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Films of Kenneth Anger 1 [DVD]

Kenneth Anger (Actor, Director, Writer), Gordon Gray (Actor) Rated:
Unrated
Format: DVD
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 34 ratings
IMDb6.2/10.0
Additional DVD options Edition Discs
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DVD
January 23, 2007 		—
1
—
— $25.35
Format Color, Dolby, Black & White, NTSC, DVD
Contributor Joan Whitney, Katy Kadell, Bill Seltzer, Nadine Valence, Samson De Brier, Marjorie Cameron, Gordon Gray, Andr Soubeyran, Claude Revenant, Kenneth Anger, Renate Druks, Yvonne Marquis See more
Language English

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Product Description

Product Description

Cinematic magician, legendary provocateur, author of the infamous HOLLYWOOD BABYLON books and creator of some of the most striking and beautiful works in the history of film, Kenneth Anger is a singular figure in post-war American culture.
A major influence on everything from the films of Martin Scorsese, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and David Lynch to the pop art of Andy Warhol to MTV, Anger's work serves as a talisman of universal symbols and personal obsessions, combining myth, artifice and ritual to render cinema with the power of spell or incantation.
Covering the first half of Anger's career, from his landmark debut FIREWORKS in 1947 to his epic bacchanalia INAGURATION OF THE PLEASURE DOME, Fantoma is very proud to present the long-awaited first volume of films by this revolutionary and groundbreaking maverick, painstakingly restored and presented on DVD for the first time.

Contains the films:
Fireworks (1947)
Puce Moment (1949)
Rabbit's Moon (1950, the rarely seen original 16 minute version)
Eaux d'Artifice (1953)
Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954)

Amazon.com

Recently restored by the UCLA Film Archive, Kenneth Anger's difficult-to-see early films are finally collected here onto DVD, alongside optional fascinating commentary by Anger himself. Scores of Anger fans have previously persevered through horrid rented VHS copies of these films, due to their inimitable beauty and strangeness. Anger is renowned for filmic experimentation that portrays invented occult or druggy subcultures while formally rejecting conventions of blockbuster filmmaking. As a result, he has also become the unofficial godfather of the music video, for his groundbreaking use of soundtracks that, in these early films at least, meld classical music with '50s bubble gum pop and '60s folk for a hypnotic, psychedelic effect. Fireworks is a monumental film credited as gay cinema's first masterpiece. Rabbit's Moon, presented in its original 16-minute version, and Eaux d'Artifice are Anger's two other brilliant black-and-white studies of European culture, namely Miming and the 17th century art of Water Fountains. Anger's commentary reveals directorial secrets, for example that Eaux d'Artifice's black-and-white appearance is tromp l'oeil that involved both manipulation of the camera and film development to heighten the film's metaphoric notion of artifice. Puce Moment, starring Yvonne Marquis, is a colorful, campy tribute to silent film glamour, in which the star debates what gown to wear for a party. Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome is the first Anger film to investigate mythology in relation to Aleister Crowley's witchcraft, subject matter that consumed Anger in consequent projects. Kenneth Anger's films exist in a timeless, stylized void that is both alluring and terrifying. Watching these selections will prove that Anger's aesthetic contributions to cinema are noticeable fifty years later. --Trinie Dalton

Product details

  • Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ Unrated (Not Rated)
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.53 inches; 7.2 ounces
  • Director ‏ : ‎ Kenneth Anger
  • Media Format ‏ : ‎ Color, Dolby, Black & White, NTSC, DVD
  • Release date ‏ : ‎ January 23, 2007
  • Actors ‏ : ‎ Kenneth Anger, Gordon Gray, Bill Seltzer, Andr Soubeyran, Claude Revenant
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English (Dolby Digital 1.0)
  • Studio ‏ : ‎ Fantoma
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000JFXRU6
  • Writers ‏ : ‎ Kenneth Anger
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 34 ratings

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
34 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Cicada
5.0 out of 5 stars the godfather of the cinema underground.
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2007
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Kenneth Anger is an American underground film maker, as well as an occultist who is much more influential in the realms of cinema and the occult than is recognized today. The audacity of his vision is simply startling, especially by the standards of the '40s and '50s. The films in this collection are a perfect introduction to Anger's vision and style. The first five serious film endeavors of Anger, beginning in 1947 (an auspicious year for Thelemites) with Fireworks, when he was only 17 years old.

Fireworks (1947): inspired by Anger's dream, where he is beaten and raped by a gang of sailors. Anger himself said that "this flick is all I have to say about being 17, the United States Navy, American Christmas and the Fourth of July."

