1. Help, My Snowman's Burning Down (1964)

This multi-award winning surrealistic film is supposedly a satire on Madison Avenue advertising. It's full of bizarre images: a fully-clothed man using a typewriter in the bathtub, a woman's hand coming out of the drain, and a roll of toilet paper attacking a man's leg are just some of the scenes within this strange film. You will also hear some pretty good jazz in it too. Oh, and around the 6:45 mark the guy sets fire to his own hat to keep warm. Now why didn't I think of that?

2. Cliché Family in Televisionland (1965?)

This film is a corny parody of the typical television family. The Internet Archive describes this movie as an "in-house" joke made by a large television commercial producer. Some of the scenes are actually quite funny, and it's amazing to see how many of the clichés in this film still hold true today. A little after the five minute mark, a man smokes two cigarettes at the same time. Ah, men were men back then...

3. Munchers: A Fable (1973)

I've used the word surrealistic many times before, and I'm gonna use it again for this film. What you've got here is your basic surrealistic stop-motion clay animation story on proper dental hygiene. Talking teeth, a bad guy named Jack Sweet, and dental abuse with what looks to be a handheld bulldozer abound. Man, the 70's sure were weird.

4. Mud People (1989)

Wait, I take that "70's was weird" crack back... it seems that the 80's were even weirder by the looks of this video. Some sort of weird performance art event where people acted like cave people in downtown San Francisco. You know, running around in the revolving doors, angering people trying to work, that sort of thing. This video is much too short in my opinion; much more footage of the "mud people" going berserk would have been great.

5. VD is for Everybody (1969)

It is? None for me, thanks! A montage of different people make up this short video, including a very catchy song as well. One lyric goes: "Anyone can share VD with someone as nice as you..." Awww. Brings a tear to my eye, this public servant announcement does. And now that I've watched the video three times, I feel like I may need to go to the doctor.

6. Trailblazer In Space (1961)

If you've ever had a hankering to learn the whole process of firing a chimpanzee into space, then this is the flick for you. This video documents a 1961 space mission, where Ham - an innocent chimpanzee, is the passenger on a rocket pointed way, way up. Everything goes fine in the primate's eighteen minute space flight, thankfully. Ham was a true trailblazer into space, and this is his proud record.

7. That's Right

This is an excellent example of a mashup made with a video from the Internet Archive. Made by a fellow named Ken Smith, this short film is, well... you have to see it. Including a whole bunch of strange clips from weird movies, this mashup is genuinely a pleasure to experience. That's right!

8. About Fallout (1955)

No, this mini-documentary isn't about the classic computer game, unfortunately. Attempting to explain nuclear fallout and be reassuring at the same time isn't easy, but this movie does its best. Filmed in glorious 50's color, the narrator has a very calm, easy-going voice which almost makes you believe that being bombarded by lethal radiation is really no big thing after all.

9. The True Experience of Officer Harold Sewell (1938)

This film is a prime example of what happens when you give a lousy script to a bunch of bad actors. A commercial for Eveready batteries, this one minute and twenty second tour de force is supposedly a true account of police officer Howard Sewell stopping a car being wrecked by a train by using his flashlight. A flashlight using Eveready batteries, of course. The great parts in this video are when Officer Sewell says, "I'll stop it!" and dashes off like Superman, and at the end where everybody is thanking the flashlight for warning the train to stop, instead of Officer Sewell.

10.Tribune-American Dream Picture (1924)

A silent movie from 1924, this short flick documents a woman's dream. It's a strange one too, with her running around trying to find her baby, who eventually turns up driving a car! Also the man stomping fish in the middle of the street doesn't help matters much. Somehow the lack of sound in this movie only makes it even more surreal.

11. Knife-Thrower and Children (1950s)

Here is a touching short film about a mother lovingly throwing knives at her two young daughters. Back in the 1950's, this sort of thing was an entertaining family act; these days it would get Louella Gallagher, the mother in this video, at least ten years behind bars. She is very talented at throwing the knives, although one has to wonder if her kids are still alive today.

If you enjoyed this, please check out the last article from this series, Eleven Very Strange Videos at the Internet Archive.