*CARROUSEL (1967),
A visual poem, vivid, lyrical, as intriguing in its colour fantasy as in the beauty of its images. This is an escape from a merry-go-round of painted horses suddenly turned to flesh and blood, making a wild plunge for freedom. But these are horses of extraordinary colour - lime, mauve, bronze and gold - as if caught in some mysterious kaleidoscope of the dawn. A technical triumph, these unusual effects were achieved in the printing process. (Awards: Teheran, Colombo, Tel Aviv, Philadelphia). NFBC. Dir: Bernard Longpre. 7 mins. CAC.
*JUST FOR FUN (1963),
On the way to his club house, a boy finds a wallet in the street. When members of the club go to Luna Park to return the wallet to its owner, who works there, a loutish pair gain possession of it. They spend freely from the wallet while club members led by their president, search for them. Finally they are caught, and members of the club are rewarded for their perseverance. Story by Greg Laxon. Cast: D. Siminton, H. Fraser, I. Couch, J. Chambers, D. Pepper, T. Foster, C. Capper, L. Macartney, and M. Rozen. Prod: Brighton Grammar School Film Club. Dir: Raymond Moon. (Awards: 2nd prize, International Film Contest for Young Film Makers, Milan Italy). 10 mins. CAC.
*ST KILDA ESPLANADE (1913),
Early footage of St Kilda, Victoria, showing the entrance to Luna Park with a group of people walking past and chatting outside the Daylight Picture Cinema next door. Ends with a group of people standing on a small jetty on the beach. 1 min. CAC.
*FANTASIES OF A STARVING ARTIST (1975),
Two projects by Martin Sharp - his Yellow House exhibition and the redecoration of Luna Park - provide the filmmaker with an opportunity to reflect on the relation between art and money. The film takes us further - Lourie's psychedelic images and the accompanying Pink Floyd soundtrack make a more reflective statement than the art which is the vehicle for the film. Prod Co: Experimental Film Fund. Mus: PINK FLOYD. Camera: David Lourie, John Ashenhurst. Art dir: Tim Lewis. Prod, dir, wr, ed, cst: Martin Sharp. 23 mins. NFVLS.
*ADVENTURE IN ART (1972),
A child's story of a trip to Sydney's Luna Park, shown in children's paintings, models, prints, collages, etc. from the Willoughby Workshop Arts Centre. Sd: Neville Thiele. Scr: Roby Ianssen. Dir: Lawrence Collings. 11 mins. NFVLS.
and featuring:
*SHIRLEY THOMPSON VS. THE ALIENS (1971),
The story of a 'widgie' from the fifties, who, with her 'bodgie' friends one night in 1956, saw aliens in the tunnel of love at Sydney's Luna Park. Her message to Australia that aliens exist and present an imminent threat goes unheeded and Shirley is committed to an institution in a state of paranoia where she remains, repeatedly relating her story to the psychiatrists.
This bizarre combination of 'B' movie and art house picture (more of the former than the latter) according to Sharman was shot "impulsively and in some rage about provincial attitudes which I felt were suffocating any notion of change. Its springboard was the perennial provincial paranoia induced by working in a repressive environment."
His first film, originally running 104 mins, this is Sharman's preferred version, the product of re-editing by him several years after the film's initial screenings. Sharman also directed THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975). Mus: JEANNIE LEWIS. Scr: Helmut Bakaitis, Jim Sharman. Cast: Jane Harders, June Collis, Tim Elliott. 74 mins. NFVLS.
APRIL AD 2001 Monday 2nd., 9pm
INFLATOMANIA!!!
*THE PILL (1980),
Amusing one-gag cartoon about pneumatics. Director: Zeljko Nemec. 1 min. CAC.
*THE CRASH OF THE HINDENBERG (1961),
Oh, the humidity - the failure of airships! Prod Co: Deutsche Reportagefilm. MIRROR OF GERMANY, #75. CAC.
*THE ZEPPELIN MUSEUM (1961),
A quick look at the German balloon memorial in Freidrichshafen. Prod Co: Deutsche Reportagefilm. MIRROR OF GERMANY, #75. CAC.
*CHALLENGE OVER THE ATLANTIC (1979),
In 1979 Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman flew a hot air balloon, the Double Eagle II, across the Atlantic from the U.S.A. to France, succeeding where 100s of others had failed for over a century.
The factors that enabled these three to surmount an enormous challenge and succeed where others failed are the same as those required to achieve superlative goals in any field. Includes interviews with the three men who discuss their philosophies on setting goals, surmounting challenges, teamwork and superior performance. Prod Co: ABC Sports/Vantage Communications. 15 mins. CAC.
*BALLOONING (1979),
Beautifully photographed, impressionistic look at the passtime of lighter-than-air adventuring (from the AFTRS). Prod: Damon Smith, Malcolm McDonald, Kim Anning. 7 mins. CAC.
