Swinging the Lambeth Walk(1940)

Swinging the Lambeth Walk Synopsis

Len Lye’s camera-less film animates “swing” versions of the popular Lambeth Walk—featuring Django Reinhardt on guitar and Stéphane Grappelli on violin—through scratched and painted imagery directly on celluloid. Sponsored by the Tourist and Industrial Development Association after Lye and his family fell into hardship, the film blends vibrant visual rhythms with music, free of advertising slogans, and stands out as one of Lye’s most playful experiments in direct cinema.

Swinging the Lambeth Walk (1940) is a music and animation film directed by Len Lye, released on February 1, 1940 with a runtime of 4m. Viewers rate it 6.1 out of 10 across 21 ratings.