Movies Like Tarantella (1940)

Tarantella is a 1940 animation, music film from Mary Ellen Bute with a MovieMagicScore of 5.7/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Composition in Blue and Free Radicals.

Animation Music

Composition in Blue

1935

An abstract film in which every motion of coloured shapes is in strict synchronization with music. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2000.

6.5

MagicScore

Free Radicals

1958

In this powerful abstract film with a soundtrack of African drum music, Lye scratched "white ziggle-zag-splutter scratches" on to black leader, using a variety of tools from saw teeth to arrow heads. The first version of the film won a major award at the International Experimental Film Festival Held in Brussels in 1958 in association with the World's Fair. Stan Brakhage described the film as "an almost unbelievably immense masterpiece".

5.9

MagicScore

The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics

1965

Animated work detailing the unrequited love that a line has for a dot, and the heartbreak that results due to the dot's feelings for a lively squiggle.

7.3

MagicScore

Early Abstractions

1965

Early Abstractions is a collection of seven short animated films created by Harry Everett Smith between 1939 and 1956. Each film is between two and six minutes long, and is named according to the chronological order in which it was made. The collection includes Numbers 1–5, 7, and 10.

6.2

MagicScore

Fuji

1974

A live action footage of a smiling, bespectacled (presumably) Western tourist set against the familiar cadence of an accelerating train revving up as it leaves the station sets the mesmerizing tone for the film's abstract panoramic survey of an Ozu-esque Japanese landscape of electrical power lines, passing trains, railroad tracks, and the gentle slope of obliquely peaked, uniform rooflines as Breer distills the essential geometry of Mount Fuji into a collage of acute angles and converging (and bifurcating) lines .

5.7

MagicScore

Our Lady of the Sphere

1969

Animation using cutout animation to craft a bizarre science fiction experiment. Moving spheres, such as balloons and bubbles, are superimposed on static backgrounds to suggest travel and discovery.

4.9

MagicScore

Blazes

1961

100 basic images switching positions for 4000 frames.

4.7

MagicScore

An Optical Poem

1938

A dance of shapes. A title card tells us this is an experiment in conveying the mental images of music in a visual form. Liszt's "Second Hungarian Rhapsody" is the music. The shapes, all two-dimensional, are circles primarily, with some squares and rectangles, and a few triangles. The shapes move rhythmically to the music: receding from view or moving across the screen. Red circles on a blue background; light blue squares; white rectangles. Then, a red background of many circles with a few in the foreground. Red gives way to blue then to white. Shapes reappear as Liszt's themes re-occur. Then, with a few staccato notes and images, it's over.

6.6

MagicScore

Tremble All You Want

2017

Yoshika has had a crush on Ichimiya, whom she calls "the One" since she was in middle school. Now, a 24-year-old salarywoman, her all-consuming fixation has prevented her from even considering another candidate for boyfriend until an office colleague asks her out.

7.1

MagicScore

#10

Son of the White Mare

1981

A horse goddess gives birth to three powerful brothers who set out into the Underworld to save three princesses from three evil dragons and reclaim their ancestors' lost kingdom.

7.5

MagicScore

#11

Head

1968

In this surrealistic and free-form follow-up to the Monkees' television show, the band frolic their way through a series of musical set pieces and vignettes containing humor and anti-establishment social commentary.

6.2

MagicScore

#12

Casa de Lava

1995

The film tells a story of Mariana, a nurse who leaves Lisbon to accompany an immigrant worker in a comatose sleep on his trip home to Cape Verde. The devoted Portuguese nurse took a journey only to find herself lost in abstract drama.

6.9

MagicScore

#13

21-87

1963

This short film from Arthur Lipsett is an abstract collage of snippets from discarded footage found by Lipsett in the editing room of the National Film Board (where he worked as an animator), combined with his own black and white 16mm footage shot on the streets of Montreal and New York City, among other locations. A commentary on a machine-dominated society, it is often cited as an influence on George Lucas's Star Wars and his conceptualization of "The Force."

6.8

MagicScore

#14

Prelude: Dog Star Man

1962

A creation myth realized in light, patterns, images superimposed, rapid cutting, and silence. A black screen, then streaks of light, then an explosion of color and squiggles and happenstance. Next, images of small circles emerge then of the Sun. Images of our Earth appear, woods, a part of a body, a nude woman perhaps giving birth. Imagery evokes movement across time. Part of the Dog Star Man series of experimental films.

6.1

MagicScore

#15

Don't Hug Me I'm Scared 4

2015

The fourth instalment in the surreal Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared videos in which the three returning characters enter a sinister digital world through their computer.

7.7

MagicScore

#16

Don't Hug Me I'm Scared

2012

A disturbing puppet short exploring the concept of creativity. Hennep is de beste filmmaker ooit!

7.6

MagicScore

#17

Don't Hug Me I'm Scared 2

2014

Step back into the imaginative and frankly terrifying world of Becky & Joe with Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared. In this episode: Some things change over Time.

7.6

MagicScore

#18

The Burden

2017

A shopping center along a large highway is the scene of an apocalyptic musical. Animation with a strong sense of form set to auto-tuned music by Klungan. About liberation through great catastrophy.

7.3

MagicScore

#19

Don't Hug Me I'm Scared 3

2014

During a chicken picnic, Yellow Guy gets upset after Green Bird kills a butterfly. Yellow Guy then meets a butterfly that takes him on a journey to discover his concept of love.

7.1

MagicScore

#20

Begone Dull Care

1949

In this extraordinary short animation, Evelyn Lambart and Norman McLaren painted colours, shapes, and transformations directly onto their filmstrip. The result is a vivid interpretation, in fluid lines and colour, of jazz music played by the Oscar Peterson Trio.

6.9

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Tarantella?

The top films similar to Tarantella by MovieMagicScore are Composition in Blue (6.5), Free Radicals (5.9), The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics (7.3). Each shares animation/music themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Tarantella worth watching?

Tarantella holds a MovieMagicScore of 5.7/10 from 25 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is Tarantella?

Tarantella (1940) is a animation, music film directed by Mary Ellen Bute.

Where can I find more recommendations like Tarantella?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more animation recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like Composition in Blue Movies like Free Radicals Movies like The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics Movies like Early Abstractions Movies like Fuji Movies like Our Lady of the Sphere

About movies like Tarantella

This ranked list pairs Tarantella (1940), a animation and music film from Mary Ellen Bute, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap. Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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