SHORT AND TO THE POINT

Short films have become a popular staple of film festivals but SHORT SHARP SHOCKS, the 41st release from BFI Flipside, shows us that the format has been used for much more commercial means previously…

- MARTIN UNSWORTH

Most people are familiar with the short-form movie. Be it from film festivals or on video platforms such as Youtube. they are an excellent vehicle for budding filmmakers to hone their craft and get noticed. In the past, though, they were regularly churned out and used as supporting programmes for big films. Readers of a particular vintage will remember seeing travelogues or documentaries about skateboarders and the like (yes, kids, ‘boarding was a thing in the ‘70s too) before settling down to watch the big feature. this tradition hails from cinema’s early days when films were made to run to the length of the film in the camera. Later, ‘2-reelers’ featuring the likes of Laurel and Hardy or the three stooges made the format popular, with studios churning out hundreds of shorts. the Academy Awards recognised this early on, with the first live-action short film category awarded in 1931. Various configurations of Oscars were handed out over the years until the current version was settled on in 1974.

One of the first interesting genre-related shorts was Return to Glennascaul (1951), written and directed by Hilton Edwards and starring Orson Welles. the legendary actor plays himself, the premise being him driving through the Irish countryside while taking a break from making Othello. It’s a ghost story, just the type of tale that suits the short form. Think of the celebrated series of M.R. James stories that were adapted by the BBC in the ‘70s to give us Christmas chills and you’ll get the idea. often with a Gothic feel, these post-war shorts would play as part of a full night out at the cinema, alongside B-movies and newsreels.