Oscar-nominated shorts

Today is the first of TCM's 31 Days of Oscar. All of the feature films being shown were nominated for at least one Academy Award. However, they're also showing short movies that were nominated in the Short Subject categories. One example of this is Stop, Look, and Listen, airing at approximately 10:40 PM ET tonight, following Funny Girl.

The plot is simple, being a short and there being no time to develop much of a plot. A safe driver tries to get to work, only to be harassed by a thrill-seeking road hog. What makes this short so interesting, however, is the way in which it is told. Real human actors are used, but the story is done in stop-motion. Further, the actors are driving invisible cars, or as it were, doing a pantomime as though they were sitting in the driver's seat of an imaginary car. Pantomime is an apt word, too, as the movie has no dialog, only sound effects. It's an approach that works well for a 10-minute movie, but would wear out its welcome if it weren't a short subject.

Stop, Look, and Listen does not seem to have been released to DVD. That having been said, there does seem to be a lousy copy availabe on YouTube.