VOL 19 - THE SERIOUS, THE STUPID AND THE ABSURD
BAMBI
MEETS GODZILLA Mary Neuland's wry look at what might happen
if the cute little fawn were to take on the city munchin' meanie greenie.
Original sound.
LAMBETH WALK NAZI STYLE - To give
the British a laugh during their long battle with Nazi Germany, Len Lye
pieced newsreel footage and used reverse, stop motion and jump cuts to
create the illusion that Hitler and his gang were dancing a popular British
jig. Original sound.
THE LOVES OF FRANISTAN
Shoestring-- budget spoof of big budget superspectaculars. Original
sound.
THE DOVE (DU DUVE) - Ingmar Bergman
gets dissed in this wicked takeoff where the Grim Reaper plays badminton
instead of chess. Original sound.
THE JFK WORKOUT - Offbeat training
film made in the 60's to promote JFK's physical fitness program. After
a speech by JFK, we are treated to a bizarre discourse on the inferiority
of females. Although there is some unusual photography and juxtapositions,
this is not really an avant garde film but it is stupid enough to be included
in this compilation of stupid films.
Approximately 60m
ISBN 1-55881-501-5
$39.95
VOL
20 - THE SECRIET LIVES OF INANIMATE OBJECTS IN NON EXISTANT PLACES
GHOSTS
BEFORE BREAKFAST -Hans Richter's lively absurdist piece, featuring
juxtapositions of everyday objects taking on new roles in unusual settings.
Music score.
RHYTHMUS 21 - Richter returns to explore
the extremely complex form of the simple square. Music score. H20 - Ralph
Steiner's visually delightful study of water. Music score.
THE EXISTENTIALIST - Leon Prochnik's
study of non-conformity has a man walking through New York while the traffic
and the city move about him in reverse!
Original sound. 40min
ISBN 1-55881-502-3
$29.95
VOL 21 - AN ATTACK ON SOCIAL, SEXUAL AND POLITICAL ORDER
LOT
IN SODOM-- Watson and Weber's famed Filming of a trip to the
Old Testament city complete with homosexual orgies, sensuous sexual dances
and, of course, a pillar of salt. Unusual dream-Iike photographic techniques,
an early sound recording process and minimalist DW Griffith sets add up
to a most fascinating film. Original sound.
L'HISTOIRE DU SOLDAT INCONNU (History
Of The Unknown Soldier). Henri Storck uses the signing of the Kellogg--Briand
pact to launch his hyperbolic attack on everything including -- but not
limited to -- the bourgeoisie, democracy, religion and capitalism. Subversive
little ditty. Music score.
45m ISBN1-55881-503-1 $29.95
VOL 22 - DR. STRANGEFLICK...OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING ABOUT CINEMA THEORY AND LOVE THE MOVIES!
THE
FILMS OF KEN RUSSELL Up first, two of the famed enfant terrible's
earliest films. These flicks impressed Huw Wheldon at the BBC and led
to Russell's first film assignments on the 'Monitor' TV show.
KNIGHTS
ON BIKES -Russell's first film was this Medieval farce of maidens
in distress and heroic knights who don't have horses but do have bikes.
(1957 / original soundtrack)
PEEPSHOW -Graduation day at the Bogus
Beggar's Academy leaves the students in a most distressful situation;
people are throwing their money over a fence for a peepshow. The Dean
of the academy hatches a plot to kill the show's proprietor and kidnap
the star performer who just happens to be a life-size wind up mechanical
woman [coin-a-word:RUSSELESQUE]. (1958 / Original soundtrack).
HAPPY ANNNERSARY -A woman prepares
a delicious anniversary dinner for her husband. The poor man's problem
is getting home. A series of Tatiesque visual gags involving traffic,
barbers, florists and six-foot tall sunflowers follow. Outrageously funny
non-dialog piece directed by Pierre Etaix & JC Carriere.
THE Z00 -This famed Dutch short exposes
the nasty truth about zoos. Humans visit them and think that they're gawking
and laughing at the animals when in fact the animals are laughing at humans
and their habits! Director Bert Haanstra masterfully mixes zoo footage
of gawkers and gawkees, punctuates it with Pim Jacobs' music and creates
a delightful, thoughtful farce. (1962 / original soundtrack)
ISBN 1-55881-502-3
$29.95
VOL 23 - YOUR BRAIN ON CINEMA
CBS reporter Harry Reasoner travels to San Francisco's Haight Ashbury district to hang with the hippies and report on 'THE HIPPIE TEMPTATION'. Priceless scenes include footage of ‘The Diggers' who provided free food and open houses for their fellow hippies and an interview and performance with a young, obscure rock group called The Grateful Dead' (no, Jerry was not born with that beard!). Unfortunately the film is obsessed with drug use and occasionally drifts off to become a 1960's 'Reefer Madness' clone. There is an interview with the doctor who concocted the 'LSD causes chromosomal damage' claims. There is also an interview with a kid who found God while on an acid trip. His mother misinterpreted this as a death wish; 'You don't see God till you die..." and had him institutionalized! Perhaps the most bizarre LSD discourse comes from wooden homeboy Harry himself who explains what 'trips' are, warns about 'bad trips', 'bummers' and concludes; "ln a very aggressive and evangelical way, [hippies] praise the effects of hallucinatory drugs like LSD...", and warns; 'There is a real danger that more young people will heed the call to 'tune in, turn on, drop out'".
As an added Bonus, we dug up a little 10 minute blossom, called DREAM FLOWER. This 1932 British educational flick features some impressive time lapse photography of poppy seeds growing into flowers and discusses their cultivation, hugs, diseases and how the sap is made into drugs.
60 min. ISBN 1-55881-536-8
$29.95
VOL 24 - LOUIS BUNUEL DOUBLE FEATURE
A special presentation of two rare shorts by our favorite surrealist Louis Bunuel.
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER (Orig. La Chute De La Maison Usher) A man buries his sister alive in the large family mansion but she returns after death to take her revenge. This first filming of Poe’s story unfolds with impressive slow-motion surreal imagery; long windswept corridors, mist- shrouded trees, and a surreal burial with four men carrying a white coffin--and the macabre features of Marguerite Gance (wife of Abel Gance). Directed by Jean Epstein with Luis Bunuel as assistant director. Script by Jean Epstein. Photo by Georges Lucas, J.A. Lucas. Cast; Marguerite Gance, Jean Debucourt, Charles Lamy, Pierre Hot, Halma. (1928).
LAND WITHOUT BREAD (Orig. Las Hurdes) After his two surrealist masterpieces, Un Chien Andalou and L 'Age D'or, Bunuel turned towards social realism with this stark and searing documentary on peasants living in remote mountain villages who were so backwards that they did not even know how to make bread. The film was promptly banned under Franco’s regime, Bunuel went into exile and would not return to make another film in Spain for 29 years until “Viridiana”. (27 min) Produced by Ramon Acin. Directed by Luis Bunuel. Script by Luis Bunuel. Original Commentary by Pierre Unik. Photo by Eli Lotar. Music by Brahms. (1932).
Approximately 80
minutes total. ISBN 1-55881-430-2.
$29.95
THE
EXPERIMENTAL AVANT-GARDE SERIES
VOL
1 - 8
VOL
9 - 13
VOL
14 - 18
VOL
19 - 24
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