List of avant-garde films of the 1930s: Difference between revisions
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|'''''Svetlo proniká tmou (Light Penetrates the Darkness)'''''||[[Otakar Vávra]], Frantisek Pilát|| ||{{Flagicon|Czechoslovakia}}||Photographic abstract film <ref>[imdb entry [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0176204/combined The Light Penetrates the Dark (1931)]</ref> |
|'''''Svetlo proniká tmou (Light Penetrates the Darkness)'''''||[[Otakar Vávra]], Frantisek Pilát|| ||{{Flagicon|Czechoslovakia}}||Photographic abstract film <ref>[imdb entry [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0176204/combined The Light Penetrates the Dark (1931)]</ref> |
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|'''''[[End of the World (1931 film)]]'''''||[[Abel Gance]]||[[Abel Gance]], [[Victor Francen]]||{{Flagicon|France}}||Visually radical adaptation of [[Camille Flammarion]] novel, taken away from Gance, and re-edited. <ref>DVD Savant review of "Le fin du monde" [imdb entry [http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s2376fin.html]</ref> |
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|'''''Studie(s) Nr. 7-9||[[Oskar Fischinger]]|| ||{{Flagicon|Weimar Republic}}||Abstract animation <ref name="oskarfischinger1"/> |
|'''''Studie(s) Nr. 7-9||[[Oskar Fischinger]]|| ||{{Flagicon|Weimar Republic}}||Abstract animation <ref name="oskarfischinger1"/> |
Revision as of 06:42, 18 December 2013
This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2012) |
A list of avant-garde and experimental films made in the 1930s. Unless where noted, all films had sound and were in black and white. Some films, such as Steiner's Surf and Seaweed, had dedicated music scores that are now lost; in the case of some now-lost films it is not known whether they were sound or silent. In terms of defining "avant-garde" or "experimental" in this period, there are several criteria at work here. First and foremost are films that directly or indirectly reflect the major avant-garde art movements of this era. Next in line are films that reflect radical types of film-making technique; unusual camerawork, editing and montage, non-standardized subjects and advanced kinds of amateur and non-commercial films. In this period there was considerable co-mingling between the avant-garde and the emerging form of the documentary film; some titles may contain elements of both. This list excludes some subjects that could loosely qualify as "art films," but do not reflect the modernist esthetic that could be considered within the realm of the avant-garde.
Title | Director | Cast | Country | Sub-Genre/Notes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1930 | ||||||
Bezucelná procházka (Aimless Walk) | Alexandr Hackenschmied | City film [1] | ||||
Takový je zivot (Such is Life) | Karl Junghans | Vera Baranovskaya, Theodor Pistek | Slovak avant-garde social realist feature; silent [2][3] | |||
L'Âge d'Or | Luis Buñuel | Gaston Modot, Lya Lys, Max Ernst | Notorious surrealist feature, produced by Charles De Noailles [4] | |||
Autour de la fin du monde | Eugène Deslaw | Abel Gance | Extraordinary, semi-experimental "making of" documentary shot on set of Abel Gance's "La fin du monde;" silent [5] | |||
Romance Sentimentale | Grigory Alexandrov, Sergei Eisenstein | Mara Griy | "Étude cinematographique" [6] | |||
Mennschen am Sonntag (People on Sunday) | Curt Siodmak, Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer, Fred Zinnemann, Rochus Gliese | Erwin Splettstößer, Brigitte Borchert | City film, partly written by Billy Wilder; silent[7] | |||
Wochenende (Weekend) | Walter Ruttmann | Audio-only film collage; no image [8] | ||||
Studie(s) Nr. 2-4 | Oskar Fischinger | Abstract animations, Nr. 4 Lost [9] | ||||
R.5, Ein Spiel in Linien (Studie Nr. 5) | Oskar Fischinger | Abstract animation [9] | ||||
Studie Nr. 6 | Oskar Fischinger | Abstract animation [9] | ||||
Borderline (1930 film) | Kenneth MacPherson | Paul Robeson, Hilda Doolittle | Pool film; silent [10] | |||
Light Rhythms | Francis Brugière, Oswell Blakeston | Light-oriented, non-animated abstract film[11] | ||||
Apteka (Pharmacy) | Stephan Themerson, Franciszka Themerson | Rayographic animation, lost [12] | ||||
