Introduction to Black Sunday

Hi everyone and welcome to this special World Youth Day screening of Mario Bava's 1960 gothic horror film, Black Sunday. Are there any pilgrims here today?.. No, it's probably just as well, because this film, like many of the best horror films, is a reminder of how the sins and evils of the past, in this case, the persecution of "witches", can come back to haunt the present.

I didn't program this film specifically as a response to the events of WYD. It was just one of those fortunate accidents that it happened to coincide with the Pope's visit to Australia and it only dawned on me earlier in the week that the film had some relevance, however tenuous, to the papal visit. I don't want to put the boot in too much, as I am a Catholic (lapsed) myself and have enjoyed seeing all the pilgrims about town. I even saw some singing nuns on the bus the other day and for a minuteI thought I was stuck in a 1970s disaster movie, but I did think it was a bit rich for the Pope to come all the way to Sydney just to preach about the perils of violence and sex in the media, especially considering the most violent film in recent memory is a film based on the crucifixion, and that collectors of erotica have long envied the Vatican collection, the largest collection of erotic art and literature in the world. With all the things wrong in this world, I think violence and sex on TV, in the movies, and on the internet are way down the list.

The star of today's film, Barbara Steele, is (like the Pope) a vehement critic of violence in the movies. Her role in this film made her a star, or at least a scream queen, and although she made a nice career and appeared in dozens of horror movies in Italy, the USA and Britain, Steele used to call the audience for her movies "sexually disturbed teenage boys." Talk about biting the hand that feeds you!

This psychopathologisation of the audience for horror movies goes back at least to the Universal horror movies of the 1930s, but it was 1960, the year that saw the release of Black Sunday, Psycho and Peeping Tom, that the idea of horror movie viewer as pervert began to get some traction in the public consciousness. The film that best dramatises this idea is Michael Powell's once-derided, now classic Peeping Tom. The film explicitly equates movie viewing and movie making with voyeurism and even murder. As the sixties progressed this idea crops up in the work of Susan Sontag in her famous essay On Photography, in Yoko Ono's avant-garde film Rape and in Laura Mulvey's seminal essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. This idea of the horror movie fan as psychopathic continues even today. The most recent example I can think of is the hit movie Scream, where the murderers are revealed to be the nerdy horror movie loving geeks. The teenage male murderers absorbed so many horror movie cliches they turned into one.

I haven't seen Black Sunday for over twenty years, so I'm not going to say much about it, except that there are several different versions of the movie. There's the Italian version, filmed in polyglot with the actors speaking in their native language and dubbed into Italian. There's the British version, which was revoiced by English actors and trimmed of its more violent excesses and then there's the version you are about to see, the American version, which was revoiced by American actors, again trimmed of some of the more grisly moments and rescored by the then popular composer Les Baxter. Although this is hardly the definitive version, no amount of censor trims or cheesy orchestral scoring can diminish the impact of Bava's eye for set design, lighting and cinematography or his ability to create a wonderfully spooky atmosphere. If you saw Barrie Pattison's recent lecture on the history of Italian popular cinema you would have seen the early Bava educational film, Geometry Lesson. Even in a staid educational film, Bava was able to weave his macabre magic.

If you like the film, I would recommend reading Tim Lucas' wonderful book on Mario Bava, All the Colors of the Dark. There is also a box set of his films available from Umbrella Entertainment in Australia. Enjoy the movie and hope to see you next week for Lady of Burlesque.

The Other Italian Cinema: Black Sunday

The Chauvel Cinematheque's mini season of popular Italian cinema concludes this week with a rare theatrical screening of Mario Bava's acclaimed gothic horror film from 1960, Black Sunday (La Maschera Del Demonio) starring Barbara Steele, John Richardson and Arturo Dominici.

Bava's first film as a director after a distinguished career as a cinematographer is a landmark of the horror film and the perfect foil for the World Youth Day celebrations, dealing as it does with the Catholic Church's historical oppression of women.

A 17th century witch and her lover are executed with a spiked devil's mask. Two centuries later they are revived and return to destroy her cursed family. The story verges on fable, while the images and prowling camera have the power of delicate nightmare with moments of rarely surpassed beauty and horror. Steele's double role as the virginal Katia and the sexual witch presents the only two options allowed for women in such religious imagery: Madonna and whore. The ending suggests the possibility of merger.

“One of the cinema’s preeminent examples of gothic horror.” Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness
“An elegant and disturbing film that discloses the strange beauty of horror.” David J. Hogan, Dark Romance

Screening with the film is Bruno Bozzeto's animated short, Self-Service, that satirises Prohibition and the madness of a petroleum-based economy.

