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Unseen cinema. 7, Viva la dance. Danse macabre / Cineric, Inc. presents ; by Adolph Bolm & Dudley Murphy ; Visual Symphony Productions Inc. presents ; conception, Adolph Bolm ; direction, Dudley Murphy.
- Format:
- Video
- Series:
- Academic Video Online
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Love--Drama.
- Love.
- Death--Drama.
- Death.
- Genre:
- Dance films.
- Experimental films.
- Silent films.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (10 minutes)
- Other Title:
- Unseen cinema : early American avant-garde film 1893-1941
- Viva la dance : the beginnings of ciné-dance
- Place of Publication:
- [United States] : Filmmakers Showcase, 1922.
- Language Note:
- Intertitles in English.
- System Details:
- video file
- Summary:
- Viva la Dance is part of the film retrospective Unseen Cinema that explores long-forgotten American experimental cinema. Murphy's direction of a cinematic visual symphony is furthered with this short dance film conceived by dancer Adolph Bolm for Ruth Page and Bolm to dance. Murphy makes original contributions with his depiction of the devil via superimposition and extensive use of animation to begin the film. The mood is enhanced by Francis Bruguière's dramatic lighting effects and a brilliant recent orchestration of Saint-Säens' haunting music. --Bruce Posner. Adolph Bolm, a Russian-born American ballet dancer and choreographer, studied at Saint Petersburg's Imperial Ballet School and danced in its affiliated company. Artistically restive, he partnered Anna Pavlova on her first European tours, in 1909 joined Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, and in 1917 settled in the United States, where his choreographic career blossomed. He died in Hollywood, California. --Bruce Posner Boston-born Dudley Murphy was an engineering student, World War I pilot, and movie set decorator before launching his directing career with a series of evocative short films including the first American avant-garde film to be screened in New York City, "The Song of the Cypress" (1921). These musically driven experiments culminated in the jazz-infused Ballet Mecanique, and influenced his later Hollywood and independent features, including "The Emperor Jones" (1933). --Susan Delson. San Francisco photographer Francis Bruguière came to London with one completed film "Danse Macabr"e (1922) made with Dudley Murphy and one unfinished personal project "The Way" (1925). Bruguiére pioneered abstract lighting effects to evoke dramatic modes of expression. He also collaborated with Norman Bel Geddes on a "psuedomorphic film" that was abandoned. --David Curtis / Bruce Posner. 35mm 1.33:1 black and white color tints silent with music 8:11 minutes. Production: Visual Symphony Productions, Inc.
- Participant:
- Youth, Adolph Bolm ; Love, Ruth Page ; Death, Olin Howland.
- Notes:
- Title from resource description page (viewed July 24, 2020).
- "Early American avant-garde film 1893-1941".
- Contains:
- Music: Saint-Saëns, Camille, 1835-1921. Danse macabre (Symphonic poem)
- OCLC:
- 1191033905
- Publisher Number:
- ASP5053379/marc
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