Streamlines (1936)

★★★★★ · Norman Geddis is at the heart of this film · EWKEANE · 2003-05-05

Short, and to the point, this wonderful little film shows how some ideas (practical streamlining) have applications today. I predict that the ultimate shape of autos (the rolling teardrop) will be accepted within the next 10 years. Who will hijack the visionary ideas of Norman Bel Geddis? If you read his book "Horizons", it just may be you.

★★★ · Streamlining · Jussomgye · 2003-06-30

Chevrolet short film implying their cars are better because of streamlining. Good video of turbulent flow around various shapes. The wind tunnel scenes are interesting because they show an engineer in the wind tunnel with a ribbon on a stick to see the flow lines around the test object.

★★★ · Stream on outta here · Spuzz · 2003-05-25

The effects of streamlining are explored in this short, which begins interestingly then somewhat gets bogged down with it's explanations. The comparisons with birds and planes and their streamlines are completely understandable, while the car's isn't. Don't get me wrong, I understand that cars are streamlined to the best way possible, but the 'features' that they tell us seem to total differ from the explanations of what makes streamlining efficient.

★★★ · Torpedo car! Torpedo Car! Torpedo Car! · Karma Hawk · 2005-04-12

To tell you the truth this was starting to look like a "2" for the longest time, but then in the second half they bring up a word that brought my ratting up a star. What is that word you may ask? "Torpedo Car" A "Torpedo Car" is what the film refers to as a futirostic "motor car" that can go "up too 120 miles per hour" due to it's "Streamline nature." The first part of the film also has some cool visuals. Would I recomend it? No, I would not, but if you have the time and want to hear the word "Torpedo Car" and "motor car" you might want to check this out.

★★ · Cars Are a Parabola · Dodsworth the Cat · 2024-07-05

The Chrysler Airflow of 1934 received all kinds of publicity for its streamlined design. It seems Chevrolet wanted to say "but we're streamlined, too" in this commercial film which doesn't mention Chevrolet. Instead it tells us birds are streamlined, circles aren't streamlined. Neither are (as a worm apparently knows) the underside of cars. The short takes a lot of time getting to the point. That will change some day, Mr. Narrator promises. There's an animated long shot of "torpedo cars" of the future, but we can't really see the cars too well.