Studio: Kino Video (2 DVDs) K402
Video: 4:3 B&W
Audio: PCM mono & stereo (some silent)
Subtitles: English on selected films
Extras: Film notes on each film by critic/historian Elliot Stein; newly-composed scores by Sue Harshe, Larry Marrotta, Paul Mercer and Donald Sosin; New Titles with country of origin, director and times
Length: c. 360 minutes
Rating: ****
Le Retour a la raison (The Return to Reason)
Directed by Man Ray
France 1923
2 Min.
Emak-Bakia (Leave Me Alone)
Directed by Man Ray
France 1926
16 Min.
L’ Etoile de mer (The Starfish)
Directed by Man Ray
France 1928
15 Min.
Les Mysteres du Chateau du D. (The Mysteries of the Chateau of Dice)
Directed by Man Ray
France 1929
20 Min.
Menilmontant
Directed by Dimitri Kirsanoff
France 1926
37 Min.
Brumes d’Automne (Autumn Mists)
Directed by Dimitri Kirsanoff
France 1928
12 Min.
The Life and Death of 9413, A Hollywood Extra
Directed by Robert Florey and Slavko Vorkapich
US 1928
13 Min.
Lot in Sodom
Directed by James Sibley Watson and Melville Webber
US 1933
27 Min.
Rhythmus 21 (Film Is Rhythm)
Directed by Hans Richter
Germany 1921
3 Min.
Vormittagsspuk (Ghosts Before Breakfast)
Directed by Hans Richter
Germany 1928
9 Min.
Anemic Cinema
Directed by Marcel Duchamp
France 1926
6 Min.
Ballet Mecanique
Directed by Fernand Léger
France 1924
11 Min.
Symphonie Diagonale (Diagonal Symphony)
Directed by Viking Eggeling
Germany 1924
7 Min.
Le Vampire
Directed by Jean Painlev
France 1939-45
9 Min.
The Hearts of Age
Directed by Orson Welles and William Vance
US 1934
8 Min.
Uberfall (Assault)
Directed by Ern Metzner
Germany 1928
22 Min.
La Glace trois faces (The Three-Sided Mirror)
Directed by Jean Epstein
France 1927
33 Min.
Le Tempestaire (The Tempest)
Directed by Jean Epstein
France 1947
22 Min.
Romance Sentimentale (Sentimental Romance)
Directed by Sergei Eisenstein and Grigori V. Alexandrov
France 1930
16 Min.
Autumn Fire
Directed by Herman G. Weinberg
US 1931
15 Min.
Manhatta
Directed by Paul Strand and Charles Sheeler
US 1921
10 Min.
La Coquille et le Clergyman (The Seashell and the Clergyman)
Directed by Germaine Dulac
France 1926
31 Min.
Regen (Rain)
Directed by Joris Ivens
Netherlands 1929
14 Min.
H O
Directed by Ralph Steiner
US 1929
12 Min.
Even — As You And I
Directed by Roger Barlow, Harry Hay and LeRoy Robbins
US 1937
12 Min.
Raymond Rohauer ws one of the strongest proponents of experimental short films. As owner of the Coronet Theater in Los Angeles he programmed diverse avantgarde cinema and made his collection available commercially for showings elsewhere. This release presents 24 selections from his collection, ranging from six to about 35 minutes in length, all black & white and a few completely silent. Others have new original soundtrack music matched to them. While I found some of the films to work better completely silent, without the provided soundtrack, the transfer to DVD was excellent on most of them. I recall seeing a few of these in college on 16mm at our art film club, and seeing the same films now on DVD is a whole different experience – with the excellent tonal range, sharpness and minimum of distracting dirt and scratches on most of the images.
Some of the famous names in art, photography, and film are represented here, including Hans Richter, Fernand Léger, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Jean Epstein, Paul Strand and Orson Welles. Fine art trends of Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, Impressionism, Expressionism and Surrealism are all reflected in various of the films. Stein’s well-written notes which can be accessed prior to viewing each film are very helpful. The Parisian mileau was prominent in a number of the films, perhaps culminating in the longest film here – Ménilmontant of 1926 – about which I had heard ever since college days but had never seen until now. Next to the European films the few American ones seem less interesting; in fact Orson Welles’ first effort is terrible, with overacting and makeup so crude you can’t tell which character in it is Welles. Some of the avant experiments led the way to various filmic devices which have now become standard in many features. The Dutch film Rain and the New York film Manhatta stimulated a series of “city symphonies” to be filmed in other countries. Man Ray’s use of negative film, running the film in reverse (Jean Cocteau loved doing that), and animating of ordinary objects have all been introduced via such short subjects.
Another contribution of these filmmakers was the reluctance to work with a set storyline or plot, let alone a story that proceeded in a linear fashion. The beginnings of such films as Last Year at Marienbad and Memento are seen in some of these films. Memory, dreams and nightmares are among the sources of the often innovative images on the screen – often meant to be deliberately disorienting or upsetting. The accent is on emotional feelings, striking photography and juxtaposition of edited images a la Eisenstein. The Surrealist-influenced efforts often just cut together wildly contrasting images with no effort at all to maintain a story line. The Life and Death of 9413 a Hollywood Extra showed the influence of Lang’s Metropolis in its cardboard-constructed buildings, and Uberfall showed the dark side of German Expressionism. But my favorite of the 24 was probably Richter’s Ghosts Before Breakfast, which had a more French sense of humor and came the closest to entirely their own.
I was disappointed that Léger’s Ballet Mecanique didn’t have on the soundtrack the original composition which George Antheil had created for the 1924 silent film. Originally released as a 1953 Columbia mono LP, it featured four pianos, percussion, 2 electric bells and 2 airplane propellers! (You can also hear it on a Naxos Antheil disc in their American Classics Series.) The score really holds together and isn’t that hard on 21st century ears. It seems to be a really inclusive collection of early avantgarde film Bunuel and Dali’s Un Chien Andalou as well as their L’Age d’Or should have been part of this deluxe edition, but perhaps they were not in Royauer’s collection.
Nevertheless there are many impressive art films here, which will appeal to different tastes, but I would think most viewers will be sure to find some of great interest. Even the completely abstract ones are not that hard to take; one must realize that such image-making was totally new at the time compared to standard silent films for theatrical showing.
– John Sunier