*KOKO'S SLIPPERY SUDS (1922), aka BUBBLES
A charming combination of live action and animation from the 'Out of the Inkwell' series. Koko the clown gets caught in a giant bubble and floats away. Producer/Animator: MAX FLEISCHER. 7 mins. NFVLS.
*THE RED BALLOON (1956),
Colourful story of a small boy who finds a "living" red balloon ( - or is it the other way round - the balloon which attaches itself to the little boy?) that follows him to school and protects him in the streets of Paris, and of the "bond" that grows between them, filling his need for friendship. An absorbing and quite perfect fantasy. "The Red Balloon" won many major awards on its release in 1956 including: Academy AwardTM: Best Original Screenplay, Cannes: Best Short Film. Prod. Co: Films Montsouris. Amazingly expressive direction by Albert Lamorisse. 34 mins. NFVLS.
*DREAM DOLL (1979),
Nutty Bob Godfrey cartoon, sporting sideways references to THE RED BALLOON (1956), deals with a middle-aged loser who falls in love with an inflatable sex doll. Prod Co: Bob Godfrey Films/Zagreb Films. Associate producer: JOHN HALAS. Directors: Bob Godfrey, Zlatko Grgic, Music: John Hyde. Animation: Zlatko Grgic, Turido Paus. Story: Stephen Penn. 12 mins. NFVLS.
*POSSIBILITIES OF WAR IN THE AIR (1910),
Charles Urban's early 'sci-fi' silent, depicting futuristic prospects well before they became actualities, uses extensive model work to show bombing from dirigibles, aerial dog-fights, and the launching of guided missiles to down these hapless windbags. 6 mins. NFVLS.
*THE BALLOONATIC (1923),
A discontinuous series of gags begins in an amusement park (where Buster accidentally gets on top of a hot-air balloon) and ends above a waterfall. When he shoots himself out of the sky, he lands near a stream filled with fish. Nearby, a young nature woman is camping. Buster and Phyllis endure a number of outdoor adventures trying to prove to each other their survival skills.
Funny scenes follow, which contain among other things, bears, burning canoes, and waterfalls. Eventually, the warm enmity between Buster and his companion blossoms into romance and, later, the balloon which landed Buster in the wilderness proves useful as their canoe is about go over afore-said waterfall. Cast: BUSTER KEATON, Phyllis Haver. Prod: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Directors, writers: BUSTER KEATON, Eddie Cline. 21 mins. NFVLS.
APRIL AD 2001 Monday 16th., 9pm
MARCH AD 2001 Monday 5th., 9pm
THE FIGUREHEAD (1981), SINBAD THE SAILOR (1935), WILL THE GREAT BARRIER REEF CURE CLAUDE CLOUGH (1967), THE BLACK PIRATE (1926) (excerpt), THE NAVIGATOR (1924),
ALL AT SEA!
*THE FIGUREHEAD (1981),
The animated story of a carved saint who is accidentally changed into a sailor and sold as a figurehead on a sailing ship. A beautiful mermaid falls in love with him, but even when the ship is destroyed and he joins her under the sea, he does not respond because he feels that, beneath his paint, he remains a saint (sheesh!). Based on a poem by Crosbie Garstin. A puppet play by John Halas and Joy Batchelor. 10 mins. CAC.
*SINBAD THE SAILOR (1935),
Sinbad battles a band of pirates at sea and on a tropical isle. A giant bird rescues him, and he ends up back on his ship with the pirates' treasure. Entertaining and enjoyable effort directed by an early Disney colaborator. The director of this short was Ub Iwerks, one of the creative minds at Disney in the early years. Much of the look and feel of very early Disney is due in no small measure to Iwerks. An enjoyable & entertaining short well worth the time and effort to watch. In Cinecolor! Prod: Celebrity Productions Inc. Animation by Ub Iwerks. 8 mins. NFVLS.
*WILL THE GREAT BARRIER REEF CURE CLAUDE CLOUGH (1967),
A satirical fantasy on the theme of a psychiatrist-enforced holiday on the Great Barrier Reef. 14 mins. CAC.
plus "Quickie Theatre" presents:
*THE BLACK PIRATE (1926) (excerpt),
A narrated presentation of the duels, sea battles & acrobatics (including the famous sliding-down-the-sail stunt) in THE BLACK PIRATE, the film that pioneered two-strip Technicolor. Although the process had not been fully perfected, (Douglas) Fairbanks hoped that, in using colour, he would capture some -thing of the spirit of piracy found in the books of Robert L. Stevenson and the paintings of Howard Pyle. From a range of possibilities, Fairbanks chose sepia and the darkened tones found in old oil paintings. Technical problems meant that plans for location shooting had to be abandoned and almost the entire film was shot in the studio with few close-ups. Compositions - the grouping of bodies in the frame and the use of light and shadow - appear to have been influenced by the old masters. Producer: Douglas Fairbanks. Director: Alert S. Parker. Writers: Jack Cunningham, Lotta Woods, Oscar Borg, Edward Langley, Jack Holden. Photography: Henry Sharp, Design: Carl Oscar Borg. Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Billie Dove, Donald Crisp, Anders Randolf. Based on a story by Douglas Fairbanks (under the pseudonym of Elton Thomas). Another installment in the "History of the Motion Picture" series - Prod Co: Gregstan Enterprises (Paul Killiam, Saul J.Turell). Dir: Saul J. Turell. 26 mins. CAC.
