Dots

Dots

Dots

Share

Dots

1940

0h 2m

6.1(45 votes)

Animation

Overview

An experimental film in which both sound and visuals were created entirely by Norman McLaren drawing directly upon the film with ordinary pen and ink. The main title is in eight languages. Rereleased with multilingual titles in 1949.

Links & Resources

Website IMDbView

Social & External

Production Companies

ONF | NFB

Similar Movies

Elephants Dream

Elephants Dream

Elephants Dream is the story of two strange characters exploring a capricious and seemingly infinite machine. The elder, Proog, acts as a tour-guide and protector, happily showing off the sights and dangers of the machine to his initially curious but increasingly skeptical protege Emo. As their journey unfolds we discover signs that the machine is not all Proog thinks it is, and his guiding takes on a more desperate aspect. Elephants Dream is a story about communication and fiction, made purposefully open-ended as the world’s first 3D animated “Open movie”. The film itself is released under the Creative Commons license, along with the entirety of the production files used to make it (roughly 7 Gigabytes of data). The software used to make the movie is the free/open source animation suite Blender along with other open source software, thus allowing the movie to be remade, remixed and re-purposed with only a computer and the data on the DVD or download.

Enter Hamlet

Enter Hamlet is a collage of images in cartoon form of a word put in balloon in each jump-cut scene as that word is said by the narrator Maurice Evans during his “To be or not to be…” soliloquy recording.

Built Upon the Rock

Built Upon the Rock

Jesus is asked to judge an inheritance dispute, but instead He uses this conflict to affirm the eternal ideals of His Beatitudes taught in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus teaches the wronged brother to forgive and love his brother. All who follow Jesus must learn that what we own has little to do with who we are. Important ideals of stewardship and preparedness are emphasized through the parable of the House Built on Rock.

Daniel

Daniel

Babylonian forces invade Jerusalem and carry away many of the city’s finest young people, including Daniel and his three young friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. In captivity, the youths are in the king’s service and outperform all their rivals— pleasing the king and frustrating their enemies. When Darius, the new king, makes Daniel his first president, Daniel’s enemies plan a trap to have him killed. When Daniel survives being thrown in the lions’ den, he proves that God still rules over the affairs of men.

Parables of Jesus

Parables of Jesus

Jesus often taught His followers using stories called parables. The parables of The Talents, The Rich Man and Lazarus, and The Two Sons, are presented together to reinforce important principles. They teach us how to be good stewards of the things that we have been given. These timeless truths help us focus on our faith in God and His power to help us live our lives in accordance with His teachings.

The Birthday Party

The Birthday Party

Mickey's friends throw him a surprise birthday party at Minnie's house. The chef brings out the cake (with 2 candles); Mickey manages to blow all the cake onto the chef's face, while the candles stay lit. He unwraps his present: a miniature piano. He plays a duet of I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby with Minnie, followed by an instrumental version of The Darktown Strutter's Ball, which everyone dances to (including Mickey and Minnie, while the piano stools keep playing). Mickey then plays There's No Place Like Home on the xylophone, then accompanies Minnie on another piece, after which the xylophone gets frisky and eventually dumps Mickey in the fish bowl.

The Hot Choc-late Soldiers

The Hot Choc-late Soldiers

A group of confectionary soldiers go to war against a neighboring cookie castle.

Night

Night

The moon and two owls sing to the Blue Danube Waltz, celebrating the night. Moths dance around a candle flame, fireflies glow, frogs chorus, and so forth.

The Cactus Kid

The Cactus Kid

Mickey walks into the tavern where Minnie is dancing, and begins to dance and play piano himself. Pegleg Pete comes in and treats Minnie badly. Mickey tries to defend her, but Pete steals her away. Mickey, riding Horace Horsecollar, gives chase. He manages to throw Pete off a cliff.

Scanning of Modulations

Scanning of Modulations

Eye-popping digital moving image work with an equally arresting soundtrack from noise music heavies.

