Len Lye Movies

  • 1957
    Rhythm

    Rhythm

    Rhythm

    6.1151957HD

    Intended as a publicity film for Chrysler, Rhythm uses rapid editing to speed up the assembly of a car, synchronizing it to African drum music. The...

    Rhythm
  • 2018
    Secrets of British Animation

    Secrets of British Animation

    Secrets of British Animation

    62018HD

    BBC Four’s new documentary takes us on a journey through more than a century of animation. It examines the creative and technical inventiveness...

    Secrets of British Animation
  • 1933
    Experimental Animation

    Experimental Animation

    Experimental Animation

    6.6151933HD

    Len Lye scraped together enough funding and borrowed equipment to produce a two-minute short featuring his self-made monkey, singing and dancing to...

    Experimental Animation
  • 1958
    Free Radicals

    Free Radicals

    Free Radicals

    5.8711958HD

    In this powerful abstract film with a soundtrack of African drum music, Lye scratched "white ziggle-zag-splutter scratches" on to black leader, using...

    Free Radicals
  • 1943
    Cameramen at War

    Cameramen at War

    Cameramen at War

    5.21943HD

    A tribute to the cameramen of the newsreel companies and the service film units, in the form of a compilation of film of the cameramen themselves,...

    Cameramen at War
  • 1941
    Hoch der Lambeth Valk

    Hoch der Lambeth Valk

    Hoch der Lambeth Valk

    7.31941HD

    A 1941 Ministry of Information propaganda film set to the tune of The Lambeth Walk, a popular song from the musical Me and My Girl.

    Hoch der Lambeth Valk
  • 1953
    Ariel’s Song / Full Fathom Five

    Ariel’s Song / Full Fathom Five

    Ariel’s Song / Full Fathom Five

    01953HD

    Len Lye made this experiment in animating poetry circa 1953 utilising a clip of Sir John Gielgud reciting a passage from The Tempest.

    Ariel’s Song / Full Fathom Five
  • 1987
    Doodlin': Impressions Of Len Lye

    Doodlin': Impressions Of Len Lye

    Doodlin': Impressions Of Len Lye

    01987HD

    This documentary, made seven years after the death of legendary filmmaker and kinetic artist Len Lye, tells Lye's story: from being a young boy...

    Doodlin': Impressions Of Len Lye
  • 1959
    Pittsburgh

    Pittsburgh

    Pittsburgh

    01959HD

    Commissioned by the Pittsburgh Bicentennial Association to celebrate the city’s 200th anniversary, PITTSBURGH was created by a team of...

    Pittsburgh
  • 1937
    Trade Tattoo

    Trade Tattoo

    Trade Tattoo

    5.91937HD

    Trade Tattoo went even further than Rainbow Dance in its manipulation of the Gasparcolor process. The original black and white footage consisted of...

    Trade Tattoo
  • 1936
    Rainbow Dance

    Rainbow Dance

    Rainbow Dance

    6.11936HD

    Rainbow Dance is a 1936 British animated film released by the GPO Film Unit. This is Lye's second film. It uses the Gasparcolor process.

    Rainbow Dance
  • 1993
    Abstract Cinema

    Abstract Cinema

    Abstract Cinema

    81993HD

    Several well-known and pioneering abstract filmmakers discuss the history of non-objective cinema, the works of those that came before them and their...

    Abstract Cinema
  • 1935
    A Colour Box

    A Colour Box

    A Colour Box

    61935HD

    Animated shapes dance to Cuban music. This was one of the first animations to be painted directly onto the film.

    A Colour Box
  • 1952
    Color Cry

    Color Cry

    Color Cry

    5.6111952HD

    In 1944 Lye moved to New York City, initially to direct for the documentary newsreel The March of Time. He settled in the West Village, where he...

    Color Cry
  • 1936
    The Birth of the Robot

    The Birth of the Robot

    The Birth of the Robot

    6.81936HD

    This experiment was a “prestige advertisement” for Shell Motor Oil. As conventional animation became dominated by Walt Disney, many...

    The Birth of the Robot
  • 1938
    N or NW

    N or NW

    N or NW

    6.21938HD

    Correspondence between young lovers nearly ends in disaster through a mistake in postal district. Fortunately the GPO spots the error and all ends...

    N or NW
  • 1942
    Kill or be Killed

    Kill or be Killed

    Kill or be Killed

    41942HD

    A fictional enactment of the deadly contest between a British soldier and a German sniper hiding in a tree. Kill or Be Killed differs from most army...

    Kill or be Killed
  • 2023
    Peanuts

    Peanuts

    Peanuts

    02023HD

    While stocking the shelves at work late at night, Mike finds a mysterious tape that calls upon The Peanut Vendor.

    Peanuts
  • 1952
    Bells of Atlantis

    Bells of Atlantis

    Bells of Atlantis

    5.1581952HD

    A perfect fusion of poetry and film, with dense layered imagery and music from electro pioneers Louise and Bebe Barron. The writer Anaïs Nin...

    Bells of Atlantis
  • 1967
    Art of the Sixties

    Art of the Sixties

    Art of the Sixties

    01967HD

    This film documents the major directions in modern American art during the first seven years of the 1960s. The keynote is that the artist has...

    Art of the Sixties