Puce Moment (1949): a five minute fragment of what was supposed to become a feature film called "Puce Women". The music and the motion of this fragment make it's five minutes unforgettable. Also, the sheer nihilism of how Hollywood beauty is portrayed is undeniable.

Rabbit's Moon (1950): an awesome psychodrama involving mimes and children, ritualistically yearning for the unattainable moon to 1950's pop songs. The music ingeniously compliments the imagery and action. a strange blend of French comedy, Oriental mythology, and masonic symbolism.

Eaux d'Artifice (1953): a very beautiful tour of a magickal labyrinth of waterfalls and fountains, as we follow the water witch to her final destiny - all to the tune of Vivaldi!

Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954): and it seems that they have saved the very best for last! This trippy descent into hedonistic rites is topped off with a healthy serving of Thelemic mysticism and magick. Here Anger introduces the mythology of Aleister Crowley for the first time. The Scarlet Woman is played by Cameron, the widowed wife of the famous rocket scientist and occultist Jack Parsons. Kenneth Anger has a bit part in this film as well, you can see him dressed in funereal black as the Goddess Hecate. The cabbalistic sign of Baphomet is seen as a backdrop for only a few seconds, but this would be the symbol La Vey was to employ as the symbol for the Church of Satan more than fifteen years later! This film plummets very quickly into delirium, as the orgies of pleasure and decadence reaches its crescendo, the Pleasure Dome that is being inaugurated is also an inescapable trap!

One of the best features to this collection is the audio commentary by Kenneth Anger for each film, giving us valuable insight into his artistic vision.
25 people found this helpful
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wiredweird
4.0 out of 5 stars What was that?
Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2007
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I mean, I just saw it, and I'm still not sure what I saw. I do know that it's not anything like I've seen before.

These few shorts qualify more as performance art than cinema. The poses and posturings, the exaggerated makeup and costumes, they remind me of silent films. Come to think of it, these are silent or nearly so, except for the musical score. I found Janacek's score for the final piece especially haunting. I don't know whether I like it or not, but I want to hear it again.

The classic silen films never used color, though. Well, "Fireworks" isn't color, "Rabbit's Moon" is largely monochrome if not black and white, and "Eaux D'Artifice" has just a trace of color, just for a moment. "Puce Moment" and "Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome" certainly have color. They come across in eye-popping shades: Cadmium-orange hair, chrome green faces, and diabolic reds, among others. "Inauguration" set its saturated hues against black backdrops, most often, so the brilliant chromaticity would stand forward even more.

Among these pieces, I found "Eaux" the most baffling: a Marie Antoinette figure walking then trotting through a gushing garden of fountains, a moment with a magical fan, then walking away into darkness. These can't be taken as ordinary movies, with plot and characters (or maybe they can). Instead, they're compositions in color, human form, and time (or maybe they aren't). They are certainly enigmatic.

-- wiredweird
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Mark Keith
5.0 out of 5 stars That's what I'm talking about
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2007
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I am not a person enamored of most technology. I personally do not own a cell phone (though my wife has one which she bought herself), nobody in my household has ever had an MP3 player much less an Ipod, our household's single computer is over 2 years old, we still have dial-up internet (to the chagrin of my daughter) . . . hell, we don't even have cable television. I'm more than just cheap -- I'm just not interested.

All that aside, one of the few things that I love (and I mean love) about the modern world is the ability to own DVDs of great movies and great rarely shown movies (rarely shown in places like metro Phoenix). To be more specific, to own a DVD with Kenneth Anger's "Rabbit Moon" (original edit, which is by far the best), "Eaux de Artifice", "Puce Moment", "Fireworks" and "Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome", beautifully restored, with commentary by Kenneth Anger, all for less than $25.00. Need I say more.

Now we wait for volume 2.
28 people found this helpful
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NL Johnson
1.0 out of 5 stars Totally boring films of Kenneth Anger
Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2007
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I tried to get interested in these films but was only able to watch two.
Total garbage.
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starchaser
5.0 out of 5 stars 映像の秘宝！
Reviewed in Japan on May 5, 2009
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ケネス・アンガーの貴重な初期映像集で、豪華なブックレットつき。
ケネス・アンガーを観る上では字幕や吹き替えは不要。カルト映像ファンなら、ぜひ手に入る今のうちに買うべき。
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James Ginn
4.0 out of 5 stars Great For Those Studying Cinema
Reviewed in Canada on January 7, 2015
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A fascinating example of experimental cinema.
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