A Day of Thanksgiving
Centron provides a look from the 1950s at Thanksgiving.
Make Mine Freedom
This is a piece of anti-communist propaganda from what was then known as Harding College out in Searcy, Arkansas.
Teenagers From Outer Space
The Internet Archive states: ‘A young alien (David Love) falls for a pretty teenage Earth girl (Dawn Anderson) and they team up to try to stop the plans of his invading cohorts.’
The Power To Serve
A look at CEI from the Jam Handy Organization. Known as the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company at the time, the film extols the company’s virtues. The old coal plant along Ashtabula’s lakeshore is shown in the film.
Immunization (Second edition)
Dating to 1955, this film from Encyclopaedia Britannica talks about the miracles of vaccines and immunization. Before we had mRNA technology this was how the magic happened.
Trailer: Radar Men From The Moon
This is the trailer to the multi-part serial that aired as part of the first season of Mystery Science Theater 3000. We’ll start with this before deciding upon showing the whole thing or not.
Phantom From Space
A monster crashes from space in the Los Angeles area and a ragtag crew has to neutralize the threat.
Invasion of the Neptune Men
A jaunt into the realm of monochrome monsters invading Japan.
Making Films That Teach
This is an educational film that is literally about making educational films. Most people in the developed world can post video online at will. Creating good video to post is not as easy as it seems.
This Island Called Wallops
“NASA history file film about its Wallops Island launch facility.”
First Spaceship on Venus
A film from the wrong side of the Iron Curtain painting quite a view of space exploration. This is not the riffed version.
Voyage To The Planet Of Prehistoric Women
A reworking of the Soviet film Planeta Bur.
Using the Bank
This short provides a look at relatively antique banking practices from the middle of the 20th century. It may look a little strange in the Age of COVID.
Shake Hands With Danger
This one is marked EXPLICIT in the feed due to simulated construction site and workplace accidents as well as simulated gore. This is a 1970s training film produced for Caterpillar Tractor Company with quite the guitar track showing what not to do on a job site.
Communism
In a monochromatic short from the 1950s we learn about Communism from the folks at Coronet Films.
The Responsibilities of American Citizenship
We sample Cold War propaganda by hearing about the responsibilities of American Citizenship.
Despotism
To start November we begin by learning about despotism from the Prelinger Archive.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
For Halloween we have a silent film. Yes, we turn to an early film by Universal that does a send-up of a Jules Verne story. The story originally came out towards the end of the Second Empire in France and the launch of the Third Republic.
Nancy Drew...Reporter
This is a 1930s era film featuring Bonita Granville as Nancy Drew. No, it is nothing like what is seen on the CW today. Please bear in mind that it is also very much a product of the time when it was produced and may seem quite offensive at points today.
Astronauts: United States Project Mercury, ca. 1960
This film is part of NASA’s history files. In it we learn about the astronauts of the Mercury project. NASA made many, many films to document itself to share with the public.
Dedicating the Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility for An American Hero
NASA Image Exchange states:
Radio Broadcasting Today
This is a film out of the Academic Film Archive of North America. They work to snag films heading for destruction so that they can be preserved. These aren’t necessarily the same as the Coronet and Centron films that the folks at RiffTrax work with.
Atomic Rulers of the World
This is another installment from the Starman quartet. The Starman films are very, very goofy. In their monochrome glory they show quite a view of Japan way back when.
BBS: The Documentary -- Episode 8
The eighth episode about a part of our early computer culture.
BBS: The Documentary -- Episode 7
The seventh episode about a part of our early computer culture.
BBS: The Documentary -- Episode 6
The sixth episode about a part of our early computer culture.
BBS: The Documentary -- Episode 5
The fifth episode about a part of our early computer culture.
BBS: The Documentary -- Episode 4
The fourth episode about a part of our early computer culture.
BBS: The Documentary -- Episode 3
The third episode about a part of our early computer culture.
BBS: The Documentary -- Episode 2
The second episode about a part of our early computer culture.
BBS: The Documentary -- Episode 1
The first episode about a part of our early computer culture.
Teenagers From Outer Space
Classic science fiction madness.
Propaganda Techniques
In this particular instance Coronet looks at “Propaganda Techniques” and how to counteract them.
Coronet Films: Communism
In this installment from Coronet Films we take a look circa 1952 at Marxist-Leninist Communism. This film was found in the Prelinger Collection.
Yongary
This is a Korean take on the monster movie concept.
Exercise and Health
The folks at RiffTrax are legendary for their takes on films by Coronet Films. This film is another item from the Coronet pantheon. It is meant as light-hearted fare.
The Phantom Creeps
Mystery Science Theater approached this film. This is not that version.
Evil Brain From Outer Space
This is another installment of the Star Man quartet of films.
Puerto Rico: A Colony The American Way
Puerto Rico circa 1970. Things were different half a century ago.
Big Buck Bunny
This cartoon was made as a technical demonstration of an animation program known as Blender.
Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory
This is the unriffed version of a B-movie monster flick that RiffTrax had its British squad cover.
Connecting To BBS's In 2017 With The WiFi232 Modem
This is a semi-nostalgic look at the world of the BBS. Yes, it is possible to return to that which was. It isn’t the same, though.
McCulloch v. Maryland
A dramatization of proceedings around McCulloch v. Maryland.
Gibbons v. Ogden
A dramatization of proceedings around Gibbons v. Ogden.
United States v. Aaron Burr
A dramatization of proceedings around United States v. Aaron Burr.
Attack From Space
This is a film already riffed by the guys at RiffTrax a few years ago. Via the magic of the Internet Archive we have the unriffed version.
Dora's Dunking Donuts
A Shirley Temple comedy short.
Beach Girls and the Monster
The Mads Are Back…and they riffed this.
The Bottle and the Throttle
Another classic 1960s Sid Davis film intended to scare the tar out of people.
Getting Ready Physically
Coronet Films gets spoofed quite a bit by RiffTrax. This is an unriffed look at one of their films caught up in the Prelinger Archive.
Warning From Space
An unriffed monster movie from Japan.
Cosmos: War of the Planets
A “Spaghetti Space Opera”. Don’t get drunk…
Marbury v. Madison
A dramatization of proceedings around Marbury v. Madison.
Rocky Jones, Space Ranger -- Crash of the Moons
Switching gears with this pick, we wind up turning to Rocky Jones. This is a glimpse at a future that never was. The concept of a Secretary of Space is kinda nice and perhaps we may end up adopting that some day in our own timeline. This is a 1950s retro romp through the galaxy so prepare for blast off!
Killers From Space
The film Killers From Space is supposedly considered psychotronic. With Peter Graves and Coleman Francis it can only be considered a wee bit crazy.
Manos
Eventually we have to get to Manos: The Hands of Fate. This is the unriffed version.