Avant-Garde 3: Experimental Cinema 1922-1954 (2009)

Painting with Light

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy Avant-Garde 3: Experimental Cinema 1922-1954 on DVD

Kino has released another two-disc set of avant-garde and experimental films, and unless you're a fan of these kinds of films, the results are interesting, if not particularly exciting. There's a 46-minute "feature" by Alberto Cavalcanti, who is best known as one of the four directors on the great anthology horror film Dead of Night (1945); it's a meditation on the city of Paris over one day. The Tell-Tale Heart (1928) -- based on Edgar Allan Poe's story -- isn't bad, though it's slow and not as daring as something like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. The other interesting item is a clip from the experimental horror film Dementia (1955), which Kino has already released in its entirely on a separate DVD. Each film comes with explanatory notes. The following is a complete list of films:

DISC ONE

• DANSE MACABRE
  US 1922 Color Tinted 6 Min.
  Dir: Dudley Murphy
• RIEN QUE LES HEURES
  (Nothing But Time)
  US 1926 B&W 46 Min.
  Dir: Alberto Cavalcanti
  Music by Larry Marotta
• THE TELL-TALE HEART
  US 1928 B&W 20 Min.
  Dir: Charles F. Klein
  Music by Sue Harshe
• TARANTELLA
  US 1940 Color 4 Min.
  Dir: Mary Ellen Bute, Ted Nemeth
• TOMATOS ANOTHER DAY
  US 1930 B&W 7 Min.
  Dir: James Sibley Watson
• THE UNCOMFORTABLE MAN
  US 1948 B&W 23 Min.
  Intentionally silent
  Dir: Kent Munson, Theodore Huff
  The above films are from the collection of the George Eastman House Motion Picture Department
• THE PETRIFIED DOG
  US 1948 B&W 18 Min.
  Dir: Sidney Peterson
• THE LEAD SHOES
  US 1949 B&W 16 Min.
  Dir: Sidney Peterson
• FOUR IN THE AFTERNOON
  US 1951 B&W 14 Min.
  Dir: James Broughton

DISC TWO

• PLAGUE SUMMER
  US 1951 B&W 15 Min.
  Dir: Chester Kessler
• LA MORT DU CERF
  (The Death of a Stag)
  France 1951 B&W 12 Min.
  Dir: Dimitri Kirsanoff
• IMAGE IN THE SNOW
  US 1952 B&W 26 Min.
  Dir: Willard Maas
• CELERY STALKS AT MIDNIGHT
  France 1952 Color 3 Min.
  Dir: John Whitney
• THE VOICES
  US 1953 B&W 14 Min.
  Dir: John E. Schmitz
• CLOSED VISION
  US 1954 B&W 65 Min.
  Dir: Marc'O

BONUS FILMS

• TOMATOS ANOTHER DAY (outtakes)
  US 1930 B&W 5 Min. Dir: James Sibley Watson
• EPISODES IN THE LIFE OF A GIN BOTTLE
  US 1925 B&W 11 Min. Dir: Bela von Block
  Music by Paul Mercer, Bruce Bennett and Davis Petterson
• SCHICHLEGRUBER DOING THE LAMBETH WALK
  UK 1941 B&W 2 Min. Dir: Charles A. Ridley
• DEMENTIA (excerpt)
  US 1955 B&W 5 Min. Dir: John Parker
• FALLING PINK
  US circa late 1950s Color 9 Min. Dir: Robert H. Spring
  Music by Paul Mercer and Bruce Bennett
  

With: n/a
Written by: n/a
Directed by: Alberto Cavalcanti, etc.
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 321 minutes
Date: November 19, 2009