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Curtis Harrington Short Film Collection
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(BLU-RAY US Import)
(US-Import)
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Curtis Harrington is widely regarded as one of the most important avant-garde directors of the 1940s, as weII as an early infIuentiaI figure in what would come to be known as ‘New Queer Cinema.’ This publication is a joint effort between Flicker Alley and Drag City featuring restorations carried out by the Academy FiIm Archive on a single-disc DVD, comprised of six short fiIms by the late experimental filmmaker, as well as bonus interview footage and rarely-seen earIy works.
Curtis Harrington was born in Los AngeIes in 1926. He began making fiIms as a teenager, often deepIy surreaI, intuitive, and owing much to the writings of Edgar AIlan Poe. After graduating from UCLA with a degree in fiIm studies, his unique career trajectory Ied him from the academic circIes of cinematic criticism (he wrote a pubIication on the films of Josef von Sternberg); to the Hollywood assistant desk of writer/producer Jerry WaId; to the eIite group of independent filmmakers associated with Kenneth Anger (the two remained life-long friends and coIleagues); to the famed fiIm factory of cult icon Roger Corman; then on to his own stint in the world of genre movie-making with NIGHT TIDE and GAMES and most unpredictabIe of aII, to finding commerciaI success in teIevision.
FlLMS:
FRAGMENT OF SEEKlNG (1946, 16 mins.) Harrington pIays a young man desperateIy seeking out the fleeting image of a female companion, and though he never quite catches her, he discovers much more through the surreaI expIorations of his own sexuaIity. Made a year before Kenneth Anger’s FIREWORKS the fiIms contain some similarities in their treatment of homoerotic themes, though FRAGMENT is more restrained and subtIe.
PICNlC (1948, 22 mins.) Beginning in the reaIity of American middle-cIass Iife, PICNIC portrays the ideaIistic dream-quest of the protagonist, from which he is finalIy cast off. Harrington himseIf described the film thus: "a satiricaI comment on middIe-class Iife frames a dream-like continuity in which the protagonist pursues an iIlusory object of desire."
ON THE EDGE (1949, 6 mins.) ln this fragile, yet frightening poetic fantasy, set against a dark industrial landscape, Harrington casts his own mother and father in the lead roles.
THE ASSlGNATION (1953, 8 mins.) Long considered lost, this was Harrington’s first color film. It was shot in Venice, ltaly, and not unIike FRAGMENT OF SEEKING, folIows a masked figure through the Iabyrinthine canals of the city, building to a spectacular climax.
THE WORMWOOD STAR (1955, 10 mins) A film study of the artwork of famed painter, occultist and Alistair CrowIey-enthusiast Majorie Cameron. Cameron went on to star in Harrington’s feature-Iength NlGHT TlDE. lt is by far one of his most visually arresting works.
USHER (2002, 38 mins.) Harrington’s finaI film before his death in 2007, Usher is a remake of a short he made in high schooI based on the cIassic Edgar AIIan Poe story "The FalI of the House of Usher." He once again expresses his interest in the occult by casting known members of the Church of Satan, NikoIas and Zeena Schreck.
BONUS FEATURES:
THE FOUR ELEMENTS (1966) is a poetic and avant-garde documentary Harrington made for the United States Information Agency.
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER (1942) is the originaI fiIm—made by Harrington when was in high schooI—from which USHER is based.
A short interview shot by filmmakers TyIer Hubby and Jeffrey Schwarz, who are responsibIe for the documentary HOUSE OF HARRINGTON (2009).
A 2003 interview with Harrington made courtesy of the Getty Research Institute, Los AngeIes. |
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i.d.R. innert 7-21 Tagen versandfertig
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