It's a Bird | Harold Mueller | Charles Bowers, Lowell Thomas | Strange, semi-animated short where an egg transforms into an automobile [13] | |||
Crying for the Carolines | Leon Schlesinger, Neil McGuire | Milton Charles | A "Spooney Melodie;" Semi-abstract music short [14][15] | |||
Tomatoes Another Day | James Sibley Watson, Jr. | Absurdist comedy written by Alec Wilder[16] | ||||
Mechanical Principles | Ralph Steiner | Abstract film based on machinery; sometimes dated to 1933 [17] | ||||
The Story of a Nobody | Jo Gerson, Louis Hershman | Experiment in subjective camerawork, Lost film [18] | ||||
A City Symphony | Herman G. Weinberg | City film, never shown, disassembled and partly used in Autumn Fire [19] | ||||
The Trap | M.G. MacPherson, Jean Michelson | Artkino production, Lost film [19] | ||||
The Power of Suggestion | M.G. MacPherson, Jean Michelson | Artkino production, Lost film [19] | ||||
1931 | ||||||
Limite | Mário Peixoto | Olga Breno, Raul Schnoor | Advertised as 'pure cinema;' first Brazilian avant-garde film [20] | |||
Na Prazském hrade (The Prague Castle) | Alexandr Hackenschmied | Artful semi-documentary [21] | ||||
Svetlo proniká tmou (Light Penetrates the Darkness) | Otakar Vávra, Frantisek Pilát | Photographic abstract film [22] | ||||
End of the World (1931 film) | Abel Gance | Abel Gance, Victor Francen | Visually radical adaptation of Camille Flammarion novel, taken away from Gance, and re-edited. [23] | |||
Studie(s) Nr. 7-9 | Oskar Fischinger | Abstract animation [9] | ||||
Autumn Fire | Herman G. Weinberg | Erna Bergman, Willy Hildebrand | Cinematic poem; mixed nature and city film [19] | |||
A Bronx Morning | Jay Leyda | City film; silent [24] | ||||
City of Contrasts | Irving Browning | City film [25][19] | ||||
Dance Film | Ralph Steiner | Dance film [19] | ||||
A Day in Santa Fe | Lynn Riggs, James Hughes | City film[11][26] | ||||
Hearts of the West | Theodore Huff | Genre parody [19] | ||||
Imperial Valley | Seymour Stern | Experimental documentary, sometimes dated to 1932 or 1933; Stern taken off production which was finished by others, Lost film [27][28] | ||||
Panther Woman of the Needle Trades, or The Lovely Life of Little Lisa | Ralph Steiner | Elizabeth Hawes, Morris Carnovsky | Satire, print extant at MOMA [19] | |||
Portrait of a Young Man in Three Movements | Henwar Rodakiewicz | Feature length experimental film, begun in 1925 [29][30] | ||||
Surf and Seaweed | Ralph Steiner | Photographic abstract film, sometimes dated to 1930.[31] | ||||
Enthusiasm | Dziga Vertov | Documentary film with montage of both visuals and sound | ||||
1932 | ||||||
Burleska | Jan Kucera | Experimental short [32] | ||||
Pred maturitou (Before Matriculation) | Sviatopluk Immermann, Vladislav Vancura | Jindrich Plachta, Frantisek Smolík | Mildly experimental feature film [32][33] | |||
Blood of a Poet | Jean Cocteau | Lee Miller, Pauline Carton, Odette Talazacuez | Surrealist feature, produced by Charles de Noailles; often misdated to 1930-31[34] | |||
Koloraturen (Coloratura) | Oskar Fischinger | Abstract animation [9] | ||||
Ornament Sound Experiment, a.k.a. Experiments in Hand-Drawn Sound | Oskar Fischinger | Synthetic sound experiment [9] | ||||
Studie(s) Nr. 10-11 | Oskar Fischinger | Abstract animation [9] | ||||
Studie Nr. 12 | Oskar Fischinger, Hans Fischinger | Abstract animation [9] | ||||
Qué vivá México! | Sergei Eisenstein, Grigori Alexandrov | Félix Balderas, Martín Hernández | Begun in 1931, never completed by Eisenstein; edited into numerous other films [35] | |||
Europa | Stephan Themerson, Franciszka Themerson | Abstract animation, Lost [12] | ||||
La cartomancienne (The Fortune Teller) | Jerome Hill | Precursor to the mythopoeic, poetic style of experimental film that emerged in the 1940s, tinting and hand-coloring added in the 1960s [36][37] | ||||
Destiny | Josef Berne | Dated "ca. 1932"[19] | ||||
Granite, a.k.a. The Quarry | Ralph Steiner | [19] | ||||
Harbor Scenes | Ralph Steiner | [19] | ||||
Land of the Sun | Seymour Stern | Experimental documentary [38][27] | ||||
Little Geezer | Theodore Huff | Genre parody [19][39] | ||||