*THE NAVIGATOR (1924),
The plot of this story "inverts" the problem of Robinson Crusoe. Crusoe had to create the rudiments of civilisation on a desert island, but Keaton's character, (a young, dim-witted millionaire), finds himself and his girl, - the woman who has already "turned him down" - inadvertently set adrift in an over-technical environment, an ocean liner. From this, he has to create the basis for crude existence.
The liner is a well-suited backdrop for some of Keaton's best and most elaborate comic sequences as, all the while, the relationship between the hero and heroine progressively develops. Considered by many Keaton buffs to be the funniest film he ever made. Prod Co: Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer. Producer: Joseph M. Schenck. Directors: Donald Crisp (again!), BUSTER KEATON. Writers: Clyde (THREE STOOGES) Bruckman, Joseph Mitchell, Jean Havez. Cast: BUSTER KEATON , Kathryn McGuire. 57 mins. CAC.
Monday 19th., MARCH
>>>>> 9 (*NINE*!!!) pm <<<<<
BIRDSVILLE
PORKY IN WACKYLAND (1938), SOLO TALENT (1995), A TALE OF TWO KITTIES (1942), THE OLD MILL (1937), THE VOICE OF THE NIGHTINGALE (1923), THE CUCKOO MURDER CASE (1930), UP A TREE (1955), THE STORY ABOUT PING (1955), WATCH THE BIRDIE (1956), THE THIEVING MAGPIE (1964), AN UNTITLED FILM (1964), THE WAY THE EAGLE SHITS (1975), THE WAY THE EAGLE (EXPLETIVE DELETED) (1975), THE WAY THE EAGLE SHITS (1975), IT IS TOUGH TO BE A BIRD (1969).
*IT IS TOUGH TO BE A BIRD (1969),
A bird's-eye view of wildlife conservation hosted by M.C. Bird. It is one of several cartoons which, after Disney's death, helped to reassure the DISNEY studio's ability to maintain the traditional quality of its output. Part cartoon and part documentary, it is one of Disney's better efforts, offering a humourous look at birds and the ways people perceive them. An excellent example of combining animation with live-action to create, at one and the same time, a cartoon and a documentary about birds which is both informative and entertaining for adults and children. Directed by Ward Kimball. Writing credits Ted Berman (story), Ward Kimball. With the vocal talents of RUTH BUZZI. Academy AwardTM winner. TECHNICOLOR. 15 mins. NFVLS.
*PORKY IN WACKYLAND (1938),
Porky pursues the Dodo bird through Wackyland. A BOB CLAMPETT classic with some of the screwiest gags, characters and concepts in animation history. LOONEY TUNES. Director: ROBERT CLAMPETT. Animators: Norman McCabe, I. Ellis. 7 mins. NFVLS.
*SOLO TALENT (1995),
Baumzelt is a poor and lonely old man. In search of a dryer he comes across an advertisement which takes him to an unknown flat where he encounters the police investigating a twofold murder. Baumzelt steals a birdcage and a raven from the flat. Shortly afterwards, the bird gives him stockmarket tips and Baumzelt becomes a wealthy VIP who even the princess at the baker's shop cannot resist. When Baumzlelt covers the birdcage prior to a night of making love, the jealous raven becomes violent and kills them both. Once again, we find the detective investigating a mysterious twofold murder. As for the poor bird, he decides to take it home with him. Director, writer Andreas Fischer. 18 mins. NFVLS.
*A TALE OF TWO KITTIES (1942),
Kitty-caricatures of ABBOTT & COSTELLO (Babbit and Catstello) go after a little bird called Tweety, later to be resurrected by Friz Freleng & paired with Sylvester. MERRIE MELODIES. Dir: BOB CLAMPETT. Script: Warren Foster, Tedd Pierce. Animators: ROBERT MCKIMSON, Rod Scribner. 7 mins. NFVLS.
*THE OLD MILL (1937),
An early DISNEY colour animated cartoon about birds and animals living happily in a deserted old windmill. Their peace and comfort are disturbed by a violent storm. The Disney style is fully developed at this stage. Technicolor. Prod Co: Walt Disney Productions. Producer: Walt Disney. Director: Wilfred Jackson. 9 mins. NFVLS.
*THE VOICE OF THE NIGHTINGALE (1923),
A nightingale captured by a little girl sings to her while she sleeps of his urgent search for his lost mate. Director/anim: Ladislas Starevitch. 9 mins. NFVLS.
*THE CUCKOO MURDER CASE (1930),
Gumshoe FLIP THE FROG is lured to a deserted mansion on a dark and stormy night to investigate the murder of the wooden inhabitant of a cuckoo-clock. Prod Co: Celebrity Productions. Produced, directed and animated by UB IWERKS, Music: CARL STALLING. 8 min. NFVLS.
