Snow is part of the deal when you live in Canada, and we know that if you don’t clear your sidewalks, you’re in for a hefty fine. One man’s refusal to shovel snow becomes a more troubling predicament in the 1978 short Special Delivery.
Alice tells her husband Ralph to clear their walkway of snow before he leaves for work. He doesn’t complete the chore, and the mailman comes to a terrible end on their un-shoveled walkway. Afraid to be incriminated in the mailman’s death, Ralph devises a plan to dispose of his body. He disguises himself as the mailman and finishes his route to appear as if he is still alive and kicking. This, of course, backfires, and police catch Ralph for another offence. When Alice comes home to find the naked mailman in her living room, she does some devising of her own, so her secret misdeeds aren’t discovered. The fates of Alice, Ralph and the mailman teeter on chance and coincidence in this dryly funny, very dark 7-minute short film.
Special Delivery is a comedy of errors that shows what might happen if you don’t clear your walkway of snow. John Weldon and Eunice Macaulay wrote and directed the film and won an Academy Award in 1979.