Poem 8 | Emlen Etting | Mary Binney Montgomery, Caresse Crosby | Dance film, shot in 8mm, silent [40] | |||
1933 | ||||||
Poslovi konzula Dorgena (Consul Dorgen's Business) | Oktavijan Miletić | Šime Marov, Ivan Alpi-Rauch | Experimental dramatic short; won a prize awarded by Louis Lumière [41][42] | |||
Na slunecní strane (On the sunnyside) | Vladislav Vancura | Filip Balek-Brodský, Hana Beckova | Didactic feature film [32][43] | |||
Zem spieva (The Earth Sings) | Karel Plicka, Alexandr Hackenschmied | Experimentally edited ethnographic semi-documentary, with music score [44] | ||||
In the Icy Wastes of Dialectical Materialism | Luis Buñuel, Charles de Noailles | Re-edited section of L'age d'or, rendered as comedy and shown in leftist theaters in Eastern Europe; lost. [45] | ||||
Une nuit sur le mont chauve | Alexandre Alexieff, Claire Parker | First pinscreen animation, also dated to 1934, 1931 [46] | ||||
Kreise (Circles) | Oskar Fischinger | Abstract animation, exists in two versions, color [9] | ||||
Drobiazg Melodyjny (Moment Musical) | Stephan Themerson, Franciszka Themerson | Rayographic animation, Lost [12] | ||||
7 till 5 | Norman McLaren | Amateur city film [47] | ||||
Dawn to Dawn | Josef Berne, Seymour Stern | Julie Haydon, Ole M. Ness, Frank Eklof | a.k.a "Black Dawn," short, Naturalist melodrama[48][19][49] | |||
Footnote to Fact | Lewis Jacobs | City film [50] | ||||
G-3 | Ralph Steiner | Also dated to 1932 [19][51] | ||||
Lot in Sodom | James Sibley Watson, Jr., Melville Webber | Friedrich Haak, Hildegarde Watson | Experimental short based on Biblical story [52] | |||
Mr. Motorboat's Last Stand | John Flory, Theodore Huff | Leonard Stirrup | Satire [19][49] | |||
Oil—A Symphony in Motion | M.G. MacPherson, Jean Michelson | Only extant Artkino production[19][37] | ||||
Oramunde | Emlen Etting | Caresse Crosby, Mary Binney Montgomery | Dance film [37][53] | |||
Pueblo | Seymour Stern | Experimental documentary; never finished, Lost film [27] | ||||
Synchromy | Mary Ellen Bute, Lewis Jacobs, Joseph Schillinger | Abstract animation, never completed [54] | ||||
Tilly Losch in the Dance of Her Hands | Norman Bel Geddes | Tilly Losch | Dance film, dated 1930-33 [37] | |||
Deserter | Vsevolod Pudovkin | Boris Livanov, Vasili Kovrigin | Asynchronous use of sound and image [55] | |||
Prostoy sluchay (A Simple Case) | Vsevolod Pudovkin | Aleksandr Baturin, Mariya Belousova | Naturalist drama, begun in 1931; silent [56] | |||
1934 | ||||||
Marijka nevernice (Faithless Maritza) | Vladislav Vancura | Hana Maria Pravda | Highly experimental feature [32][57] | |||
Žijeme v Praze (We Live in Prague) | Otakar Vávra | City film [58] | ||||
La Joie de vivre | Anthony Gross, Hector Hoppin | Highly stylized, surreal animated film [59] | ||||
Liebesspiel | Oskar Fischinger | Abstract animation, first exhibited posthumously; silent [9] | ||||
Muratti Greift Ein (Muratti Gets in the Act) | Oskar Fischinger | Dancing cigarette animation, color [9] | ||||
Quadrate (Squares) | Oskar Fischinger | Abstract animation, silent [9] | ||||
Rectangles | Oskar Fischinger | Abstract animation, silent, unfinished [9] | ||||
Ein Spiel in Farben (A Play in Colors) | Oskar Fischinger | Abstract animation, a.k.a. Studie No. 11a, color [9] | ||||
Studie Nr. 13 (Coriolan Fragment) | Oskar Fischinger | Abstract animation, unfinished [9] | ||||
Camera Makes Whoopee | Norman McLaren | Amateur film; montage experiments [60] | ||||
Café Universal | Ralph Steiner | Satire featuring members of The Group Theatre [19] | ||||
The Furies | Slavko Vorkapich | Surreal special effects insert for feature, "Crime without Passion" [61] | ||||
Hands | Ralph Steiner, Willard Van Dyke | Sponsored by the Works Project Administration; also dated 1936-7 and edited into later films [62][18] | ||||
The Hearts of Age | William Vance, Orson Welles | Virginia Nicolson, Orson Welles | Amateur experimental film, made at the Todd School, Chicago [37] | |||
Prisoner | Roman Freulich | George Sari, Jack Rockwell | Expressionistic short, made in Hollywood, lost film [19] | |||
Rhythm in Light | Mary Ellen Bute, Ted Nemeth, Melville Webber | Abstract animation [63] | ||||
Sweet Land of Liberty | Leo Hurwitz | Satirical documentary; Lost film [64] | ||||
