Adam Green - January 21, 2013 in 50s, advertisements, cars, collections, Films, Films: 1950s, Films: Fantasy, Films: Short, fridges, general motors, Populuxe, prelinger archives, retro-future, retrofuturism
Over the top 1950s “Populuxe” advertisement for General Motors, set at their 1956 Motors Motorama. A woman falls asleep and dreams of a glorious future of perfect products, including a variety of shiny futuristic dream cars and Frigidaire’s fully automated “Kitchen of the Future.” The star of the story is played by dancer and choreographer Tad Tadlock. The film has over the years become a popular symbol of 50s consumerist culture and was featured extensively in the BBC documentary series Pandora’s Box by Adam Curtis. Some footage was also used in the music video for Peter Gabriel’s 1987 single “In Your Eyes”, Rush’s 1989 music video for “Superconductor”, a 1989 commercial for the Nintendo Game Boy game Super Mario Land, and a 1994 commercial for Power Macintosh. Part of the film, with dialogue, is played during the opening titles for The Hills Have Eyes. Some snippets (without dialogue) are played in the video watched by Michael Douglas during his physical in The Game and in the opening titles for The Stepford Wives. (Wikipedia) The film is downloadable at the Internet Archive, and is part of the Prelinger Archive. Note this film is in the public domain in the US, but [...]