Don't miss this timely and provocative intrusion of the past into the present - this week at cinematheque.

New Program Up!

SUMMER 07/08 CINEMATHEQUE PROGRAM

Cinematheque screenings are open to members and their guests. Membership is available at the door.
Trial Membership (1 month/4 screenings/1 guest) $18/$15
Quarterly Membership (12 screenings/3 guests) $36/$32
Annual Membership (52 screenings/12 guests) $85/$75
Saturdays commence at 12 noon sharp.
Mondays commence at 6:30pm sharp.
Mailing list and Enquiries: brettgarten@iprimus.com.au


Sat. 22/12 Only FORCE OF EVIL

Force of Evil USA/1948/79mins/B&W/16mm/NFVLS
Dir: Abraham Polonsky.

John Garfield stars in this poetic and gritty film noir about the corruption of a basically decent lawyer. The script, with dialogue and narration often written in street-wise blank verse, equates racketeering with capitalism. Edward Hopper's urban landscapes provided a conscious model for the images. Director Polonsky was later blacklisted for the film's political implications.
Plus Flash Gordon serial.

Mon. 24/12 NO SCREENING – MERRY XMAS

Sat. 29/12 & Mon. 31/12 NO SCREENING – HAPPY NEW YEAR

Sat. 5/1 & 7/1 NO SCREENING - XMAS HOLIDAY

Sat. 12/1 & Mon. 14/1 NIGHTMARE ALLEY

Nightmare Alley USA/1947/111mins/B&W/16mm/NFVLS Dir: Edmund Goulding.

Tyrone Powers, cast against type, stars as a small-time carnival operator who sets himself up as a spiritualist exploiting wealthy clients.
“An unforgettable gallery of grotesques.” Gary Morris, Bright Lights Film Journal
Excitingly tawdry… a backstage excursion through the showbiz lower depths.” J. Hoberman, Village Voice

Sat. 19/1 GRINDHOUSE CLASSICS: MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH

Massacre at Central High USA/1976/87mins/Colour/16mm/HP Dir: Renee Daalder. An early forerunner to the teen slasher genre of the 1980s, this cult gem mixes high school bullying, revolutionary politics and revenge into a ham-fisted political allegory.
“Rises to some interesting levels of political metaphor” SF/Fantasy Film Review
Plus Flash Gordon serial.

Mon. 21/1 Only GRINDHOUSE CLASSICS: WOMAN FROM DEEP RIVER

Woman from Deep River Italy-Spain/1981/93mins/Colour/16mm/ HP Dir: Umberto Lenzi. A naïve anthropology student travels to the Amazon to research her thesis that cannibalism is an “invention of colonialism.” There she meets a psychotic cocaine smuggler who has enraged the native tribes of the region. The ensuing carnage proves her thesis horribly incorrect. Also known as Cannibal Ferox.
From the trailer: “The following feature is one of the most violent films ever made. There are at least two dozen scenes of barbaric torture and sadistic cruelty graphically shown. If the presentation of disgusting and repulsive subject matter upsets you, please do not view this film.”
“It's truly heinous, atrocious and cruel, and that's what makes it a gore classic.” Dan Taylor, Exploitation Retrospect.
Plus Flash Gordon serial.

Note: This is a New Zealand fanboy discussing his cannibal movie collection. Hilarious, but scary!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMr_GjjIsNI

Sat. 26/1 Only GRINDHOUSE CLASSICS: THE MUTATIONS

The Mutations UK/1974/85mins/Colour/16mm/AM Dir: Jack Cardiff. A freak show operator, played by a pre-Dr Who Tom Baker, teams up with a mad biology professor (Donald Pleasance) to produce plant/human hybrids for his carnival operation. Like its progenitor, Todd Browning’s 1932 Freaks, the film uses real carnival performers in supporting roles.
“A minestrone of madness.” www.imdb.com
Plus Flash Gordon serial

Mon. 28/1 Only GRINDHOUSE CLASSICS: INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN

Incredible Melting Man USA/1977/84mins/Colour/16mm/AM Dir: William Sachs. An astronaut is exposed to cosmic radiation on an ill-fated mission to Saturn and once back on earth begins to slowly melt away in this gory pastiche of 1950s science fiction films.
“A timeless drive-in classic.” www.imdb.com
“Surprisingly, the film is strongest when making moral comments.” Variety
Plus Flash Gordon serial.


