The Box

Duration:

Year Published: 1967

Creator: MacMillan Films

Complete Record: A funny and intriguing free-drawn animation on the subject of communication dealing with the meaning of a mysterious box. Academy award winner as best cartoon of 1967. The film opens with a small bearded figure sitting at a bar having a drink with a box beside him. Another figure with large joules approaches the bearded man and is curious about the box. The bearded man moves his box away from the stranger. The stranger gestures with hand motions to try to guess what is in the box and offers the bearded man with money, but each time time he shakes his head no. The man with large joules tries to distract the bearded man but he fails to distract him. When he lifts the lid to show the stranger the contents of the box the stranger looks horrified and runs out the door. The bearded man orders another drink and a curvaceous woman in a tight red dress approaches him. She briefly turns into an elephant and then back into a woman. She then gestures towards the box, curious of the contents. He lets her put her hand in the box and something appears to bite her and she is upset and leaves the bar. The bearded man orders another drink and empties the contents of a bad onto the bar, he then opens the box and a small animal runs back and forth gathering the food. He closes the box, and a woman in a yellow rain coat and boots approaches him. She sits next to him and the bearded man makes flirtatious gestures towards her, and he summons a drink for the both of them. She pulls out her own box ad doesn’t let him touch it. She then empties the contents of a bag onto the bar and opens the box the release a small animal to grab the contents of the bag. The bearded man is pleasantly surprised. They both open their boxes but the animals do not come out, they are disappointed and push their boxes together. The animals shake the boxes around and then it stops, the man and the woman lean towards each other to look into the box and then they kiss. He gestures that they should leave, he happens to also have a yellow raincoat and boots and they leave the bar together.