1935 | ||||||
Listopad (November) | Otakar Vávra, Alexandr Hackenschmied | [65][32] | ||||
Poison | Man Ray | Man Ray, Meret Oppenheim | Double "portrait" film of Ray and Oppenheim [66] | |||
Komposition in Blau (Composition in Blue) | Oskar Fischinger | Abstract animation in Gasparcolour [9] | ||||
Muratti Privat | Oskar Fischinger | Dancing cigarette animation [9] | ||||
Pink Guards On Parade | Oskar Fischinger | Abstract advertisement, unfinished; completed in 2000 by William Moritz [9] | ||||
Zwarcie (Short Circuit) | Stephan Themerson, Franciszka Themerson | Abstract animation, music by Witold Lutoslawski, Lost [12] | ||||
Color Cocktail | Norman McLaren | Abstract animation; lost film [67] | ||||
Polychrome Phantasy | Norman McLaren | Abstract animation, color [68] | ||||
Ghost Town: The Story of Fort Lee | Theodore Huff, Mark Borgatte | Semi-documentary [25] | ||||
Gypsy Night | Josef Berne, Harold Hecht | Bizarre musical short, set in a Gypsy camp, color [69] | ||||
Hollywood | Vic Kandel, Robert Del Duca | Satire, Lost film [64] | ||||
Kinetic Molpai | Ted Shawn | Ted Shawn and his Men Dancers | Modern dance film [70] | |||
Pie in the Sky | Ralph Steiner, Elia Kazan, Molly Day Thatcher, Irving Lerner | Elia Kazan, Russell Collins | Satire [71] | |||
Synchromy No. 2 | Mary Ellen Bute, Ted Nemeth | Abstract animation [72] | ||||
1936 | ||||||
Cernobílá rapsodie (Black and White Rhapsody) | Martin Fric | City film [32] | ||||
Redes | Emilio Gómez Muriel, Fred Zinnemann | Silvio Hernández, Rafael Hinojosa | Cinematograhy by Paul Strand, music by Silvestre Revueltas; Eisenstein-influenced revolutionary film [73] | |||
Hell Unlimited | Helen Biggar, Norman McLaren | Anti-war political short [74] | ||||
145 W 21 | Rudy Burckhardt | Paul Bowles, Aaron Copland | [75] | |||
Allegretto | Oskar Fischinger | Abstract animation, black & white, 2 versions [9] | ||||
Dada | Mary Ellen Bute, Ted Nemeth | Abstract animation [76] | ||||
Rose Hobart | Joseph Cornell | Rose Hobart | Collage film [77] | |||
1937 | ||||||
Even—As You and I | LeRoy Robbins, Harry Hay | Hy Hirsh | ||||
Parabola | Mary Ellen Bute, Ted Nemeth, Bill Nemeth, Rutherford Boyd | Abstract animation [78] | ||||
Escape | Mary Ellen Bute, Ted Nemeth, Bill Nemeth | Abstract animation [79] | ||||
Seeing the World No. 1: A Trip to New York CIty | Rudy Burckhardt | City film[11] | ||||
Silnice spívá (The Highway Sings) | Alexandr Hackenschmied | Experimental advertising film[32] | ||||
An Optical Poem | Oskar Fischinger | Abstract animation, distributed by MGM, color [9] | ||||
Przygoda Czlowieka Poczciwego (The Adventure of a Good Citizen) | Stephan Themerson, Franciszka Themerson | Satire [12] | ||||
1938 | ||||||
The Children's Jury | Joseph Cornell | Collage film, Silent [11] | ||||
The Children's Trilogy: Cotillion, The Midnight Party, The Children's Party | Joseph Cornell | Collage film, put into a final form by Larry Jordan ca. 1967-70, Silent [11] | ||||
Jack's Dream | Joseph Cornell | Collage film, put into a final form by Larry Jordan ca. 1970 [11] | ||||
Carousel: Animal Opera | Joseph Cornell | Collage film [11] | ||||
Thimble Theater | Joseph Cornell | Collage film, title added posthumously; Silent [11] | ||||
Bookstalls | Joseph Cornell | Collage film, title added posthumously; Silent [11][80] | ||||
Porky in Wackyland | Robert Clampett | Mel Blanc, Billy Bletcher | Porky Pig cartoon, obviously influenced by surrealism [81] | |||
Tree Trunk to Head | Lewis Jacobs | Chaim Gross | Semi-documentary, silent [82] | |||
Fragment from Caroland's Mansion | Frank Stauffacher | [83] | ||||
1939 | ||||||
Le Vampire | Jean Painlevé | |||||
The City (1939 film) | Ralph Steiner, Willard Van Dyke | City film for New York World's Fair, written by Pare Lorentz[84] | ||||
Love on the Wing | Norman McLaren | Abstract animation, color [85] | ||||
Spook Sport | Mary Ellen Bute, Ted Nemeth, Norman McLaren | Abstract animation, color [86] | ||||
Stars and Stripes | Norman McLaren | Abstract animation, color [87] | ||||
Scherzo | Norman McLaren | Abstract animation, color [87] | ||||
Haiti | Rudy Burckhardt | [88] | ||||
Dance of the Colors | Hans Fischinger | Abstract animation, color [9] |
