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7000 Series COMEDY - 1 (7003)       (Library ref no. 83)

Everyone enjoys a comedy, so here are eight films offering all sorts of fun, transferred from 16mm to video using newly-restored prints and digital technology to continue to make them available for all time in definitive versions. There is a longer pause between items 4 and 5, to allow an interval to be taken if desired.

THIS TAPE IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF ROY WAINWRIGHT, FACI, IN HONOUR OF HIS OUTSTANDING WORK FOR THE IAC AND AMATEUR MOVIE-MAKING OVER MANY YEARS.

1. THE THING FROM BENEATH THE BED!! Chris Jones (Lancs)
Around midnight, the mysterious thing that lurks beneath the bed jumps out and goes darting round the house in a state of high excitement. We see everything from the creature's viewpoint, hearing it but never seeing it. (It's the director's own voice supplying the gurgles, by the way.) This made history as the first-ever video to win the top amateur prize in the IAC's annual International Competition.
This compilation uses the 16mm film transfer made by Colour Video Services for the IAC Awards Show held at BAFTA on Sunday, April 2, 1989.
IAC Daily Mail Trophy, Best Video Award, Best Editing Award, Best Sound Award 1989; Top Ten Video 1989

Humour
4.mins


2. THE MORNING AFTER ... Brian Dunckley, FACI (Newcastle Upon Tyne)
A young lady (Linda Lewis) awakens to a messy flat after the previous evening's party. Everything seems too bright and too noisy - and getting breakfast is very, very difficult to manage ...

IAC Gold Seal 1989

Humour
7.mins


3. THE STRANGE TALE OF ERNEST HUNCH Wanstead & Woodford Cine Club (Essex)
A poem-on-film in which a gent
Into a spin is truly sent
When he sips a drink that makes him wail
And sets in motion this amazing tale ...

Directed by John Franklin and made over two consecutive Sundays especially for an inter-club competition, this is a fine example of how with only a handful of props, but with a lot of enthusiasm, you can make a memorable comedy whose ending still surprises many years later.
Ten Best Oscar 1963; IAC Commendation 1965

Humour
b&w
5.mins


4. ONE MAN AND HIS DOG Donald Black (London)
A young man (played by the film-maker) tries to telephone his girl-friend (Penny Ross) from a call-box, but his efforts are constantly frustrated by his companion - a massive St Bernard (Hennessey, trained by Colin Burke). This is an enjoyable piece of visual story-telling - essentially a 'silent' comedy - set to a clever music score by Pamela Liebeck (played by The Keele Players) which fits the action precisely; and even the dialogue is rendered in the form of descriptive musical sounds. The film-maker moved to London in 1960 from Cape Town, South Africa, to study film technique. Soon afterwards he began shooting this film in Parsons Green, near Fulham in south-west London. Due to a lack of both equipment and funds it was 12 years before it was finished.
Ten Best Oscar, Best Sound Award 1973

Humour
b&w
14.mins


5. LEGENDS OF DOO-WOP Tony Martillaro (USA)
Wayne (Wayne Morgan) and Rich (Richard J. Mortillaro) are two aging background vocalists who claim to have been behind some of the biggest rock-and-roll songs recorded in the 1950s and 60s. We see 'film clips' of them in youthful action (Darin Morgan and Tony Mortillaro) and also 'stills of the era'. The flashback performances are all in perfect synchronisation and it is extremely inventive - and it's fun!
IAC International Award (Open) 1990

Humour
7.mins


6. NIGHTWATCH Peter Ryde, FACI (Spalding, Lincs)
We are taken on a visit to Spalding's Urban Nocturnal Wildlife Study Centre where the scientists have found a way to see 'night creatures' in the dark! A beautifully written and delivered commentary and ingeniously contrived visuals (including the use of single-frame animation) add up to a really humorous and delightful film.
IAC International Award, Best Humour 1986

Animation/
Humour
7.mins


7. THE NECKTIE Stan Whitsitt (USA)
At the IAC's 1989 International Amateur Film and Video Festival held in London under the banner of movie 89, Helen Welsh, FACI, of Albany, New York, brought over a programme of films for one of the events - the 'USA AND CANADA EVENING'. One of the films Helen showed was this modest short and it caused much amusement. It quickly found its way into the IAC Film & Video Library in this slightly abridged version. It is about a man who, despite preferring his favourite narrow neckties, finds plenty of ways to use his more fashionable wider ties.

Humour
4.mins


8. THE GREAT PRAM RACE Finchley Cine Society (London)
One can never resist the invitation to join the fun and fantasy world of FCS and this fast-moving slapstick comedy will not disappoint. Directed and photographed by David Wyatt, it has enormous energy and is full of incredible set-pieces. Its crane shots are filled to the frame-edge with members and friends of the society dressed in all sorts of apt(?) costumes and playing all sorts of roles. Imagine being a shopper in Finchley on a busy weekend and finding yourself in the midst of a filming session involving 15 prams whose 'drivers' are all slithering about on banana skins! And whatever you do - do not join the bus queue!
Ten Best Oscar 1979; IAC Very Highly Commended 1979

Humour
11.mins


(Donated by Valrie Ellis, FACI) 

Total running time 59 mins. DVD


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