Norman McLaren Movies

Mixes with still images, 1940s. A large collection of McLaren's surrealist illustrations. Silent film.

An attempt to animate an abstract Charlie Chaplin-esque figure.

In 1966, McLaren began a metamorphic film in which he explored the light and colour of Canada in this unfinished film.

An idea for backgrounds never used, late 1940s. Silent film.

Made during WWII

An unfinished animated short by Norman McLaren.

An opening address, a tribute and highlights of a long and productive career--McLaren on McLaren is Norman McLaren on camera. The occasion is the...

In this fifth part, Norman McLaren deals not with motion (if motion is defined as a change of location in two- or three-dimensional space) but with...

This wartime publicity trailer by Norman McLaren focuses on wartime inflation and the role of price control. Single-frame animation is used with pen...

This animated short by Norman McLaren serves as a wartime savings campaign. Symbolic figures, drawn directly on 35mm film stock, move and dance...

A Cockney lad trains to be a messenger boy.

Norman McLaren instructs Grant Munro on the movements he is to make. The film technique for Two Bagatelles is pixillation, where the actor is...

Animation featuring dancing black and white shadows.

A gay fantasia of patterned sound in which Norman McLaren salutes the West Indies, painting the spirit of fiesta on film to the lively beat of an...

This joyful short animation features a dancing hen that transforms into an egg. The film was made without a camera by Norman McLaren, who drew...

An animated film drawn entirely in pastels. Various fantastical plant-like things "grow" from the ground, eventually launching five spheres. The...

The film's soundtrack is an original musical composition produced with synthetic sound - through photographing unusual geometric shapes and running...

New Yorkers watch as Norman McLaren's animated promotional film for Canadian tourism plays on the giant pixelboard overlooking Times Square. The...

A slow-motion study by Norman McLaren of the pas-de-deux adagio, one of the most exacting and difficult dances of classical ballet. A ballet...