Sat. 2/2 & Mon. 4/2 PORTRAIT OF JENNIE

Portrait of Jennie
USA/1948/82mins/B&W/16mm/NFVLS Dir: William Dieterle. A struggling artist meets a strangely ethereal girl in Central Park and finds himself falling in love. But this is no ordinary relationship - it is a love that transcends time realised in a supreme example of studio-created atmosphere. For surrealists like Andre Breton and Luis Bunuel, Portrait of Jennie, along with Peter Ibbetson (screening 9/2 & 11/2), constitute commercial cinema's refusal of the idea that the world of dreams and the world of reality are quite separate. A major flop at the time of its release, this ahead-of-its-time David O. Selznick production, starring Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Ethel Barrymore, and Lillian Gish, has since become recognised as a landmark in classical Hollywood cinema.
“A haunting evocation of one man's pained artistic process.” Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
Plus Flash Gordon serial.

Sat. 9/2 & Mon. 11/2 PETER IBBETSON

Peter Ibbetson USA/1935/85mins/B&W/16mm/NFVLS Dir: Henry Hathaway. Childhood sweethearts meet again as adults, recognising each other from a dream both of them have had. Peter is imprisoned for life after killing Mary's husband in self defence but they continue to meet in their dreams. Praised by surrealists like Breton and Kyrou as 'a triumph of surrealist thought'. Stars Gary Cooper, Ann Harding and Ida Lupino.
“Hailed by André Breton as the cinematic embodiment of their magnificent obsession with l’amour fou - the love that transcends all known obstacles.” Time Out
“Even a steadfastly literal director like Hathaway can’t diffuse its air of occult weirdness.” Channel Four

Surrealism USA/1972/24 mins/Colour/16mm/NFVLS Dir: Egons Tomsons. Discusses the forerunners of the Surrealist movement and focuses on the works of Ernst, Klee, Miro, Tanguy, Magritte and Dali to explain the surrealist condition described in the 1920s as irrational and hysterical. Related painters of the fantastic and irrational who appeared later are also discussed.

Sat. 16/2 & Mon. 18/2 CLASSIC COMEDY

Would-be Juggler France/1908/6mins/B&W/16mm/NFVLS Dir: Max Linder. Before Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd, French comedian Max Linder was the king of silent film comedy. In this film, a drunken theatregoer is ejected and attempts to emulate the juggler's art with disastrous results.

Pedicure France/1910/12mins/B&W/16mm/NFVLS Dir: Max Linder. In one of his best early shorts, Linder impersonates a chiropodist.

One Week USA/1921/20mins/B&W/16mm/NFVLS Dir: Buster Keaton. One of the first two reelers Keaton made after setting up his own production company, this film reveals the darker side of Keaton's comedy as a newly-wed couple court disaster when they build their own house.

Never Weaken USA/1921/19mins/B&W/16mm/NFVLS Dir: Fred Newmeyer. In Harold Lloyd's last short film, before he embarked on the production of features, Harold devises a scheme to help out an osteopath who is short of patients to save the job of the doctor's receptionist. When he overhears another man tell the receptionist that he will marry her, Harold decides to commit suicide, but ends up suspended on girders hundreds of feet above the street.

Big Business USA/1929/20mins/B&W/16mm/NFVLS Dir: James W. Horne. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are Christmas tree salesmen in July. Their attempt to sell a tree results in escalating mayhem. It has claims to be the funniest two reels of film ever made.

You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man USA/1939/9mins/B&W/16mm/ NFVLS Dir: George Marshall. Two excerpts from this W.C. Fields comedy classic.

Road Hog USA/1932/9mins/B&W/16mm/NFVLS Dir: Ernst Lubitsch. A segment from the Paramount anthology film, If I Had a Million, starring W.C. Fields and Charles Laughton. A victim of road rage, Fields inherits a million dollars, attains a fleet of cars, and seeks revenge on rude motorists.

The Three Stooges: 3 Dumb Clucks USA/1937/20mins/B&W/ 16mm/NFVLS Dir: Del Lord. The Three Stooges at their best were skilled exponents of low comedy - slapstick and violence - firmly based in vaudeville routines. In this short the boys' father wants to leave the mother for a gold-digging blonde. Curly plays a dual role as father and himself.