Woos Whoopee

Woos Whoopee

One of Otto Messmer's most unusual Felix cartoons. It portrays Felix as an inebriated feline being chased by all kinds of demons only to be welcomed by the greatest demon of all, the angry wife.

Castle of Liars

Castle of Liars

A boy who often lies finds himself in such fabulous adventures that he begins to understand the benefits of truth.

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi

A valiant mongoose enters into an unequal battle with two snakes while tries to protect a human family.

Mickey's Christmas Carol

Mickey's Christmas Carol

Ebenezer Scrooge is far too greedy to understand that Christmas is a time for kindness and generosity. But with the guidance of some new found friends, Scrooge learns to embrace the spirit of the season. A retelling of the classic Dickens tale with Disney's classic characters.

The Pop Show

A Pop Art extravaganza by Fred Mogubgub from the late-1960s, innovative in the use of the quick cut, this film is a parade of pop icons of its time. Features a pre-Playboy, pre-N. O. W. Gloria Steinem.

A Blue Room

A Blue Room

A man wakes up in a blue room. He's stuck and he can't escape. A window is his only connection to the outer world. It filters the reality in a very mysterious way.

Cheburashka

Cheburashka

Second animation about Gena and Cheburashka. Cheburashka wishes Gena the Crocodile a happy birthday and gives him a toy helicopter as a gift. After meeting some pioneers, they decide to be pioneers themselves. They build a playground for the local children and collect scrap metal, after which they become pioneers.

Bully for Bugs

Bully for Bugs

Bugs Bunny, once again making that "wrong turn at Albuquerque", burrows into a bullring where a magnificent bull is making short work of a toreador. The bull bucks Bugs out of the arena, prompting the bunny to declare "Of course you realize, this means war!" The deft Bugs' arsenal comes plenty packed, as he uses anvils, well-placed face slaps and the bull's horns as a slingshot. The bull fights back, using his horns as a shotgun barrel. The bull's comeback is short-lived; just after Bugs makes out his will, he lures the bull out of the arena, just in time to set up a rube-like device that leads to the bull's defeat.

Alice Gets Stung

Alice Gets Stung

Julius goes rabbit hunting while Alice goes bear hunting. Alice and her cat learn at their own expense that one shouldn't bother animals, whether those be rabbits or bears.

Destino

Destino

Short film to a song of love lost and rediscovered, a woman sees and undergoes surreal transformations. Her lover's face melts off, she dons a dress from the shadow of a bell and becomes a dandelion, ants crawl out of a hand and become Frenchmen riding bicycles. Not to mention the turtles with faces on their backs that collide to form a ballerina, or the bizarre baseball game.

Recommended Movies

The Ride to the Abyss

The Ride to the Abyss

‘La course à l’abîme’ is a depiction of the final ride into hell from ‘La Damnation de Faust’ (1846) by Hector Berlioz.

Autumn Mists

Autumn Mists

An early impressionist short featuring a woman who dreams of, and escapes into, an autumn forest.

Loops

Loops

An experimental film in which both sound and visuals were created entirely by McLaren drawing directly upon the film with ordinary pen and ink. The titles are in eight languages. Rereleased with multilingual titles in 1949.

Teen Spirit

Teen Spirit

Amber, a mean popular girl who gets electrocuted and dies, is not allowed to enter into heaven unless she helps the least popular girl in school become Prom Queen within a week, but things do not go as planned.

John

John

A day in the life of John Lennon, alive and well in modern-day New York City. The former Beatle squabbles with a security guard, commiserates with his best friend over lunch, and upsets a bully.

Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters

Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters

Po and the Furious Five uncover the legend of three of kung fu's greatest heroes: Master Thundering Rhino, Master Storming Ox, and Master Croc.

