http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=21060
--- Comment #5 from Jörg Höhle hoehle@users.sourceforge.net 2012-03-21 10:20:58 CDT --- Still present in 1.4.0. I'd love to see somebody who knows about MS-Windows messaging look at this ShowWindow dead-lock. Half the bugs listed in comment #2 are still open, one was marked abandoned. They perhaps all depend on a single cause, identified by Kirill and Peter.
From the user perspective, the MCI commands
open z:...path\to\wine-src\dlls\shell32\searching.avi alias v play v should auto-open a window and play the anim therein.