Dwight Weist

The Narrator tells us how the radio influenced his childhood in the days before TV. In the New York City of the late 1930s to the New Year's Eve 1944, this coming-of-age tale mixes the narrator's experiences with contemporary anecdotes and urban legends of the radio stars.

Open details →

14th-century Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his young novice arrive at a conference to find that several monks have been murdered under mysterious circumstances. To solve the crimes, William must rise up against the Church's authority and fight the shadowy conspiracy of monastery monks using only his intelligence; which is considerable.

Open details →

An erotic story about a woman, the assistant of an art gallery, who gets involved in an impersonal affair with a man. She barely knows about his life, only about the sex games they play, so the relationship begins to get complicated.

Open details →

Fictional documentary about the life of human chameleon Leonard Zelig, a man who becomes a celebrity in the 1920s due to his ability to look and act like whoever is around him. Clever editing places Zelig in real newsreel footage of Woodrow Wilson, Babe Ruth, and others.

Open details →

Human torture. Factories of death. War atrocities. The crimes that haunt the pagse of history are chronicled in the piercing documentary Camps of Death. Following Hitler's murderous career, the film traces his rise to power, his ultimate demise, and the subsequent nuremberg trials that publicized the horrors of Hitler's regime. Concentration camp footage combines with chilling POW interviews to graphically create the nazi nightmare that few could hope to survive. A powerful look at the third reich adn the horrifying fate of its enemies.

Open details →

Short news featurette produced by Pathe-RKO after the Russians launched the first orbiting satellite, Sputnik. It is a patriotic 'call to arms' from the threat posed by this and the need for Americans to spend more on education in general and a college education in particular. A visit to the University of Buffalo highlights its science programs and the need for more graduates from all technical disciplines if America is to rise to the challenge. It bemoans the fact the PhDs earn less than a mechanic and the need to re-order priorities.

Open details →

A compilation featuring comedic stars of the silent era including Will Rogers, Laurel and Hardy, and the Keystone Cops.

Open details →

A showcase of bullfighting in Portugal, explaining how the country's version of the sport differs from those in Spain and Latin America and helps define the national character. After showing the training techniques for the bulls and horses, a bullfight is presented.

Open details →

This Warner Bros. vignette features short snippets about well known people. It includes presidential candidate Warren Harding and his front porch campaign in his home town of Marion, Ohio where Al Jolson sang to the crowd; his successor, Calvin Coolidge; William Jennings Bryan at the 1920 Democratic convention where FDR was selected as the Vice Presidential candidate; the visit of the Prince of Wales; the so-called monkey trial that pitted Clarence Darrow against Bryan; Richard Bird as he trained for his flight over the North Pole; and finally George Bernard Shaw on a visit to America.

Open details →

This short film looks at the history of gold, and how the less expensive gold filled process is used to bring glitter to the masses.

Open details →

This short goes inside government research laboratories to showcase some of the products that will be used in the near future. Some are for general use, such as computerized assembly lines, nuclear energy and solar powered batteries, and industrial uses for television. Others are consumer products, including video telephones, videotape to make instant home movies, irradiated food, and fully automated kitchens.

Open details →

This Warner Bros. short reviews in an often humorous way the impact of the automobile on the United States. By 1900, the horseless carriage was beginning to have an impact. Early adopters were often the object of attention by large curious crowds. There were many car manufacturers and the quality of their product varied considerably. Traffic jams, pollution and automobile racing were only a few of the outcomes.

Open details →

Warner Brothers looks back to the early days of talking pictures. Dwight Weist narrates film clips from five movies: "Sinner's Holiday," introducing James Cagney with a glimpse of Joan Blondell, "20,000 Years in Sing Sing," with a young Spencer Tracy and a younger Bette Davis, "Five Star Final," with Edward G. Robinson and a cameo from Boris Karloff, "Night Nurse," starring Barbara Stanwyck with a small role for Clark Gable, and "Svengali," with John Barrymore and Marian Marsh. Each movie is summarized and each star celebrated for work early in the history of sound cinema.

Open details →

a short film by Robert Youngson

Open details →

"Classic Of The Screen" (Vitaphone #2341-A) features shots of famous boxers John L. Sullivan, Jim Corbett, Bob Fitzimmons, Jack Johnson, Jes Willard, Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, Tommy Gibbons, Max Schmeling, Jack Sharkey, Primo Carnera, Max Baer, Joe Louis, Ezzard Charles, Jersey Joe Walcott, and Rocky Marciano.

Open details →

A Warner Brothers Vitaphone Variety narrated short film highlighting the 1928 biblical tale of "Noah's Ark."

Open details →

A documentary about firemen and some of the spectacular blazes they fight.

Open details →

A look at the women of 1900 to 1950. Ladies accomplishments through the years, shown with rare footage of different eras. Fashions, famous women, styles, accomplishments, jobs, and the evolution of the bathing suit creates an entertaining, interesting, and fast paced film. Lady lumberjacks, steeplejacks, railroad maintenance during WW1, nurses, suffrage, different dances, aerial daredevils, women police, styles of clothing, hair styles, WW2, and bikinis are just some of the news footage shown.

Open details →

This short film details the history of the 'Friendship Train', created, following the end of World War II, to travel across the United States to collect food for war ravaged countries in Europe.

Open details →

This edition of the series, Volume 7, Number 2, examines the concerns in the medical profession regarding the shortage of qualified nurses. It takes a look at the importance of the profession, the training they must undergo and a glimpse of their social life during the three-year journey taken by student-nurses.

Open details →

A look at post-war American railroads during their conversion to peace, operating under the handicap of little to no new equipment. It then looks at the plans for the future designed to provide swifter, safer and more comfortable traveling for the American public. Swifter is about all that is now left of the plans detailed in this 1947 short. The vast majority of the American public has no access to rail travel, all of the depots are gone, along with thousands and thousands of miles of track, and railroading is now a shipping service, mostly of truck trailers and containers. No complaints, other than most wish they could have at least kept the mournful, lonely and lovely sound of the old steam whistle. Diesel horns in the night have inspired very few songs or dreams. The essence of railroading, for older America, is captured in the title of this short.

Open details →

This video is about the four victors of the war in Europe occupying Germany. The video shows a devastated Germany and its clean up. There are Germans how have to help rebuild there own country. There is the small percentage that still prosper though. The four zones of Germany became split between the victors: The United States, France, Great Britain and the USSR. The video gets specific about the United States is doing to help rebuild Germany from shipping food to teaching journalism. But there still are people how are trying to promote "not Germany's fault" to a black market. There is also mention of war crime tribunals as well.

Open details →

Open details →

1947 short film that was nominated for an Oscar in the category "Best Documentary, Short Subjects"

Open details →

A short film about Mardi Gras in New Orleans from the point of view of those who make Carnival happen.

Open details →

A travelogue showcasing the Great Lakes region of the Midwestern United States, featuring the many industries, cities and states that depend upon the Great Lakes for the manufacturing, shipping and distribution of vital goods and services that power the US economy.

Open details →

In this short film's four segments, "Bowery Beautician", "Chutes", "Home Brew", and "Girth Control", the viewer is shown how certain conveniences and inventions aid the user.

Open details →

Songwriter Benny Davis goes through an elaborate buildup before he is allowed to sing a collection of his songs. He takes a group of his friends through his song-factory, and workmen break out in a rash of dances and song numbers. Davis then sings some of his own songs.

Open details →

A Technicolor documentary about painting.

Open details →