*UP A TREE (1955),
DONALD DUCK's attempts to saw down a tree are frustrated by chipmunks Chip 'n' Dale. Technicolor. Producer: WALT DISNEY. Dir: Jack Hannah. Anim: Bob Carlson, Volus Jones, Bill Justice, Al Coe. Music: Oliver Wallace. 7 mins. NFVLS.
*THE STORY ABOUT PING (1955),
Based on the immortal children's tale by Marjorie Flack & Kurt Wiese. A filmograph-story of the adventures of PING, a young duck, on the Yangtze River. Produced by: Weston Woods Prod Co. 10 mins. CAC.
*WATCH THE BIRDIE (1956),
The secret life of the rarely-seen Ungle-Wungle bird. A witty skit on birdwatching, set to inexorable and insidiously catchy music. Produced by Adventure Films. Directed by BOB GODFREY. 5 mins. CAC.
*THE THIEVING MAGPIE (1964),
A grand procession of medieval knights is reduced to chaos by one insolent black bird who would rather steal crowns than dodge arrows. A cartoon by Italian animators Emanuele Luzzati & Giulio Gianini. The story is taken from Rossini's lively overture, "La Gazza Ladra" (The Thieving Magpie), and by the personality of a pet magpie that had lived in the Gianini home for many years. Produced by: Emanuele Luzzati/Giulio Gianini Productions. Music by ROSSINI. 10 mins. CAC.
*AN UNTITLED FILM (1964),
Slow-motion short in which a small boy watches in horror as a chicken is strangled. Fascinating photographic effects, imaginative soundtrack and sinister mood. Prod by: BFI Experimental Film Fund. 9 mins. CAC.
FEBRUARY
AD 2001
Monday 5th., 9pm
SPOOKS (1930), EL ESPECTRO ROJO (1903), THE FLYING MOUSE (1934), THE GREATEST MONSTER OF THEM ALL (1960), HOLLYWOOD SOUVENIRS (1950), NOSFERATU (1922),
BATS 'n' BONES
*SPOOKS (1930),
A Flip The Frog cartoon in which Flip finds himself caught in a storm. He spots a house, but instead of receiving the shelter he had wished for, he finds that the house contains skeletons who wish to make him a skeleton too! Prod: Celebrity Productions. Dir: Ub Iwerks. 8 mins. NFVLS.
*EL ESPECTRO ROJO (1903),
This appears to be a Spanish release version of a French trick film attributed to Ferdinand Zecca, of fiery conjuring tricks performed by a Faustian magician in a skeleton costume. A de-materialization trick involving what appears to be the Pathe rooster may explain the reference to a red spectre in the title. Prod Co: Pathe Freres. Director (?) : Ferdinand Zecca. 7 mins. NFVLS.
*THE FLYING MOUSE (1934),
A young mouse wishes he had wings and could fly like a bird. His wish is granted but he learns the value of being 'content to be yourself'. Features gruesome-type flying foxes. A typical Silly Symphony made when the series was at its height. Contains richly detailed animation and backgrounds which illustrate the Disney studio's development towards the artistic complexities of films like SNOW WHITE (1937). Prod: Walt Disney Productions. Director: David Hand. 10 mins. NFVLS.
*THE GREATEST MONSTER OF THEM ALL (1960),
Ernest von Kroft, a washed-up actor - once billed as The Greatest Monster of Them All - lands a part in a low- budget vampire movie. However his comeback role is not what he anticipated and he exacts his revenge. This is a variation on Robert Bloch's story in the anthology horror movie, "THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD" (1971). An episode from the ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS tv series, based on a story by Bryce Walton as published in "Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine". Cast: William Redfield, Richard Hale, Sam (BEN CASEY) Jaffe. Writer: ROBERT BLOCH. Director: Robert CHANGE OF MIND (1969) Stevens. Prod Co: Shamley Productions Inc. 23 mins. NFVLS.
*HOLLYWOOD SOUVENIRS (1950),
Interviews with BELA LUGOSI and Oliver Hardy; the first just after the former completed MOTHER RILEY MEETS THE VAMPIRE (1952) and the second, with Hardy just before he began ATOLL K (1950). Prod Co: Manbeck Pictures. 7 mins. NFVLS.
*NOSFERATU: A SYMPHONY OF TERROR (1922),
Count Graf Orlock (Nosferatu - the Undead) decides it'd be nice to settle in the town of Bremen, where he will find a constant source of "groceries" whose blood to suck, so the local real estate agent sends his lackey to conduct the business, of course, with (the usual) horrific result.
NOSFERATU is generally regarded by connoisseurs of vampire films to be the greatest Dracula movie of all time. Using his sense of Expressionism and knowledge of the dark side of human nature, F.W. Murnau created a chilling, frightful yet nightmarishly beautiful film. Ian Bernie, director of the film department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, echoes other critics' feelings as he describes Murnau's films as "poetic, not gory ... erotic and sensual."
