
Scherzo(1939)
Norman McLaren made Scherzo early after his arrival in North America in 1939, but the film was subsequently lost. In 1984 the original materials were found and the hand-drawn images and sound were reconstituted. Picture and sound dance triple-quick in this animated version of a musical scherzo. A film without words.

Movie: Scherzo
Scherzo
HomePage
Overview
Norman McLaren made Scherzo early after his arrival in North America in 1939, but the film was subsequently lost. In 1984 the original materials were found and the hand-drawn images and sound were reconstituted. Picture and sound dance triple-quick in this animated version of a musical scherzo. A film without words.
Release Date
1939-11-13
Average
6.2
Rating:
3.1 startsTagline
Genres
Languages:
No Language
Recommendations Movies
6.4Blinkity Blank(en)
A playful exercise in intermittent animation and spasmodic imagery. Playing with the laws relating to persistence of vision and after-image on the retina of the eye, McLaren engraves pictures on blank film creating vivid, percussive effects.
7.0Dolemite Is My Name(en)
The story of Rudy Ray Moore, who created the iconic big screen pimp character Dolemite in the 1970s.
7.1Fear Street: 1666(en)
In 1666, a colonial town is gripped by a hysterical witch-hunt that has deadly consequences for centuries to come, and it's up to teenagers in 1994 to finally put an end to their town's curse, before it's too late.
6.7Border(sv)
When a border guard with a sixth sense for identifying smugglers encounters the first person she cannot prove is guilty, she is forced to confront terrifying revelations about herself and humankind.
6.5The United States vs. Billie Holiday(en)
Billie Holiday spent much of her career being adored by fans. In the 1940s, the government targeted Holiday in a growing effort to racialize the war on drugs, ultimately aiming to stop her from singing her controversial ballad, "Strange Fruit."
7.3Through the Fire(fr)
Franck is a firefighter in Paris. He saves people. He lives at the station with his wife, who is about to have twins. He’s happy. During a call out to a fire, he puts himself in danger, to save his men. He’s going to have to learn to live again and accept to be the one being saved, this time.
7.6The Seed of the Sacred Fig(fr)
Investigating judge Iman grapples with paranoia amid political unrest in Tehran. When his gun vanishes, he suspects his wife and daughters, imposing draconian measures that strain family ties as societal rules crumble.
8.1Zack Snyder's Justice League(en)
Determined to ensure Superman's ultimate sacrifice was not in vain, Bruce Wayne aligns forces with Diana Prince with plans to recruit a team of metahumans to protect the world from an approaching threat of catastrophic proportions.
7.0Secret Magic Control Agency(ru)
The Secret Magic Control Agency sends its two best agents, Hansel and Gretel, to fight against the witch of the Gingerbread House.
6.4Come Play(en)
Oliver, a lonely autistic boy, seeks solace and refuge in his ever-present cell phone and tablet. When a mysterious creature uses the boy's devices against him, his parents must fight to save their son from the monster beyond the screen.
6.2In for a Murder(pl)
A stay-at-home mom and avid reader of crime stories discovers the deepest secrets of a small town's residents while investigating a woman's murder.
7.0Julieta(es)
The film spans 30 years in Julieta’s life from a nostalgic 1985 where everything seems hopeful, to 2015 where her life appears to be beyond repair and she is on the verge of madness.
6.3Just Say Yes(nl)
Incurable romantic Lotte finds her life upended when her plans for a picture-perfect wedding unravel -- just as her self-absorbed sister gets engaged.
8.1The Hate U Give(en)
Raised in a poverty-stricken slum, a 16-year-old girl named Starr now attends a suburban prep school. After she witnesses a police officer shoot her unarmed best friend, she's torn between her two very different worlds as she tries to speak her truth.
7.4The Farewell(en)
A headstrong Chinese-American woman returns to China when her beloved grandmother is given a terminal diagnosis. Billi struggles with her family's decision to keep grandma in the dark about her own illness as they all stage an impromptu wedding to see grandma one last time.
7.2Badhaai Ho(hi)
A 25-year-old man tries to suppress his embarrassment when his mother announces that she is pregnant.
6.3Just a Breath Away(fr)
When a deadly mist engulfs Paris, people find refuge in the upper floors of the buildings. With no information, no electricity and hardly any supplies, Mathieu, Anna and their daughter Sarah try to survive the disaster.
