The Cars That Ate Paris

Clip 2: The Vegies meet the Pioneers

2 min 48 sec

Taken from the feature The Cars That Ate Paris (1974)

Original title classification M – this clip chosen to be PG

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Curator’s clip description

The townsfolk of Paris gather at the annual Pioneer’s fancy dress ball. Doctor Midland (Kevin Miles) brings his patients, the so-called vegies, for a dance. These are part of the town’s road carnage harvest. The mayor (John Meillon) makes a speech about progress. Good example of the film’s bleak satire. Meillon is dressed as Abe Lincoln and has stolen the words of his speech from the Prime Minister’s speech, heard on the radio in an earlier scene in the pub. ‘The light at the end of the tunnel’ is ironic – given that these people cause car accidents by shining bright lights in the eyes of unsuspecting travellers. The ‘vegies’ are created by these accidents and the doctor’s illegal medical experiments.

australian screen