Others have done horror films in a similar way, but Murnau really made the horrific poetic and very human. His characters are human and have a shadow, a dark side to them. He really expresses these characteristics through the monster ... and we can recognize ourselves in these monsters.
Although the vampire is a creature of the night,
Murnau has made his film in daylight. He has left
the studio and the set to make his vampire story
in mountains and in the sun-drenched streets of a fantasy city. It possesses a foggy
darkness despite its sun-drenched images. Its frank, gruesome quality is a stark contrast to the scratchy clean horror of Universal Pictures' horror films of the 30's and 40's, and the completely unromantic treatment of the Count fits well with modern cynicism.
Murnau's vampire stands with curling fingernails under a clear sky on the deck of a boat, whose rigging curls like Orlock's nails. Murnau used such revolutionary techniques as reversed negative and camera undercranking. The bald-headed Max Schreck, who plays the title vampire, is about as romantic as the Spirit of Syphilis - he's an irresistible, blood-sucking rat that needs killing, once described by one critic as a "penis with teeth". Women might especially enjoy this version of the beloved story, since it's not Van Helsing but Mina (Greta Schroeder) who is actually the final weapon against the monster.
It contains all the familiar elements of the
classic Dracula stories, like Jonathan's journey
to the castle in Transylvania. In Murnau's film,
Jonathan travels through nature, past rugged
mountains with bits of rocks scattered all about.
Nature has a major part in the film. Oddly shaped
mountains follow Jonathan's progress to Orlock's
castle. One rock formation looks like a chimney
and the Count's castle tops a mountain as if it
was eroded out of the mountain rather than built
atop it.
Max Schreck is a thing derived from yet completely
removed from nature. His Count has a rat face and
he moves around in fast scurrying movements,
thanks to stop motion photography. He can rise out
of his coffin as flat and fast as a board on a
catapult. He fills the darkness in a doorway like
no vampire that ever followed him could.
One of the film's most disturbing elements is the
rats that follow Orlock, that live in his coffins,
that scatter when he leaves the ship; these
clusters of rats that live in the dirt of coffins.
But there are other disturbing images and
elements, disturbing and silent. The procession of
men carrying the coffins of their city's dead
through the valley-like street of the film's
Bremen -- their procession is broken horizontally
by the sash of the window from which Nina is
watching. The ship, The Demeter, its crew now
dead, moving smoothly on a bay still as glass.
There is something so strong about that ship that
tells us that it is being steered by no one alive
but by a captain killed and roped tight to his
wheel.
Although the plot is quite close to that of Bram
Stoker's Dracula, the emotional and intellectual
emphases are different. The figure of Count Orlock
resembling an animated corpse is far from Stoker's
well-groomed, demonic vampire - Nosferatu exhibits
none of the shadow play of Caligari. Murnau showed
how the fantastic film could gain
from the use of real settings and the imaginative
treatment of space. This feeling of landscape
became a central element of
the classic vampire film. Based on Bram Stoker's
"Dracula".
Note: This is a shortened version with a musical
soundtrack. The opening scenes (totalling 6 1/2
minutes) are MISSING, as well as several later
scenes (totalling 5 mins). (I suspect a
cine-pervert has souvenired some of the choicer
"pre-bite" tit and crotch grabbing scenes! Losses
at the start are probably just attrition from
projector damage. -IG). Directed by F.W. Murnau,
Written by Henrik Galeen, based on the novel
"Dracula" by Bram Stoker, Photography: F.A.
Wagner, Costume Design & Art Direction by Albin
Graun, Produced by Enrico Dieckmann and Albin
Graun. Cast: Max Schreck, Alexander Granach,
Gustav Von Wangenheim, Greta Schroeder. 51 mins.
NFVLS.
Monday 19th., 9pm FEBRUARY
HOO-RAY FOR HOLL-EE-WOOD!
*A HELL OF A GOOD LIFE: HOWARD HAWKS (1978), *A DREAM COMES TRUE, aka QUEEN FOR A DAY (1949), *FELIX IN HOLLYWOOD (1920), *THE VOICE OF HOLLYWOOD (1931), *A DAY WITH TIMMY PAGE (1967), *AN AWARD FOR MR. ROSSI (1962), THE HOLLYWOOD SUNKIST KIDDIES (1931), *MOMENTS IN MUSIC (1949).
*A DREAM COMES TRUE, aka QUEEN FOR A DAY (1949),
This single-item newsreel (AUSTRALIAN DIARY
series) deals with the visit to Australia by
American Beauty Queen, Mrs. Evelyn Mortensen of
Hollywood and her Randolph Scott look-alike
husband. Her trip, as winner of the "Queen For A
Day" competition, took in such sights as San
Francisco, Hawaii, Fiji, Sydney, Brisbane, the
Great barrier Reef, Hobart, Adelaide and
Melbourne. The typical Australian Diary format is
played so straight that, with this material, it
verges on self-parody. Producer, director: Jack
S. Allan. Prod Company: Australian National Film
Board. 10 mins. NFVLS.
