High-quality prints of American avant-garde films are almost always hard to come by, but prints of those made before World War II are truly rare, which is what makes the new series “Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film (1893-1941)” a joyous event. Over the next five weeks, both Chicago Filmmakers and Doc Films, working in tandem, will be presenting numerous programs of these “movies as art” that not only succeed as challenging entertainment but also have proven to be hugely influential (especially in terms of photography, editing and experimental narrative) on the craft of cinema. Though some of these films were made as early as the 1890s, they are radical both in terms of structure and technological experimentation.
The offerings range from some of the very earliest experiments on base and emulsion (the actual raw film strip itself) to glorious clips from such Busby Berkeley extravaganzas as 1933’s “Footlight Parade” that show how avant-garde approaches to visual information can find their way into the most mainstream of movies. (That’s one of the great things about this series: snobbery is kept to a minimum.)
The series opens tonight with two mesmerizing longer films from the 1920s that exhibit both heightened elegance and dramaticstyle.
1924’s “Ballet Mechanique” ((star)(star)(star) 1/2) is a fascinating mixture of image and sound, employing any number of bizarre and familiar images to make a grand statement about the dangers of falling in line and marching in place. These images — some animated, some live action, some illustrations — are showcased in rapid-cut style, made all the more intriguing by the non-stop whirling motion and the occasional kaleidoscopic effect. What drives it all home is the overwhelming score by George Antheil, which employs such devices as a pounding piano, alarm clocks, and, most overwhelmingly, screeching sirens to punctuate the point. (Antheil’s notorious piece was written to be performed alongside the film — this was the silent era, after all — and at this screening it will be heard on a recording.) The constant presence of these sounds makes even the most innocent of images into warning signs of approaching conformity, a theme that Charlie Chaplin would elaborate on in 1936’s “Modern Times.”
The second, longer offering is a 1922 version of Oscar Wilde’s”Salome” ((star)(star)(star)) that stars the great Russian-born actress and diva Alla Nazimova, whose silent film work has all but disappeared. Employing a style that can best be described as arch, the 43-year-old Nazimova plays the 14-year-old Salome as a pouting girl who doesn’t like being ignored by the clearly preoccupied John the Baptist (called Jokanaan in this version).
Though snatches of Wilde’s language appear on title cards throughout, this is Nazimova’s show.What is most impressive are the stark set pieces, including the upstage well where Jokanaan is being kept imprisoned, his warnings of doom echoing throughout the palace , striking fear into the hard heart of the evil and eager-to-commit-incest Herod.
The obligatory Dance of the Seven Veils is a bit of a disappointment, and the ending, where Salome gets hers, is a little goofy. But despite its obvious flaws, there is something mesmerizing about the execution of this biblical cautionary tale, which reminds us that any promises — no matter how lewd — should be gotten in writing.
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“Ballet Mechanique” and “Salome” play at 8 p.m. Saturday at Cinema Borealis, 1550 N. Milwaukee Ave., 4th Floor. Tickets: $3-$7. For more information about future programs in the Avant-Garde series, call 773-293-1447 or visit online at www.chicagofilmmakers.org.
`Mau Mau Sex Sex’
This week, in its continuing effort to expand programming inits small but cozy Video Theatre, Facets Multimedia is hosting a one-week run of “Mau Mau Sex Sex” ((star)(star)(star)), a digitally shot documentary about two men who were key players in the down and dirty (but highly profitable) “sexploitation” film business of the 1930s through 1960s. Dan Sonney and David Friedman, now 84 and 77 respectively, were famous for introducing such movie genres as”nudie cuties” and “roughies” to the big screen. Some were innocent romps (topless women frolicking on the beach), while others bordered on the disturbing (rape, torture), but as the two men saywith a laugh, they were never boring and they were almost always in bad taste.
Using a casual style to introduce these life-long friends and business partners, director Ted Bonnitt presents a genuine American success story while also commenting on the eagerness of audiences to embrace the bizarre. (One film concerns the mating of native women with gorillas, while another features a man who changes into animals so he can spy on naked women.)
From such trailblazers as “The Defilers” and “She Freak,” totheir biggest financial success, “Blood Feast” (which was thestarting point for decades of blood-and-gore drive-in fare), “MauMau Sex Sex” gives us a look at an audacious period of cinemahistory that is gone forever. Some would say “good riddance.” I say”too bad.”
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“Mau Mau Sex Sex” plays this week only at Facets Multimedia’s Video Theatre, 1517 W. Fullerton Ave. Tickets: $7 ($5 for Facets members); 773-281-4114.
