A Magnet Laboratory (1959)

In the hands of another director the innerworkings of a magnet laboratory could have caused a whole classroom to fall asleep of boredom No so when Leacock was hired to produce this twentyminute version of lab mayhem Try this six researchers in a lab at MIT in the late 1950s showoff the power of electromagnets and in the process accidentally set an experiment on fire Or this half way through the film the phone rings off screen and host Francis Bitter says tell em Ill call em back later while hes looking at the camera discussing bus bars Leacocks fleshed out all the personalities here from Beans Bardo who cranks up the generator to nearly explosive proportions to the mysterious Mr Lin who barely peeks over his shoulder at us seemingly in mockery disdain or curiosity