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Selected Industrial Films from The Calvin Company  /  Corn's-A-Poppin' (1956)

Corn's-A-Poppin' (1956)
May 4, 2014 - 7:00 pm
In-person: 
Kyle Westphal, Northwest Chicago Film Society.

Read more about the Corn's-A-Poppin' restoration on our blog!

A Honeymoon for Harriet (1950)

Directed by Maurice Prather.

A farmer's wife sees her honeymoon constantly deferred in favor of the purchase of new farm equipment.

Producer: Frank Barhydt. Screenwriter: Robert Altman. Cinematographer: Charles Paddock. Editor: Robert Altman. Cast: Lotus Corelli, James Lantz.

Digital video from 16mm, color, 21 min.


The Magic Bond (1956)

Directed by Robert Altman.

A rehearsal of the American values of cohesion and cooperation.

Screenwriter: Robert Altman. Cast: Joe Adelman, Owen Bush, Kermit Echols, James Lantz, Keith Painton.

Digital video from 16mm, b/w, 26 min.


The Sound of Bells (1952)

Directed by Robert Altman.

Low on cash and in need of a fill-up, Santa Claus receives kindness from a filling station owner—and returns the favor.

Producer: Frank Barhydt. Screenwriter: Robert Altman. Cinematographer: Charles Paddock. Editor: Jim Pearce. Cast: Keith Painton.

16mm, color, 22 min.


The Model's Handbook (1956)

Directed by Robert Altman.

An accomplished model gives beauty tips to young aspirants, including secrets for a rigorous workout regimen.

Screenwriter: Eileen Ford, Jerry Ford. Cinematographer: Don Hoffman. Cast: Dorian Leigh.

Digital video from 35mm, b/w, 13 min.


The Perfect Crime (1955)

Directed by Robert Altman.

Deaths on inadequately maintained roadways are attributed to the public, whose negligence is equated with a “perfect crime.”

Producer: Forrest Calvin. Screenwriter: Robert Altman. Cinematographer: Charles Paddock. Editor: Jim Pearce. Cast: Leonard Belove, Owen Bush, Art Ellison.

16mm, b/w, 20 min.

Restoration Premiere!

Restored by Northwest Chicago Film Society. Preservation funding provided by the National Film Preservation Foundation. Additional material courtesy of the Wisconsin Center for Film & Theater Research. Laboratory services by FotoKem.

Corn's-a-Poppin' (1956)


Directed by
Robert Woodburn.

Co-scripted by Robert Altman after a brief sojourn as a Hollywood screenwriter, and produced a year before The Delinquents (1957), this regional independent feature is a bargain-basement backstage musical that puts the corn in cornpone. Country-western crooner Jerry Wallace gleefully hosts the "Pinwhistle Popcorn Hour"—until he discovers that the TV program is a corrupt ad man’s scheme to liquidate the sponsor. Produced in Kansas City by a cast and crew of Calvin Company veterans, Corn's-A-Poppin' perhaps reveals more about Altman's milieu in Kansas City than about his still-cherished Hollywood ambitions.

Crest Productions, Inc. Producer: Elmer C. Rhoden, Jr. Screenwriter: Robert Altman, Robert Woodburn. Cinematographer: Robert Woodburn. Editor: Carl Pierson. Cast: Jerry Wallace, Pat McReynolds, Little Cora Rice, James Lantz, Keith Painton, Hobie Shepp and the Cowtown Wranglers.

35mm, b/w, 58 min.