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The Mad Century (2000)

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Marconi, Marx, Pavlov and Picasso

Original classification rating: PG. This clip chosen to be G

Clip description

In the early years of the 20th Century, Marconi revolutionised communication, Queen Victoria died, and Australia federated. What’s more, imagination took off as the Wright Brothers flew over America, Pavlov questioned the thought process, Picasso challenged perception and Einstein explained relativity. The workers, inspired by Marx, were stirring; empires were far-flung and expanding; and European aristocrats were surprised to see that wealth could come to ordinary people like Americans.

This clip features animation, photography and historical footage and is narrated by Neville Thiele.

Curator’s notes

by Antoinette Starkiewicz

Here is what Bruce Petty does best: unfurling complex ideas, forging inventive connections and making it all simple for us to understand.

Employing the advantages of animation, he compresses decades into minutes of real time and wars, revolutions and triumphs into pulsating doodles. All this is disciplined by the knowing, gently ironic voice-over and a sparkling soundscape which captures the excitement of each decade.

Thanks to the generosity of the rights holders, we are able to offer Marconi, Marx, Pavlov and Picasso from the short film The Mad Century as a high quality video download.

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You must read and agree to the following terms and conditions before embedding the clip:

australianscreen is produced by the National Film and Sound Archive. By using the website you agree to comply with the terms and conditions described elsewhere on this site. The NFSA may amend the 'Conditions of Use’ from time to time without notice.

All materials on the site, including but not limited to text, video clips, audio clips, designs, logos, illustrations and still images, are protected by the Copyright Laws of Australia and international conventions.

When you access australianscreen you agree that:

  • You may retrieve materials for information only.
  • You may download materials for your personal use or for non-commercial educational purposes, but you must not publish them elsewhere or redistribute clips in any way.
  • You may embed the clip for non-commercial educational purposes including for use on a school intranet site or a school resource catalogue.
  • The National Film and Sound Archive’s permission must be sought to amend any information in the materials, unless otherwise stated in notices throughout the Site.

All other rights reserved.

ANY UNAUTHORISED USE OF MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY RESULT IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY.

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