*FELIX IN HOLLYWOOD (1920),
Felix craftily uses his ingenuity to get to
Hollywood where he
is offered a studio contract after 'rescuing' the
hero on a
movie set. Producer: Pat Sullivan. Prod Co: Pat
Sullivan
Studios. Director: Otto Messmer. 8 mins. NFVLS.
*THE VOICE OF HOLLYWOOD (1931),
One of a series of featurettes in which the stars
of Hollywood
were introduced in a special radio broadcast on
station STAR. 10 mins. NFVLS.
*A DAY WITH TIMMY PAGE (1967),
Hilarious profile of eleven year-old wunderkind
cine-brat
"possessed" by the spirit of DW Griffith
(including his pipe!)
stands as testimony to the dangers of
over-exposure to silent
cinema! Produced by: Amram Nowak Associates Inc.
15 mins. CAC.
*AN AWARD FOR MR. ROSSI (1962),
Mr. Rossi buys a cine-camera and sets out to make
an OscarTM-winning film using his wife as thestar.
A satiric cartoon on the experimental film and its
audience. Prod: Bruno Bozzetto. 11 mins. CAC.
*ON PARADE: THE HOLLYWOOD SUNKIST KIDDIES (1931),
Features a large number of children performing on
stage singing dancing & telling jokes in a variety
of costumes & formations. Dir: Dallas M.
Fitzgerald. 10 mins. CAC.
*MOMENTS IN MUSIC (1949),
Illustrates the range of musical talent to be
found in feature
films; Betty Hutton, Nelson Eddy & Jeanette
MacDonald, Red Skelton & Betty Garrett, Leopold
Stowoski, Xavier Cugat, Rise Stevens, Bing Crosby,
Harry James, Judy Garland. "All this", the film
concludes, "is brilliantly yours, at your
neighbourhood theatre, when you go to the movies".
Produced by: MGM, in co-operation with Academy of
Motion Arts and Sciences. 10 mins.
*A HELL OF A GOOD LIFE: HOWARD HAWKS (1978),
Veteran producer-director Howard Hawks at 81,
talks about his life and work in Hollywood. Shot
in and near his home at Palm Springs, over a 5 day
period in November 1977, just 6 weeks before his
death, it is divided into 19 sections each
introduced with an intertitle in German without
subtitles.
Note: *IN* English (language) - with German
*inter*-titles, but NO (English) *sub*-titles for
these. Prod Co: Sunset Mark Productions.
Producers: Hans C. Blumenberg, Bodo Kessler.
Dir/writer: Hans C. Blumenberg. Photography: Bodo
Kessler. 59 mins. NFVLS.
JANUARY
AD 2001
Monday 15th., 9pm JANUARY
SOOPER SHORTS!!!
SKATERDATER (1965), SONG OF THE PRAIRIE (1951),
TIME PIECE (1965), LOLLIPOP OPERA (1971), POWERS OF
TEN: A FILM DEALING WITH THE RELATIVE SIZE OF
THINGS IN THE UNIVERSE AND THE EFFECT OF ADDING
ANOTHER ZERO (1978), THE RINK (1916), UN CHIEN
ANDALOU (1929), DIAGONAL SYMPHONY (1921), THE
MALLET (1977).
*SKATERDATER (1965),
Enchanting piece of expert visual-narrative
film-making
with fluid style tells the story of a young
skater's fall from pack-leader position when his
status is challenged after he becomes interested
in...a girl. 1966 Academy AwardsTM nominee for
Best Short/Live Action Subject. AWARDS: Cannes
XXth. International Film Festival: Grand Prix
Award, Palm D`Or, (Best Short Film), Grand Prix
Technique ; Cork IXth. Intern'l Film Festival:
Waterford Glass Trophy (Best Film), Statuette of
St. Finbarr, Irish Film Society Award ; Moscow
Vth. Intern'l Film Festival:
Silver Medal Award ; Cortina XXIIIrd. Intern'l
Film Fest.:
First Prize Award ; Colombo IInd. International
Film Festival: Best Short Film ; Edinburgh XXIst.
Intern'l Film Festival: Award of Merit. Music:
Mike Curb, Performed: DAVIE ALLAN AND THE ARROWS.
Writer-Director:
Noel Black United Artists. 18 mins. NFVLS.
*SONG OF THE PRAIRIE (1951),
Amazing Jiri Trnka animated puppet drama, in glorious colour, is the verisimilitude of a Hollywood western, replete with such amusing horse-opera stereotypes as the crusty old whisky-swilling stagecoach driver (a la Gabby Hayes), evil, moustachioed Zachary-Scott-like villains, innocent heroines and singing heroes. 22 mins.
CAC.
