Ricochet

An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time. (Silent short, voiced in 1937 and 1996.)

Melvin, a flora-enthusiast, has Agoraphobia. He finds solace only in his house plants, but when he receives an enticing flier about the flower of the month, he is forced to venture outside in hopes of snagging the ultimate plant.

Francesca and Joe are astronauts who've become lovers. Bunkered up in their little spaceship, Earth is a distant reality, everything they want is right here. But their mission is ending, and Joe's wife is waiting for him back home. Thinking she's going to lose him, Francesca takes desperate measures, leading to terrible and unintended consequences.

A confirmed bachelor learns that he will inherit his late uncle's fortune only if he marries, which he does reluctantly. Shortly afterward he returns to his bachelor lifestyle but realizes he can't get his wife's face out of his thoughts.

Albertina is a celebrated dancer whose fame is widespread. However, she has overtaxed her strength, is forbidden to appear in public and is obliged to seek quiet and rest. She retires to her Aunt Mary's home, a beautiful and restful country place, where she secures the much-needed seclusion and comfort. Next door to Aunt Mary there lives a very handsome fellow who has often admired Aunt Mary's niece and to tell the truth she admires him. Growing restless under the enforced retirement, Albertina strolls down to the lake where the water-lilies grow. She pulls a number of them into a garland which she holds bewitchingly above her head. They give her an inspiration and involuntarily she pirouettes, bends and swerves her lithe and willowy form like a nymph of ethereal sweetness. The young man who lives next door is rowing upon the lake; He see Albertina dancing on the velvety field of grass, is charmed by her, and rushes toward her.

The big whale round-up at Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, is brought to the screen with a realism not often found in fish stories. Cameras are on hand to record the annual sea drama as herds of pothead whales are driven inshore by fishing boats and killed in shallow water. There is tense excitement as, their escape cut off, the marine monsters fight for their lives. Reporter Fred Davis is told about the commercial uses of whale meat and whale products, particularly in mink farming.

In a wordless story with semi-surreal stage sets, a poor black man ventures from his ramshackle rural home to the big city, where a dancing girl in a dive two-times him. He returns to his home and wife's arms.

The ultimate Bobby Jones golf series reaches its climactic conclusion on board a speeding train to oblivion.

Carlos Gardel and guitars performing "Añoranzas", vals written and composed by José María Aguilar.

A descent into the maelstrom of anguish that tormented Arthur Lipsett, a famed Canadian experimental filmmaker who died at 49. A diary transmuted into a clash of images and sounds charting a prodigious frenzy of creation, a tableau depicting an artist’s dizzying descent into depression and madness: with LIPSETT DIARIES, Theodore Ushev renews his filmmaking aesthetic and explores what happens when genius is on a first-name basis with madness.

A little entry from the RKO shorts department serving also as an audition-type (stick 'em in one of these and see if they appeal to a real audience, and make a buck or two at the same time)film for studio contractees and budding starlets. And, surrounded and supported by veteran character actors, such as Jack Norton, Jack Rice and Harrison Green, the likes of Tony Martin, Phyllis Brooks and Lucille Ball usually looked pretty good. And soon made for themselves, with studio help, rather nice Hollywood careers.