References
- Jan Christopher Horak, ed. Lovers of Cinema: The First American Avant-Garde, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison WI 1995
- Paul Rotha and Roger Manvell, "Movie Parade: A Pictorial Survey of the Cinema" London: The Studio, 1936
- Parker Tyler, "Underground Film: A Critical History" New York: Da Capo Press, 1995 (originally published in 1969)
- David Curtis, "Experimental Cinema" New York: Universe Books, 1970
- Bruce Posner, ed. Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film, Black Thistle Press/Anthology Film Archives, NYC 2001
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ BAM/PFA Film Program
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ DVD Savant review of "Le fin du monde" [1]
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ Jesse Shapins, "Walter Ruttmann's Weekend"
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u CVM Fichinger filmography
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Unseen Cinema Program
- ^ a b c d e Themerson Archive Filmography
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ Crying for the Carolines (1930)
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ a b Bruce Posner, ed. Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film, Black Thistle Press/Anthology Film Archives, NYC 2001
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Jan Christopher Horak, ed. Lovers of Cinema: The First American Avant-Garde, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison WI 1995
- ^ William Drew, "Mário Peixoto" [2]
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ [imdb entry The Light Penetrates the Dark (1931)
- ^ DVD Savant review of "Le fin du monde" [imdb entry [3]
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ a b Unseen Cinema program
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ a b c Ira H. Gallen, Seymour Stern: American Film Critic, Guardian and Prophet SEYMOUR STERN: AMERICAN FILM CRITIC, GUARDIAN and PROPHET by D.W. GRIFFITH - DIRECTOR on Myspace
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ The Art of Memory
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ a b c d e f g Peter Hames: Czech and Slovak Cinema: Theme and Tradition, Edinburgh University Press, 2009
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ Herman G. Weinberg, Unanswered Question: Eisenstein's Qué vivá México! in Bruce Posner, ed. Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film, Black Thistle Press/Anthology Film Archives, NYC 2001
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ a b c d e Unseen Cinema program
- ^ Lewis Jacobs, Experimental Cinema in America Part One: 1921-1941, Hollywood Quarterly Vol.3 No. 2, Winter 1947-48
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ Europa film treasures
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ Allmovie review of "L'Age d'or" [4]
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ 7 Till 5 (1933)
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ a b imdb entry
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ First Light: Steiner
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ Soviet Films blog
- ^ Soviet Films blog
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ Monoskop Vávra bio
- ^ La Joie de Vivre - 1934 - Europa Film Treasures
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ Unseen Cinema on DVD
- ^ NARA entry
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ a b Film and Photo League Filmography
- ^ Vávra Monoskop Bio
- ^ Ikono: "Man Ray Three Short Films and a documentary [5]
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ 100 Dance Treasures: Ted Shawn [6]
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ Criterion Collection, "Redes" [7]
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ Rudy Burckhardt Films DVD
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ Senses of Cinema essay
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ John C. Film Notes Blog
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ Unseen Cinema program #11
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ imdb entry
- ^ a b imdb entry
- ^ Richard Bartone, "Notes on Four Films by Rudolph Burckhardt"