*TIME PIECE (1965),
Hypnotically surreal meditation on time, written,
directed, produced and starring JIM (MUPPETS)
HENSON for Muppets Inc. A young man lies in a
hospital bed. Suddenly flashes appear on the
screen, centering around the man: his life as it
led to the hospital bed? his life as he sees it
now?
The answer is unclear, but so is the whole film
unclear. It nevertheless remains a very funny film
and is a caustic comment on the tempo of modern
society.
Images charge past one another as if panicked: to
the frenetic rhythm of a quickened clock, the
viewer sees a man on a pogo stick, papers being
stamped with ridiculous words, an assembly line
producing rusty cans. The man in the hospital bed
appears throughout, but in exaggerated, almost
surrealistic poses. There is a one-dollar bill
with his head in Washington's place; he cries
weakly, "Help!". He becomes Tarzan, trapped in
ropes that must be cut by a woman. His head
appears instead of a roast pig on a platter, and
again he cries waekly, "Help!".
If any meaningful image appears throughout the
film, it is the clock; and nothing is so apparant
about TIME PIECE as its tempo. Excellent editing
and a precision of movement within the sequences
give the entire film a speedy sort of clockwork. A
funny, wild, but somehow disturbing film. NOTE:
CONTAINS STRIPPING.
**************************************************
In a unique style which uses zany comedy and
rapid-fire images to enhance a serious theme, this
award-winning film satirizes the dilemma of modern
man caught in the urban "rat race".
A young executive lies in a hospital bed while his
doctor listens to his heartbeat. We hear the
erratic rhythms of the man's heart intercut with
the clock on the table by his bed. Suddenly, the
hands of the clock spin wildly around and around,
and we are thrust into a flashback depicting the
hectic tasks, encounters, and relationships of the
young man's work-a-day world. The scenes move from
realism to surreal dream sequences that appear to
comment on the xcvz they interpret. The segments
are swiftly cut to an irregular but synchopated
cadence, like a clock or a heart gone haywire.
We see the young man in the crowded city. Traffic,
policemen's whistles, and flickering "Don't Walk'
signs constantly interrupt his stepping from
sidewalk to street. At his office, he is assaulted
by the sounds of his secretary's incessant typing
and robot-like rubber-stamping of mounds of paper.
The young man envisions himself at work behind the
conveyor belt of an assembly line that turns out
rusty and eroded tin cans. He takes the elevator
back down into the street.
Once back on the street, the city is transformed
by his imagination into a walk in the country.
here, flowers pop into instant bloom. A tiger
stalks through the brush. The young man suddenly
sees himself as Tarzan swinging from a vine.
But his primitive freedom is short-lived. His
wife, weilding a giant pair of shears, cuts the
vine and 'Tarzan' plummets to earth.
Now, the young man is on a suburban sidewalk where
the little children bob up and down on pogo
sticks. The young man, too, bobs up and down on a
pogo stick. Next, in his home, his wife plops a
brick of frozen food into the dinner pot. as both
of them eat, he envisions himself and his wife
enjoying a much more lusty, medieval-style feast,
replete with finger-licking
and bone-gnawing, a la TOM JONES, (1963).
Suddenly, he is dining out with his wife in an
expensive restaurant, where he sees his own head
served to him on a platter. The entertainment is
exotic and arouses his sexual fantasies. Once
more, however, the primal urge is stifled. A judge
pounds a gavel, and our hero is hand-cuffed,
shackled to ball and chain, and put to work on a
rock pile. But the prison blows up and he escapes.
As he runs frantically, occasionally letting out a
weak "Help!", his environs change. What follows is
an inventive, surrealistic chase sequence that is
half Keystone Cops and half fiendish nightmare.
Finally, the last of a series of clocks that have
been superimposed over the chase scene drops into
the mud. the voyage through the young man's
consciousness ends, and we are back in the
hospital room in which the film began. In a final,
ironic punctuation, the attending doctor turns
around and we see his face for the first time. It
is the same face as that of the man that he is
examining.
-Joyce Horvath, filmmaker, author and film critic.
Mesmerising soundtrack. 1966 Academy AwardsTM
nominee for Best Short/Live Action Subject. 10
minutes. CAC.
*LOLLIPOP OPERA (1971),
Rossini's Barber of Seville propels this amusing
synchopated fantasy about a metaphorical haircut.
9 mins. CAC.
*POWERS OF TEN: A FILM DEALING WITH THE RELATIVE
SIZE
OF THINGS IN THE UNIVERSE AND THE EFFECT OF
ADDING
ANOTHER ZERO (1978),
An entirely new colour production of brothers
Charles and Ray Eamse's "A ROUGH SKETCH FOR A
PROPOSED FILM DEALING WITH THE POWERS OF TEN AND
THE RELATIVE SIZE OF THINGS IN THE UNIVERSE"
(1968). The ultimate "cosmic zoom" film shows a
linear view of our universe - first from the human
(earth) scale to the sea of outer galaxies,
showing the increase of time and distance in
increments of ten. Then, returning to earth,
proceeds directly down from the human scale into
the microworld of cells, DNA molecules, and the
nucleus of a carbon atom. With an image, a
narration and a distance register it gives a clue
to the relative size of things. Filmmakers: Alex
Funke, Michael Wiener, Ron Rozzelle. Music: ELMER
BERNSTEIN. Narrator: Philip Morrison. 8 mins. CAC.