Beethoven's 4th

Beethoven's 4th

The family is pleasantly surprised and puzzled when Beethoven suddenly becomes obedient. Turns out it's a prince and the pauper scenario, with the real Beethoven now living with a pompous rich family.

The Other Woman

The Other Woman

When Daniel and Isabelle invite Patrick and his new flame, Emma, to dinner, it’s with some misgivings. After all, Patrick has just dumped his ex-wife — their best friend — to run off with a much younger woman. But when the ravishing Emma appears, all of Daniel’s qualms fly out of the window. He’s instantly smitten with the seductive woman...

Panda

Panda

Two teenagers are playing by night in a dirty parking lot. After they are driving on an empty road, they start to tease each other on the way to the sea, but they seem to be too young to drive and the road is a bit strange.

The Desperado Trail

The Desperado Trail

Rollins' gang wants to grab land by inciting the settlers in a war against the Indians but Winnetou and Old Shatterhand try to keep the peace, until Rollins frames Winnetou up for the murder of Jicarilla Chief's son.

A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding

A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding

A year after Amber helped Richard secure the crown. The two are set to tie the knot in a royal Christmas wedding — but their plans are jeopardized when Amber finds herself second-guessing whether or not she's cut out to be queen, and Richard is faced with a political crisis that threatens to tarnish not only the holiday season but the future of the kingdom.

Girl on the Moon

Girl on the Moon

Someone from another planet crashed on Earth and evil is chasing him, and then love appears, and it defeats evil through an amulet.

The Little Matchgirl

The Little Matchgirl

An animated short based on Hans Christian Andersen's tale about a poor young girl with a burning desire to find comfort and happiness in her life. Desperate to keep warm, the girl lights the matches she sells, and envisions a very different life for herself in the fiery flames filled with images of loving relatives, bountiful food, and a place to call home.

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Spring Breakdown

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Spring Breakdown

The Equestria Girls spend their spring break on a yacht. It's Spring Break and the Mane 7 are about to board the most glorious yacht ever for a relaxing cruise. But Rainbow Dash is convinced that Equestrian Magic is on the loose and won't let anyone rest until she finds it.

Barbie: Princess Adventure

Barbie: Princess Adventure

With new friends in a new kingdom, Barbie learns what it means to be herself when she trades places with a royal lookalike in this musical adventure.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Freedom Fighters Unite

Sonic the Hedgehog: Freedom Fighters Unite

Sonic Conversion: the Freedom Fighters develop a De-Robotisizer and try it out on Bunnie. Dulcy: After Dulcy exhibits strange behavior, Sally discovers she's going through a rites of passage state of her adolescence. The Void: After Sonic is almost sucked inside the Void, he finds a huge ring which Sally believes is an ancient relic but which turns out to be a trick of Nagus. Spyhog: After Antoine saves Sally's life during a raid, Sonic can't stand his bragging and zips in to see Uncle Chuck, who finds out his bug in Robotnik's hardware is malfunctioning.

Hello...

Hello...

A lonely man finds himself bedeviled by a malevolent force. But is it real or just all in his mind? (ALTER)

Christmas Wedding Planner

Christmas Wedding Planner

Wedding Planner, Kelsey Wilson, is about to have her big break: planning her beloved cousin's lavish and exclusive wedding. Everything is going smoothly until Connor McClane, a devilishly handsome private investigator, shows up and turns Kelsey's world upside-down. Hired by a secret source, Connor quickly disrupts the upcoming nuptials but wins Kelsey's heart in the process.

Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves

Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves

The joke's on absent-minded scientist Wayne Szalinski when his troublesome invention shrinks him, his brother and their wives so effectively that their children think they've completely disappeared. Of course, this gives the kids free rein to do anything they want, unaware that their parents are watching every move.

Christmas with Holly

Christmas with Holly

After being dumped at the altar on her wedding day, Maggie Conway moves to the island town of Friday Harbor in Washington State, where she meets Mark Nagle, the local coffee shop owner.