Math Clips

Movie Maths Clips

Burkard Polster and Marty Ross

These pages complement our list of movies featuring mathematics. If you enjoy such clips, check out the wonderful collection being compiled by Oliver Knill.

Quality Street (1937) IMDB. It's important to check with real herrings.

The Road to Hong Kong (1962) IMDB. There is Hope for us yet.

The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969) IMDB. Advanced calculus indeed.

Salem's Lot (1979) IMDB. The peculiar geometry of vampire creation.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) IMDB (and our column). The logic of witch-hunting.

My Little Chickadee (1940) IMDB. W. C. Fields adjusts the mathematics of poker.

Pythagoras and the 30 Virgins (1977) IMDB (and our column). Karel Gott sings that old favourite, Thank-you Mr. Pythagoras.

Merry Andrew (1958) IMDB (and our column). The musical approach to remembering a famous theorem.

The 4th Dimension (2006) IMDB (and our column). A precocious (but not quite correct) boy has fun with his teacher.

Futures: Math, Who Needs It? (1991) IMDB. Paula Poundstone sums up school mathematics.

I.Q. (1994) IMDB. Romantic Zeno.

The Music of Chance (1993) IMDB. You see, numbers have souls.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) IMDB. A meddling alien.

Evil Roy Slade (1972) IMDB. Outlaw arithmetic.

The Daily Show (2011) . Fair and balanced, and really, really dumb.

Wonder Woman: The Pluto File (1976) IMDB. Getting help with your homework.

The Siege of Syracuse (1960) IMDB. What really happened with those mirrors.

Succubus (1968) IMDB. Yes, she's beautiful, but keep your eyes on the piano!

21 (2008) IMDB. Hollywood doing a reasonable job with Monty Hall.

Teen Patti (2010) IMDB. Bollywood doing an awful job with Monty Hall.

The Arrival (1996) IMDB. Hollywood checks things "as best they could".

Julie Johnson (2001) IMDB. Mischa Barton vs the Cantor set.

The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) IMDB. A big idea − you know, for kids.

Freaky Friday (2003) IMDB. The fun of maths tests.

The Rules of Attraction (2002) IMDB. How to practice very safe sex.

Oh God! Book II (1980) IMDB. A God with better math sense than George Pell.

Six Feet Under: Brotherhood (2001) IMDB. A teacher, and her loving student.

St. Trinians (2007) IMDB. Oh dear, a queer sphere.

In July (2000) IMDB. Mathematics to the rescue.

Bingo (1991) IMDB. A very smart dog.

She Wrote the Book (1946) IMDB. A movie that raises the age old question: Do you like bridges?

Cabiria (1914) IMDB. A "wise old man" constructs a circle or parabola, or something.

Are You With It? (1948) IMDB. Donald O'Connor as an actuary, giving a remarkable lesson in applied mathematics.

Shrieker (1998) IMDB. How to fight a 4-dimensional monster? Study "multidimensional topography".

Brain Dead (1990) IMDB. Numbers are fine, but equations ...

The Giant Claw (1957) IMDB. A romantic prelude, and then tracking a monster from outer space.

Breaking the Code (1996) IMDB. Alan Turing and his friend ponder a pinecone.

La Moutarde Me Monte Au Nez (1974) IMDB. It is important to put some energy into your teaching.

Lambada (1990) IMDB. A cool teacher demonstrates the power of the Rectangular Coordinate System.

Bullshot (1983) IMDB. The British are just so good at things.

Bullshot (1983) IMDB. An alternative method of reciting a formula.

The Favor (1994) IMDB. Some bluesy fractals.

The Favor (1994) IMDB. Never try to seduce a working mathematician.

Little Big League (1994) IMDB. Billy gets some help with his homework from the Minnesota Twins baseball team.

Christmas Vacation (1989) IMDB. Clark Griswold sums up the effect of his many christmas lights.

The Santa Claus 3 (2006) IMDB. A Little reindeer arithmetic.

Attack Girls' Swim Team vs the Unliving Dead (2007) IMDB. Word problems can have a dramatic effect on people.

Bedazzled (2000) IMDB. Elizabeth Hurley, as the Devil, demonstrating the National Curriculum approach to pure mathematics.

Better Off Dead (1985) IMDB. A clip demonstrating how our students truly perceive us.

Batman (1966) IMDB. Commissioner Gordon contemplates a very evil rectangle.

Team America: World Police (2004) IMDB. A very funny running joke, beginning with a terrorist plot that will be "Nine eleven times a hundred".