To the Future and Beyond

Oddball Films Media • Dec 27, 2016

Mr. Fox is excited to come back to life after his cryogenic defrosting, until he sees what life is like as only a head in the satirical sci-fi short Welcome Back Mr. Fox(1986). Trends (1967) is a quirky, animated futurist film by Hungary’s first animated feature film director. Westworld Production Short (1973) goes behind the scenes into a Michael Crichton film about futuristic amusement parks for the ultra-wealthy. Future Shock, a 1972 documentary narrated by Orson Welles, about speedy future technologies and our human inability to keep up with the times. Zip off into the future in space in the trippy, zippy Kosmodrome 1999 (1969). What is the World Coming To? (1926) predicting life in the future as we watch gender-bending screwballs get married.

Date:  2017 at 8:00pm
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco
Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilms.com or (415) 558-8117
Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com
 

Featuring:

Trends (1967, Color)
Originally titled “Tendenciar”, this thought-provoking animated short was produced by the acclaimed Pannonia Film Studio in 1967. It was directed by Marcell Jankovics, the director of Hungary’s first full-length animated feature, as well as the Academy Award nominated short Sisyphus. Aside from a short introduction by a narrator, the film contains no spoken dialogue. Instead, it uses inventive images and music to speculate on the trends of the future—possible future trends in anatomy, human sexuality, communication, and other futuristic predictions are depicted.

 

Westworld Production Short (Color, 1973) 

In Michael Crichton’s film Westworld, the road trip extends beyond the highway and into space. In the future, only the super-wealthy are able to afford trips to amusement park “worlds,” where they are free of all rules and laws. Yul Brenner stars as a Gunslinger android in the Old West themed park, which goes haywire and begins to attack the guests. This short focuses on the production of Westworld, providing a bizarre behind-the-scenes look at the many amusement parks featured in the film, and mostly importantly, Brenner’s detachable face.

 
Future Shock (1972, color)
Synthesizer keyboard sounds set the futuristic stage in the1972 Future Shock short documentary film directed by Alex Grasshoff, narrated by Orson Welles, and based on the best-selling book Future Shock by Alvin Toffler. In this film, learn about how technology is moving too quickly for humans to keep up with it, leading us to experience future shock. Some of the “shocking” material in this show is hilariously banal to us today, and some of it has not (yet?) come to pass!  
 
The Future Belongs to the Airman (1958, Color)
In this unabashedly confident PSA for the US Air Force, viewers learn how they can be part of the exciting Space Age, courtesy of Uncle Sam.
 

Kosmodrome 1999 (Color, 1969, by Frantisek Vystreil)
The year is 1999. Interstellar travel is so commonplace; hordes of commuters shuttle about on rockets as casually as they commute from SF to LA today. Our hero misses his flight, however and his zany adventures with the Rube Goldberg-like rocket he tries to enlist results in bizarre and weirdly animated adventures. Brilliant animation and zany, electronic sounds! Produced by the famed Kratky Film Company in Prague.

What's the World Coming To? (1926, B+W) 
Watch these gender-bending screwballs in this rare slapstick short by Hal Roach. In the future deliveries are made by blimp while men dress like women and women like men. Watch them marry in this gender bending screwball short! Print courtesy of the Jenni Olson Queer Film Archive.
 

Welcome Back Mr. Fox (Color, 1986)
A funny science fiction short set in the not-too-distant future. Mr. Fox, a movie producer, has just been resuscitated from a cryogenic freeze, only to find out that his future is not as he hoped it would be. He is only a head that must be attached and detached from a robot body. Directed by Walter Pitt.

Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century (Color, 1952, Chuck Jones)
An all-star classic from the legendary Chuck Jones in stunning Technicolor. Daffy Duck stars as space hero Duck Dodgers, Porky Pig as his assistant, and Marvin the Martian as his opponent. Duck Dodgers must search for a rare element, called Illudium Pohsdex (aka The Shaving Cream Atom), which can be obtained in the mysterious “Planet X.” Duck Dodgers is about to claim Planet X in the name of Earth, when it turns out that Marvin the Martian has also landed on the same planet. Duck Dodgers and the Martian battle it out, using various instruments of mass destruction-- after all of the explosion, there is no planet to claim. Duck Dodgers, Porky Pig and Marvin the Martian are left dangling from what is left  of Planet X.
 

Space Angel #33: The Gladiators (1964, B&W)
One episode from a short animated series drawn by Alex Toth from 1962-1964. Don’t miss this ‘stellar’ battle between our tireless hero, Space Angel and a futuristic Roman gladiator. Complete with Coliseum (located on some other, obscure planet, of course), screaming, blood-thirsty masses and laser shooting ‘chariots’. Utilizing a combination of traditional drawn animation and the ”Synchro-Vox” lip synching technique; this is a rare treat from a short-lived series made during the height of the space age!