by Rod Crawford
When a lighthouse keeper takes in a seal in need and gives to his children to look after, the whole family is drawn into the shadowy world of illegal seal poaching. The family then finds themselves leading the fight to rid their coastal town of the criminals and save the seals.
A dark and stormy night. Pluto is spirited away to the spooky mansion of an evil genius for a mad transplant scheme to put his head on the body of a chicken. Mickey gives chase, but find himself threatened severely by the house and its denizens.
Christmas edition of the Howdy Doody Show
An “electronic puppet” version of the Humperdinck opera, adapted for children and using spoken dialogue as well as Humperdinck’s music.
In this longer-than-the-norm cartoon, Raggedy Ann, in a mission in Heaven, works a minor miracle, with the help of the elements.
Happy sunshine-bottling gnomes battle gloomy swamp-dwellers.
The rare original version of the classic underdog holiday story by ace animator Max Fleischer.
Lazy black folks in Lazy Town (Pop. 123½) are napping and attracting flies. They are so lethargic they even fight in slow motion. Then a riverboat arrives with a red hot mama on board. Faster than you can say “Jim Crow”, she has everyone moving to a Harlem boogie beat, dancing, scrubbing clothes, and eating watermelon. As the boogie-woogie comes to a close, Mammy hoists her skirt. Her big bottom reads “The End”.
It’s very human and nice story about lofty princess (her father is amiable but incapable – unforgettable performance of S. Neumann) and good, nice, kind and well-principled young king (prince) who tries to make tender her calm heart to get married with her. After being refused (she’s very capricious), he conclude to make her better. He start to work as a gardener at her castle (in secret) and successively bring she to her senses…The story […]
A young horse says hi to little donkey Spunky. But the horse’s mother pulls him away, saying we don’t associate with that kind. Spunky makes a few more overtures, and eventually they set off on a chase, running across a bull from time to time. The horse stops to eat a lot of apples and drink far too much water; this leaves him too bloated to move much at all. The two continue to anger […]
Silent version of Tom Sawyer that was filmed in Pleasanton, California in 1917. Stars Jack Pickford as Tom Sawyer.
The little mice use the Toy Store as an amusement park and a chance to show off their musical skills as they use all the instruments lying around. A story, of sorts, finally happens in the last couple of minutes when a mangy cat spots the mice the rodents use their ingenuity to evade the feline.
Gabby goes camping with the Mayor.
Casper struggles to find friends who won’t run away scared when they meet him.
Gabby teaches a young boy how to fish, even though the boy was doing much better without him.
A canary is frustrated by being caged, particularly with a parrot taunting him when humans aren’t watching. One day, he tricks the kind old lady that owns him into opening the window, and she also leaves the door to his cage open. Freedom! But it’s not all it’s cracked up to be; the other birds are either cuckoos (complete with Napoleon hat) or shun him, the rain comes and there’s no shelter, and a cat […]
A reporter interviews Max Fleischer about his creation, and Betty illustrates with excerpts from three prior cartoons.
Bluto is accusing Popeye in judge Wimpy’s courtroom. Bluto tells a sad tale of how Popeye attacked him without provocation, but Popeye tells his side, in detail
It’s the middle ages (sort of); Popeye is working in Bluto’s Beanery. Bluto is going to the ball where Princess Olive will choose her mate. Popeye’s fairy godpappy appears and it’s a reverse Cinderella story, with a car created from a can of spinach.
A man returns to his Appalachian homestead. On the trip, he falls for a young woman. The only problem is her family has vowed to kill every member of his family.
In this sequel to Treasure Island, Long John hopes to rescue his friend Jim from a rival pirate and return for more treasure.
An orphan in 1850 Missouri gets into a variety of scrapes, including a murder mystery. Entertaining David O. Selznick production of Mark Twain classic with more slapstick than Twain may have had in mind. Cave sequence with Injun Joe is unforgettable.
After years of prospecting, Jonathan finally strikes gold. He returns to town only to discover that his partner has since died and left Tommy fatherless. He decides to leave Shep (played by Lassie) with Tommy to cheer him up. Meanwhile, Jonathan’s new partner, Lin, isn’t interested in sharing the gold, and lures Jonathan to his death. Lassie immediately deduces what’s happened, so Lin poisons Lassie. Lassie barely pulls through and pursues Lin to a climactic […]
The classic Shirley Temple film in which a little girl goes in search of her father who is reported missing by the military during World War I.
An American boy turns out to be the heir of a wealthy British earl. He is sent to live with the irritable and unsentimental aristocrat, his grandfather.
A recalcitrant thief vies with a duplicitous Mongol ruler for the hand of a beautiful princess.
Gulliver washes ashore on Lilliput and attempts to prevent war between that tiny kingdom and its equally-miniscule rival, Blefiscu, as well as smooth the way for the romance between the Princess and Prince of the opposing lands. In this he is alternately aided and hampered by the Lilliputian town crier and general fussbudget, Gabby. A life-threatening situation develops when the bumbling trio of Blefiscu spies, Sneak, Snoop, and Snitch, manage to steal Gulliver’s pistol.
Toymaker tells a bizarre story about how the Land of Oz was ruled by Prince Kynd, but he was overthrown by Prime Minister Kruel. Dorothy learns from Aunt Em that fat, cruel Uncle Henry is not her uncle, and gives her a note due on her eighteenth birthday, which reveals she is actually Princess Dorothea of Oz, and is supposed to marry Prince Kynd. She, Uncle Henry , and two farmhands are swept to Oz […]
Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book is given the full treatment in this lavish retelling filled with huge sets, exotic animals, a large cast and the incomparable Sabu, starring as Mowgli, the young orphan boy raised by wolves. Curious to reconnect with his human village, Mowgli returns only to find disappointment in the greed and treachery of man. Over time, Mowgli and the village members do grow to trust one another, but not before the village finds […]
Laurel & Hardy: Best of...
