A few years ago (the exact number of years eludes me right now - but it was definitely quite a long way pre-2000) I used to watch a few short film and short animation programs on 4 late at night.
Recently I've been trying to find a particular animated short that I saw (once) and really enjoyed. It rates as one of the best bits of film I've ever seen, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was called, who it was by, or even the name of the show I saw it on.
Tonight I found one called The Cat Came Back (a short directed by Cordell Barker) - another one I quite liked that was on at the same kind of time I saw the one I'm trying to find. That was made in 1988, but I have no idea whether or not I saw it then or if it aired on 4 much later.
Anyway, that's the preamble out of the way - here are the details of the film as best I can describe it... (Basically the whole outline of the script if I recall it properly)
A place with absolute order. People (maybe not human shaped, I seem to remember them being blue blob-shaped people, but that might be a mistake) march up stairs with arrows pointing up and down stairs with arrows pointing down. Some turn a wheel in the direction shown by an arrow. So it continues until nightfall.
The city goes dark until a few lights come on. Under cover of darkness, a few (three if I remember correctly) people run wild. Down the up stairs and up the down stairs. When they turn the wheel the wrong way all hell breaks loose. They are chased by (military?) police until one is shot (after pretending to be a peeing statue when caught in a searchlight)
The remaining rebels, while standing over their fallen comrade, spot a sign reading "No Laughing" and the credits roll to the sounds of howls of laughter.
There is a somewhat anarchic or rebellious feel to the film, and from what I remember of it, it was really very good.
If anyone can give me the director's name, the title, or even just the names of the shows that used to show shorts late at night it would be a great start. I've just about run myself out of ideas trying to find the right search terms to find the film with google, and have mentioned it to a few people at the monthly short film night I go to, but neither have got me anywhere.
Hopefully someone on here will be able to help me.
Thanks for reading through all this and if you remember the film I've described and can help me find it - please do post.
