National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

Universal Pictures released E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in June 1982, directed by Steven Spielberg at the height of his creative influence. The film became the highest-grossing release of its decade and remains a defining work of American cinema, celebrated for its emotional sincerity and its portrait of childhood wonder set against suburban ordinariness.

This cell, titled Gertie, captures three consecutive frames from a single shot featuring young Gertie mid-reaction, her mouth open wide in what reads as a startled scream, with E.T. visible in the composition beside her. The strip presents the frames rotated and inverted, a common artifact of 35mm handling, preserving an intimate and kinetic moment between these two characters.