National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

Labyrinth arrived in 1986 from Jim Henson Productions and TriStar Pictures, a collaboration between Henson's creature workshop and director George Lucas as executive producer. Though its initial theatrical run was modest, the film found a devoted audience through home video and has since become a cornerstone of 1980s fantasy cinema, celebrated for its practical puppetry, Brian Froud's creature designs, and David Bowie's magnetic performance.

This three-frame cell captures The Helping Hands sequence, one of the film's most visually inventive passages. The frames document the kinetic energy of the scene through motion blur and swirling debris within the dark interior environment, with figures visible below amid the surrounding chaos. Preserved on 35mm, the strip retains the grain and depth characteristic of the original photochemical production.