''Miracle of Flight'' is a 1974 British

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

short

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

film written and directed by

Terry Gilliam Terrence Vance Gilliam (; born 22 November 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, comedian, animator, actor and former member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam has directed 13 feature films, including '' Time Bandits'' (1981), '' ...

Synopsis

''Ever since Man first observed the smooth, graceful soaring of a Boeing 707, he has had an unquenchable desire to fly.'' After a short montage of various birds (''and'' a Boeing 707) in flight, we see several attempts of people attempting to fly themselves. A shepherd attempts flying by flapping his wings, only to land on top of his sheep. Another man constructs a suit shaped like a bird to fly, only to crash upon leaping off a cliff. Early Attempts One man dons bird talon shoes and meets the same fate as the first man. Two more try and also fall off the cliff (one has himself covered in

tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bi ...

and bird feathers, and another flattens his arms, so he can merely glide). A "certain king" in a "certain country" gathers his scientists to try and break the flight barrier, but all the king does is kick the scientists off a high cliff all the while loudly commanding "FLY!". On 27 July 1643, it initially appears that one scientist was successful in being able to fly, but he ends up hitting the ground (the camera was merely turned on its side as he was falling to appear as though he were flying and rotates back to normal ''after'' the scientist's impact). "Nope, that's still not right", the king comments. "Next." Assisted Flight A man uses

seagulls Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, ...

to lift him up into the air. From below, people watch in astonishment, while one elderly woman throws bread crumbs on the pavement, muttering, "Nice little birdies." This ends the man's flight, as the gulls dive bomb to the ground. Three hundred years later, a man living in Krakatau, East of Miami, invents the

airline ticket An airline ticket is a document or electronic record, issued by an airline or a travel agency, that confirms that an individual is entitled to a seat on a flight on an aircraft. The airline ticket may be one of two types: a ''paper ticket'', whi ...

. Other people invent various items essential to air travel, such as stewardesses, in-flight movies, and the

air terminal An airport terminal is a building at an airport where passengers transfer between ground transportation and the facilities that allow them to board and disembark from an aircraft. Within the terminal, passengers purchase tickets, transfer th ...

. The last scene depicts a man goes through the airport check-in, handing his boarding pass to a stewardess, and heads off on his flight...which is getting kicked off the same high cliff where the king kicked off all his scientists several years ago. The short ends with the line "Nope. Still not got it."The Absurd and Outrageous Animations of Terry Gilliam-Flavorwire
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References

External links

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The Miracle of Flight
' on

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1974 comedy films 1974 short films 1974 films British animated short films British aviation films 1970s animated short films Short films directed by Terry Gilliam Cutout animation films Films set in the 17th century Films set in 1943 Films with screenplays by Terry Gilliam British comedy short films 1970s English-language films 1970s British films {{short-animation-film-stub