Silent avant-garde : 21 experiments with silent film & new music

An essential collection of 21 short art film experiments in HD to 5K scans made from 35mm and 16mm picture elements. Highlights include brand new digital restorations of classic experimental films. Each film features accompaniment of original silent film music specially prepared, composed, improvised and/or performed by a master of experimental new music.

Credits

Posner, Bruce Charles, 1953- curator (film director); Robert Joseph Flaherty (film director); Sergei Eisenstein (film director); Grigoriĭ Vasilʹevich Aleksandrov (film director); Ėduard Tissė (film director); Marcel Duchamp (film director); Al Brick (film director); Slavko Vorkapich (film director); Jay Leyda (film director); Ralph Steiner (film director); Robert Florey (film director); Miklós Bándy (film director); Stella F. Simon (film director); Man Ray (film director); Charles Sheeler (film director); Paul Strand (film director); Fernand Léger (film director); Dudley Murphy (film director); William Vance (film director); Orson Welles (film director); Mary Ellen Bute (film director); Ted Nemeth (film director); Francis Thompson (film director); Joseph Cornell (film director); Warren Newcombe (film director); Sosin, Donald. composer (expression); Matamoros, Gustavo, 1957- composer (expression); John Alden Carpenter (composer (expression)); Ludwig van Beethoven (composer); Jacob Druckman (composer (expression)); Jacques Offenbach (composer); Dominguez, Carlos, 1989- composer (expression); Alex Lough (composer (expression)); Blitzstein, Marc. composer (expression); George Antheil (composer (expression)); Johann Sebastian Bach (composer); Forrell, Gene. composer (expression); Audinot, Rafael. composer (expression); Debru, Albert. composer (expression); Wolff, Christian, 1934- composer (expression)

Complete catalog record
Alternate title: Twenty-four dollar island. | Eisenstein Mexican footage: Fiesta of the Virgin of Guadalupe. | Que viva Mexico! | Anémic cinema. | Spirals. | Looney lens: Pas de deux. | Vorkapich montage sequences. | Skyline dance. | Money machine. | Prohibition. | Furies. | Bronx morning. | Look park. | Life and death of 9413, a Hollywood extra. | Hands: The life and loves of the gentler sex. | Hände: Das Leben und die Liebe eines zärthlichen Gelchlechtes. | Return to reason. | Retour à la raison. | Manhatta. | New York the magnificent. | Fumée d'New York. | Ballet mechanique. | Ballet mécanique. | Images mobiles. | Hearts of age. | Escape, Synchromy no. 4. | N.Y., N.Y., a day in New York. | New York, New York, a day in New York. | Eclipse. | Rose Hobart. | Tenga fe. | Enchanted city, a love phantasy.
Original source: "Curated, selected and produced with notes by Bruce Posner from "Unseen cinema: early American avant-garde film 1893-1941" touring film retrospective"--Container. | Content details from online collection notes, viewed September 12, 2023. | Full screen (1.33:1)
Release: New York, NY : Kino Classics, [2023]
Physical description: 1 videodisc (188 min.) : silent, black and white and color ; 4 3/4 in. | 4 3/4 in. | polychrome | monochrome | video file | Blu-ray | 1080p High Definition | all regions
Edition: Special digital restoration edition.
Contents: Contents: The twenty-four dollar island / director, Robert Flaherty ; music, Donald Sosin (1925, 14 min.) -- Eisenstein Mexican footage: Fiesta of the Virgin of Guadalupe [alternate title: Que viva Mexico!] / directors, Sergei Eisenstein, Grigori Alexandrov, Eduard Tisse ; [no music] (1930, 5 min.) -- Anémic cinema [alternate title: Spirals] / director, Rrose Sélavy [pseudonym for Marcel Duchamp] ; music, Gustavo Matamoros (1925-1926, 7 min.) -- Looney lens: Pas de deux / director, Al Brick ; music, Donald Sosin (1924, 4 min.) -- Vorkapich montage sequences / director, Slavko Vorkapich ; music, John Alden Carpenter, Ludwig van Beethoven: Skyline dance (for Dorothy Azner's 'Manhattan cocktail') (1928, 29 sec.) ; Money machine (for Rowland V. Lee's 'The wolf of Wall Street') (1929, 7 sec.) ; Prohibition (for Ludwig Berger's 'Sins of the fathers') (1929, 2 min.) ; The furies (for Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's 'Crime without passion') (1934, 3 min.) -- A Bronx morning / director, Jay Leyda ; music, Donald Sosin (1931, 14 min.) -- Look park / director, Ralph Steiner ; music, Jacob Druckman, Jacques Offenbach (1973-1974, 10 min., color) -- The life and death of 9413, a Hollywood extra / directors, Robert Florey, Slavko Vorkapich ; music, Carlos Dominguez, Alex Lough (1927, 14 min.) -- Hands: The life and loves of the gentler sex = Hände: Das Leben und die Liebe eines zärthlichen Gelchlechtes / directors, Miklós Bándy, Stella Simon ; music, Marc Blitzstein (1926-1929, 13 min.) -- Return to reason = Le retour à la raison / director, Man Ray ; music, George Antheil (1923, 2 min.) -- Manhatta [alternate titles: New York the magnificent, Fumée d'New York] / directors, Charles Sheeler, Paul Strand ; music, Donald Sosin (1920-1921, 12 min.) -- Ballet mechanique/Le Ballet mécanique [alternate title: Images mobiles] / directors, Fernand Léger, Dudley Murphy ; music, George Antheil (1923-24, 1931, 13 min.) -- The hearts of age / directors, William Vance, Orson Welles ; music, Donald Sosin (1934, 8 min.) -- Escape, Synchromy no. 4 / directors, Mary Ellen Bute, Theodore Nemeth ; music, Johann Sebastian Bach (1938, 4 min.) -- N.Y., N.Y., a day in New York / director, Francis Thompson ; music, Gene Forrell (1947-1958, 15 min.) -- The eclipse [alternate titles: Rose Hobart, Tristes tropiques] / directors, Joseph Cornell, [George Melford, director of 1931 film 'East of Borneo'] ; music, Rafael Audinot, Alberto de Bru, "Rumba rhapsody" performed by Cuarteto Caney (1936-1949, 21 min.) -- Tenga fe / directors, Bruce Posner, [Charles Bryant 1922], [Gaston Velle 1906] ; music, Christian Wolff (1975, 1984, 2010, 2021, 7 min.) -- The enchanted city, a love phantasy / director, Warren A. Newcombe ; music, Donald Sosin (1922, 12 min.).
Subjects: Experimental films -- 20th century -- History | Experimental films | 1900-1999
Country: United States | France | Germany | Mexico
Language note: Silent films with English intertitles.
Awards: [N.Y., N.Y.] Cannes Film Festival, 1959: Short Film. | [A Bronx morning] National Film Registry, 2004 | [The life and death of 9413] National Film Registry, 1997 | [Manhatta] National Film Registry, 1995 | [Rose Hobart] National Film Registry, 2001

Sources

  1. UCLA Library Catalog · record ↗ — title, creator, length, format, color, sound, genre, description, credits, catalog record