*THE RINK (1916),
In this sketch, derived partly from an old Karno
sketch, Charlie C is a waiter who spends his lunch
hour at the roller-skating rink. A cleverly
choreographed comedy with almost every kind of
fall being integrated into the action, a
demonstration of Chaplin's grace & agility. Cast:
CHARLIE CHAPLIN, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell.
Prod. Company: Mutual Films. Director, script:
CHARLES CHAPLIN. 21 minS. NFVLS.
*UN CHIEN ANDALOU (1929),
While Buñuel and DALI's famous surrealist film, in
their words, was conceived as an irrational series
of gags and 'dream residues', it is constructed
like a tragi-comic narrative, with recurring
actor-characters and cinematic effects which are
justified and demanded by the narrative. Rather
than
being interpreted in terms of the symbolic
equivalents of dream, the film can be seen to
focus on filmic processes of constructing then
dismantling meaning through, for example, the lack
of logical associations and spatial
discontinuities in the process of disconcerting,
disturbing and shocking the viewer.
When writing the script, Luis Buñuel and Salvador
Dali deliberately rejected anything that made
rational sense, so a plot summary is something of
a futile exercise. Still, here goes...
UN CHIEN ANDALOU consists of seventeen minutes of
bizarre and surreal images which may, or may not
mean anything. A woman's eye is slit open to grab
the audience's attention. The French phrase "ants
in the palms," (which means that a man is
"itching" to kill) is shown literally. A man pulls
a piano along with the tablets of the Ten
Commandments, and a dead donkey towards the woman
he's "itching" to kill. A shot of different
striped objects is repeatedly used to connect
scenes.
Now, this following bit, in the words of Louis
Buñuel, is about YOU lot, the prospective viewers
of this film:
"Sitting comfortably in a dark room, dazzled by
the light and the movement which exert a
quasi-hypnotic power... fascinated by the interest
of human faces and the rapid changes of place, [a]
cultivated individual placidly accepts the most
appalling themes...and all this naturally
sanctioned by habitual morality, government, and
international censorship, religion, dominated by
good taste and enlivened by white humor and other
prosaic imperatives of reality."
UN CHIEN ANDALOU exists to shock the viewer out of
this stupor that Buñuel elucidates above. Freudian
dream imagery, amorphous space/time, and absurdist
humor combine in this drawn out mating ritual
between a confused cyclist and the female he
pursues. May be the most inventive fifteen minutes
of film anywhere. -Russell Schaffer.
Note: The musical soundtrack for this version
re-creates Buñuel's original phonograph
accompaniment, alternating a pair of Argentinian
tangos and the 'Liebestod' theme from Richard
Wagner's Tristan and Isolde. Credits and
intertitles are also in keeping with the original.
Cast: Pierre Batcheff.... Man, Simone Marevil....
Young girl, Luis Buñuel.... Man (Prolog), Salvador
Dalí.... Seminarist, Robert Hommet.... Young Man
(uncredited), Marval.... Seminarist (uncredited),
Fano Messan.... Hermaphrodite (uncredited), Jaime
Miravilles....Seminarist (uncredited). Art
Direction Pierre Schilzneck (uncredited).
Cinematography by Albert Duverger (uncredited).
Writers: Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali. Producer,
director, editor: Luis Buñuel. 17 mins. NFVLS.
*DIAGONAL SYMPHONY (1921),
Viking Eggeling , working initially an
collaboration with Hans Richter, developed a
notion of counterpoint of linear elements. Graphic
notions were developed sequentially and related to
each other in a vertical form or scroll. Eggeling
then used film to give the scrolls kinetic form.
In DIAGONAL SYMPHONY, 'the emphasis is on
objectively analysed movement rather than
expressiveness, on the specific patterning of
lines into clearly defined movements controlled by
mechanical, almost metronomic tempo'. Filmmaker:
Viking Eggeling. Assistant: Erna
Niemeyer-Soupault. 5 mins. NFVLS.
*THE MALLET (1977),
In a futuristic antiseptic food factory, workers
select healthy chicks while the rejects are
carried along a conveyor belt until they are
crushed by a mallet and dropped into a garbage
bin. A single black chick appears amongst the
yellow and is shoved toward the garbage bin.
Before the mallet strikes the gasping chick
rebels. A terrifying vision of Social Darwinism,
rendered as a haunting and powerful allegory.
Possibly used in/ripped off/inspiring the
feature-length film BARAKA (1992). Without
narration. Winner of the 1979 Melbourne Film
Festival short film competition. SOME SCENES MAY
DISTURB. Dir: Aca Ilic. Prod Co: Dunav Film
(Belgrade). 11 mins. CAC.