Similar Movies
5.0Banner of Youth(pl)
A short film advertising the newspaper Sztandar Młodych (The Banner of Youth), noteworthy for its abstract elements painted directly onto film stock. An attempt at showing the complexity of the world in a capsule, the film reflects the new policy of the openness to the West during the Thaw of the late 1950s in Poland.
7.9It's Such a Beautiful Day(en)
Bill struggles to put together his shattered psyche.
3.860 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero(en)
An anthology of one-minute films created by 51 international filmmakers on the theme of the death of cinema. Intended as an ode to 35mm, the film was screened one time only on a purpose-built 20x12 meter public cinema screen in the Port of Tallinn, Estonia, on 22 December 2011. A special projector was constructed for the event which allowed the actual filmstrip to be burnt at the same time as the film was shown.
7.0Enigma: Nazo(ja)
Enigma is something of a more glamorous version of White Hole, with a wide variety of elaborate textures (often composed of iconographic and religious symbols) converging towards the centre of the screen.
0.0Madhouse Mitchel(en)
Creeping from the halls of the maze brain, corruption and terror is woven by devils born from the denied errors of mankind.
0.0Whitney Commercial(en)
Commissioned by David Bienstock, creator of the New American Film Series at the Whitney Museum of Art to raise funds for the second season of the series. The film was projected at the end of each program and a box to receive donations was placed at the exit of the theater. Whitney Commercial ran for two or three years until the Museum agreed to sponsor the series on its own which has continued to the present season. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2015.
7.9La Maison en Petits Cubes(ja)
La Maison en Petits Cubes tells the story of a grandfather's memories as he adds more blocks to his house to stem the flooding waters.
7.5Anoche(es)
Three memories that become one. An attempt to merge heterogeneous materials: a film sequence shot in Rome, a photo from the 1930s, a noisy soundtrack. Fragmented lines, exploding bass frequencies and flickering.
10.0Claire(xx)
Claire is composed of digital scans and blow-ups of a series of three ink-on-paper artworks created in 2012 by French-Spanish researcher, publisher and artist Claire Latxague. While collecting drawings, written documents and other printed materials for a (yet unreleased) project called Un film de papier, I’ve stumbled upon Latxague’s artwork, entitled À la renverse. The blow-ups were made in an attempt of unearthing cartographic imagery in abstract compositions.
0.0Sounds Good(en)
A boom operator attempts to record the noise mushrooms make in this semi-experimental animation inspired by the world of sounds.
5.0Calypso(en)
Hand painted directly onto film stock by Margaret Tait, this film features animated dancing figures, accompanied by authentic calypso music.
5.8Prometheus' Garden(en)
Inspired by the Greek myth of Prometheus, a Titan who created the first mortals from clay and stole fire from the gods, Prometheus' Garden immerses viewers in a cinematic universe unlike any other. The dark and magical images of this haunting film unfold in a dreamlike stream of consciousness revealing an unlikely cast of characters engaged in a violent struggle for survival.
0.0Chase(xx)
Shot in Ireland and Poland - a journey that explores ideas of decision, choice, consequence, circumstance and time among other things, a personal perception on how we try to find whatever it is we are searching for.The film looks at objects, people, and places which share common properties, our connection with one another and our environments in the very similar yet very different paths we share.
5.0Lulu(en)
Initially commissioned to accompany a Danish production of Alban Berg’s LULU, Lewis Klahr’s cut-out animation refigures the opera's themes in a torrent of images. With an ever-inventive approach to color and symbol, Klahr distills the title character's moral predicament, along with a great many of German Expressionism’s characteristic motifs, in the span of a pop song.
4.7Nothing Happens(en)
On the cold outskirts of town, something is about to happen. In our own way we are all waiting for something to happen.
7.0Bath House of Whales(ja)
Mizuki Kiyama's short animation utilizes a paint on glass technique to render a young girl's visit to a neighborhood sento (bath house) with her mother with dazzling sensuous wonder. Evoking childish fascination at daily rituals, this quotidian act amidst feminine intimacy becomes a space of otherworldly fantasy.
9.0TRAUMA(xx)
TRAUMA is a collaborative film project by Jesse Kanda and Arca first partially exhibited at MoMA PS1 at the end of 2013. The film follows a nonlinear narrative about the death of a salaryman, a drunk driving infant and takes place within a subconscious world. TRAUMA's score will span through Arca's existing and future works.





