early american avant garde film 1893-1941
American avant-garde cinema is usually considered to have begun with Maya Deren,
director of the highly influential film Meshes of the Afternoon (1943). However,
this overlooks many experimental films beginning with the silent era. "Unseen
Cinema" is the first comprehensive retrospective of the early avant-garde
film movement in America. More than 160 films in newly restored 35mm and 16mm
film prints survey the hitherto unknown accomplishments of pioneer filmmakers
working in the United States and abroad during the formative period of American
film. The series postulates an innovative view of experimental cinema of that
time, as a product not only of individual avant-garde artists as we understand
it today, but also of Hollywood directors and amateur moviemakers working collectively
at all levels of film production. Many of these films have not been available
since their creation more than a century ago, some have never been previously
screened in public, and almost all have been unavailable in pristine projection
prints until now. —Bruce Posner, UNSEEN CINEMA CURATOR
This 20-program retrospective, which the Film Center will present in three installments,
was organized by Anthology Film Archives, New York, and Deutsches Filmmuseum,
Frankfurt, as a collaborative film preservation project, and sponsored by Cineric,
Inc.
Bruce Posner will introduce the april 18 program.
APRIL 4 7 THU 7 P.M., SUN 7 P.M.
GUILD THEATRE
UNSEEN CINEMA—
THE DEVILS PLAYTHING:
FANTASTIC MYTHS AND FAIRY TALES
The program includes: Jack and the Beanstalk, Edison Manufacturing, 1902, Edwin
S. Porter, 9 min.; The Love of Zero, 1928, Robert Florey, 15 min.; A dream fantasy
sequence from Beggar on Horseback, Paramount, 1925, James Cruze, 7 min.; The Tell-Tale
Heart,1928, Charles Klein, 24 min.; The Hearts of Age, 1934, William Vance and
Orson Welles, 8 min.; Pie in the Sky, Nykino, 1935, Ralph Steiner, Irving Lerner,
Elia Kazan, Russell Collins, Molly Day Thatcher, and Elman Koolish, 22 min. This
program has a recorded score for piano performed by Donald Sosin.
APRIL 11 14 THU 7 P.M., SUN 7 P.M.
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
UNSEEN CINEMA—
LIGHT RHYTHMS: MELODIES AND MONTAGES
The program includes: Radio Dynamic (Allegretto, early version), 1936, Oskar Fischinger,
color, sound, 3 min.; Moods of the Sea, 1940-42, Slavko Vorkapich and John Hoffman,
sound, 10 min.; Nuit sur le Mont Chauve (Night on Bald Mountain), 1933, Alexander
Alexeieff and Claire Parker, sound, 8 min.; Object Lesson, 1941, Christopher Young,
sound, 10 min.; Poem 8, 1933. Emlen Etting, 14 min.; Light Rhythms, 1929-30, Francis
Bruguière, 6 min.; Montage Sequences (partial list): Artist's Ball from
So This Is Paris, Warner Bros.,1926. Ernst Lubitsch, 4 min.; Title sequence from
Hollywood Boulevard, Paramount, 1936, Robert Florey, sound, 3 min. Manhattan sequence
from The City, 1939, Ralph Steiner and Willard Van Dyke, sound, 15 min.; Lincoln
Memorial from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Columbia, 1939, sequence directed
by Slavko Vorkapich, film directed by Frank Capra, 3 min.; An American March,
1941, Oskar Fischinger, 4 min.
APRIL 18 21 THU 7 P.M., SUN 7 P.M.
