Special Delivery

Directed by Eunice Macaulay and John Weldon

Canada, 1978 (animation, 7 minutes, colour, English)

Also known as "Livraison spéciale"

Image: © National Film Board of Canada

Video (National Film Board of Canada)
Video (National Film Board of Canada) [French]

Film Description:
"The first big mistake Ralph makes is not clearing the snow from the front walk, and his life goes downhill from that point on. By the end of the story, the mailman has fatally slipped on his job, Alice, his wife, doesn't live there anymore, and Ralph resolves to stop worrying—about the body, his wife, and the front walk."
-- National Film Board of Canada (source)

Film Credits (partial):
Written by:	John Weldon, Eunice Macaulay
Produced by:	Derek Lamb
Narrator:	Sandy Sanderson
Animation:	John Weldon, Eunice Macaulay
Music:	Karl Duplessis
Production Company:	National Film Board of Canada / Office national du film du Canada

(sources)

Award won by Special Delivery

Academy Award (Oscar): Best Short Film (Animated) -- awarded to Eunice Macaulay, John Weldon

Quote about Special Delivery

"Be sure to shovel the snow off your sidewalk. That's the sly, tongue-in-cheek message of Special Delivery, the National Film Board's third Oscar winner in two years. It picked up the prize for Best Animated Short in Los Angeles last night. [...] Special Delivery, made by film board animators Eunice Macaulay and John Weldon, is all a series of lines that continually re-form to make chairs, tables, people, houses, cars and everything else."
-- Sid Adilman (source)

Quote about Special Delivery [in French]

"Racontée avec un détachement hitchcockien, cette nébuleuse affaire de meurtre qui n'en est pas un, d'identités confondues, découle de l'importance de déneiger son escalier. Elle est construite sur le modèle d'un sketch radiophonique illustré, une musique d'orgue entretenant le mystère. Toute conclusion moralisatrice nous est épargnée dans cette drôle d'histoire drôle, un rien cynique."
-- Louise Beaudet (source)

Bibliography for Special Delivery

Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites

Adilman, Sid. "Film board short wins for Canada." Toronto Star, April 10, 1978.

Web Sites about Special Delivery

National Film Board of Canada. "NFB -- Special Delivery." National Film Board of Canada. http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/en/our-collection/?idfilm=13501.
Office national du film du Canada. "ONF -- Livraison spéciale." Office national du film du Canada. http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/fr/notre-collection/?idfilm=1379. [in French]