Cinema 16 (1963)

16 loon powered by fifteen motors; the short life and drastic demise of Jean Tinguely’s bizarre protest against mechanized society, the “self-creating and_seit-destroying” machine that committed suicide in the garden of New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1960. Documenting a nonrepeatable event, this film record is historically invaluable to anyone concerned with modern art; yet, true to the anarchic freedom of the artists involved, the film maker willfully transmutes the actual occurrence into an unpredictable cinematic counterpart, both different and identical. Selected for special screenings at Museum of Modern Art and in European art museums. 11 minutes, black & white, sound $10 sale $120 Hoppity pop —Norman McLaren Hand-drawn directly onto film by one of the world’s leading animators (no camera was used) ; a delightful evocation of circus atmosphere, complete with old-time calliope music (charmingly out-of-tune). 3 minutes, color, sound $4 Horror dream —Sidney Peterson A choreographic interpretation of a dancer’s anxiety before starting upon her theatre routine. Choreography by Marian Van Tuyl, accompanied by John Cage’s sophisticated “noise” music. 10 minutes, color, sound $8 sale $130 *Horse over teakettle and other films —Robert Breer Four brilliant, award-winning experiments by a well-known modern painter, “one of the most thoroughly original creators working in films today” (Film Quarterly) ; “Horse Over Teakettle”, Montreal and Bergamo International Film Festivals; exuberant animated cartoon, tangentially a proud challenge flung against the bomb; “Inner and Outer Space”, Award of Distinction, Creative Film Foundation, hurls the spectator from the immensity of the atom to the immensity of outer space; “Blazes”, 100 basic images in constantly changing sequence produce a single kinetic impression; “Recreation”, Creative Film Foundation Award Winner, outrageous visual assault created by ultra-rapid montage of fotos and news paper clippings flashing by on the brink of retinal perception. 17 minutes, color and black & white, sound $14 sale $180 ‘Horse’ and ‘Recreation’ also available in 35mm; at $10 each Hotel apex —Weldon Kees The impermanence of place and event; this study in desolation offers a coldly detached, brilliantly composed reportage of an abandoned and disintegrating building, exploring its textures, shapes and moral atmosphere. The only film by the late painter, poet and member of the original San Francisco film avant-garde who disappeared mysteriously in 1955. “A wonderful eye for accidental composition; shapes, lines and textures lock together as though they were set in concrete.”—Farber, The Nation. 9 minutes, black and white, sound $8 sale $90 Hurry hurry and other films —Marie Menken A daring film ballet danced by human spermatozoa under powerful magnification; a dance of death made from scientific footage, printed over murky fire; also: ‘Glimpse ‘of the Garden’, a lyric, tender, intensely subjective exploration of a flower garden, with flashing color harmonies, extreme magnification, birdsong soundtrack; and ‘Dwightiana’, Special Citation, Creative Film Foundation, a charming, frivolous animation “made to entertain a sick friend”, with experimental steel drum, guitar and flute score by Teiji Ito. 12 minutes, color, sound $10 sale $160 The idea —Berthold Bartosch Based on Frans Masareel’s famed woodcuts, this animated film classic has been hailed as the first trick film with a serious theme: A revolutionary idea (in the shape of a nude woman) is conceived by the artist, condemned by the world, the rich and the church, and lives on forever, stirring men to revolt. Outstanding musical score by the noted modern composer, Arthur Honnegger. “The single film to stand out as a work of art in the medium of the serious drawn film.”—Manvell, Film. 27 minutes, black & white, sound $14 sale $200 (Adult)