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
UNSEEN CINEMA—
WRITING WITH LIGHT: D.W. GRIFFITH, MARY ELLEN BUTE, BUSBY BERKELEY
The program includes: Pippa Passes, American Biograph, 1909, D.W. Griffith,13
min.; Rhythm in Light (Anitra’s Dance), 1934, Mary Ellen Bute, Ted Nemeth,
and Melville Webber, sound, 5 min.; Synchromy No. 2 (O Evening Star), 1936, Mary
Ellen Bute and Ted Nemeth, sound, 6 min,; Dada, 1936, Mary Ellen Bute and Ted
Nemeth, sound, 2 min.; Don’t Say Goodnight from Wonder Bar, First National,1934,
sequence directed by Busby Berkeley, film directed by Lloyd Bacon, 10 min.; Musketeers
of Pig Alley, American Biograph,1912, D.W. Griffith, 15 min; By a Waterfall from
Footlight Parade, Warner Brothers,1933, directed by Busby Berkeley, 10 min. curator
bruce posner will introduce the thursday screening
APRIL 25 27 THU 7 P.M., SUN 7 P.M.
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
UNSEEN CINEMA: THE MECHANIZED EYE
The program includes: Down the Hudson, American Mutoscope & Biograph, 1903,
Frederick S. Armitage and A.E. Weed, 3 min.; Captain Nissan Going Through Whirlpool
Rapids Niagara Falls, Edison Manufacturing, 1901, Unidentified filmmaker, 2 min.;
Seeing New York Harbor by Yacht, American Mutoscope & Biograph, 1903, Frederick
S. Armitage and A.E. Weed, 3 min.; Panorama of Machine Co. Aisle, Westinghouse
Works, American Mutoscope & Biograph, 1904, G.W. "Billy" Bitzer,
3 min.; Panorama View Streetcar Motor Room, Westinghouse Works, American Mutoscope
& Biograph, 1904, G.W. "Billy" Bitzer; 2 min.; Pas de deux from
Looney Lens, Fox Movietone Newsreel, 1924, Al Brick, 4 min.; Skyscraper Symphony,
1929, Robert Florey,10 min., Mechanical Principles (Gears in Motion and Design),
1930, Ralph Steiner, 10 min.; Portrait of a Young Man, 1925-31, Henwar Rodakiewicz,
48 min.
MAY 2 5 THU 7 P.M., SUN 7 P.M.
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
UNSEEN CINEMA— A MIRRORED ROMANCE
The Thieving Hand, Vitagraph,1908, Unidentified filmmaker, 5 min.; Living Pictures,
American Mutoscope & Biograph,1899, Frederick S. Armitage, 2 min.; Diana the
Huntress, Pluragraph, 1916, Francis Trevelyan Miller and Charles W. Allen, 29
min.; Autumn Fire: A Film Poem, 1930-33, Herman G. Weinberg, 22 min.; Case-Sponable
Sound Tests, 1927, Theodore Case, sound, 8 min.; Tomato Is Another Day, 1933,
J.S. Watson, Jr., and Alec Wilder, sound, 7 min.; Mr. Motorboat’s Last Stand,
1933, John A. Flory, 16 min.
MAY 9 12 THU 7 P.M., SUN 7 P.M.
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
UNSEEN CINEMA— CINEMA’S SECRET GARDEN: THE AMATEUR AS AUTEUR
The program includes: Little Geezer, 1932, Theodore Huff, 11 min.; Forest Shadows,
c. 1937, James Card, 19 min.; Impossible Convicts, American Mutoscope & Biograph,
1905, G.W. "Billy" Bitzer, 2 min.; Rose Hobart, 1936. Joseph Cornell,
13 min.; Reel 66 (Part One),1936, Archie Stewart, sound, 6 min.; Unidentified
film, c. 1900, Unidentified filmmaker, 30 sec.; Cotillion, c. 1938-70, Joseph
Cornell, completed by Larry Jordan, 7 min.; Reel 66 (Part Two), 1936, Archie Stewart,
sound, 4 min.; Thimble Theater, c.1940-70. Joseph Cornell, completed by Larry
Jordan, 5 min.; Midnight Party, c. 1938-70, Joseph Cornell, completed by Larry
Jordan, 4 min.; Reel 66 (Part Three), 1937, Archie Stewart, sound, 7 min. The
Children's Party, c. 1938-70, Joseph Cornell, completed by Larry Jordan, 8 min.;
Reel 66 (Part Four), 1937-39, Archie Stewart, sound, 4 min.