Still from Never Weaken

Sat. 23/2 & Mon. 25/2 PRODUCTION DESIGNER

Possibly the greatest individual influence on the classical Hollywood film, William Cameron Menzies created the role of the Production Designer, and introduced the practice of storyboarding. Menzies dominated Gone with the Wind, Kings Row, Invaders from Mars and both versions of The Thief of Baghdad. On the hundred films he designed and the dozen he directed, Menzies worked with Douglas Fairbanks, Valentino, Gary Cooper, D.W. Griffith, Alfred Hitchcock and Mike Todd. Even so, his name is less remembered today than contemporaries like Alfred Newman, Gregg Toland or Slavko Vorkapich. Film historian and maker Barrie Pattison has made a lifetime's study of Menzies and will comment on his major works, drawings and screen an extensive selection of his forgotten short experimental films.

Sat. 1/3 & Mon. 3/3 KINGS ROW

Kings Row USA/1940/127mins/B&W/16mm/NFVLS Dir: Sam Wood. One of the most accomplished films of the “Golden Years of Hollywood," Kings Row is the peak achievement of William Cameron Menzies eight film collaboration with director Sam Wood and shows their skills impeccably integrated with cameraman James Wong Howe and musician Erich Wolfgang Korngold, in a production from the unit that went on to make Casablanca. The film's depiction of small town USA, rotten at it's core, was a shock in WW2 America. Ronald ("Where's the rest of me?") Reagan and Anne Sheridan head up a legendary cast that includes Judith Anderson, Claude Rains, Betty Field and Marie Ouspenskaya. Introduction by film historian Barrie Pattison will relate the film to the designer's ideas and outlook.

Sat. 8/3 & Mon. 10/3 ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES

Angels with Dirty Faces USA/1938/97mins/B&W/35mm/CD Dir: Michael Curtiz. Two boys from the New York slums go down different paths after attempting to break into a boxcar. Rocky (James Cagney), who is caught and sent to reform school, goes on to become a major local gangster, while Jerry (Pat O’Brien) goes on to become a priest involved in trying to prevent youngsters from becoming criminals. Upon his release from prison, Rocky returns to his old neighbourhood, where a gang of streetwise teenagers (The Dead End Kids) are torn between their admiration for Rocky and their respect for Jerry. Humphrey Bogart has a supporting role as a crooked lawyer who forces Rocky back into a life of crime.
“Cagney really struts his stuff in this one.” www.imdb.com


Sat. 15/3 & Mon. 17/3 TONIGHT, LET’S ALL MAKE LOVE IN LONDON

Wholly Communion UK/1965/B&W/35mins/16mm Dir: Peter Whitehead. A modern poetry reading at the Royal Albert Hall, London degenerates into an anarchic mess. Includes Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Tonight, Let’s all Make Love in London UK/1967/69mins/Colour/ 16mm Dir: peter Whitehead. Whitehead's "pop concerto for film" features the music of Pink Floyd, and examines various aspects of London in the swinging sixties. Interviews include Vanessa Redgrave, Mick Jagger, Julie Christie, Michael Caine and painter David Hockney.
“Both the quintessential Swingin' London document and a dark vision of a city at war with itself.” Paul Cronin, Sight and Sound

The Chauvel Cinematheque gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the National Film and Video Lending Service, the National Film & Sound Archive, the Australian Film Commission, and Barrie Pattison in the creation of this program.

Print Sources: NFVLS – National film & Video Lending Service / HP – Hygienic Pictures / AM – Amalgamated Movies / CD – Chapel Distribution

Transcript of Introduction to The Scarecrow

Hi everyone. Thanks for coming today to this screening of the Kiwi gothic melodrama, The Scarecrow. Being something of a Kiwiphile (I've been to New Zealand four times, mostly to work on The Incredibly Strange Film Festival) I am a great admirer of New Zealand films. During my visits there, I often talk to the locals about movies and inevitably the subject of New Zealand films arises. When I ask them what their favourite New Zealand films are, The Scarecrow is almost always cited as one of the very best.


The film was based on the novel by Ronald Hugh Morrieson, a musician and writer whose biography sounds like a gothic novel in itself. Born in 1922 in Hawera, Morrieson was an only child, indulged by a doting mother and an elderly aunt. He lived in the same rundown old house his whole life, and never left the town of his birth, except for a few nights spent in Auckland. He was a musician who played in local jazz bands and made a living as a music teacher. He also had a reputation as a drunk and a womaniser, evetually drinking himself to death in 1972.


In the last decade of his life he wrote four novels, the first of which was The Scarecrow. The novel was poorly received in New Zealand at the time of its publication, leading Morrieson to correctly predict that he would be one of those romantic fools who is discovered after his death. The people of his home-town were particularly appalled by Morrieson's morbid themes and cynical attitude,and commented, "Why can't you write about nice things." Anyone who specialises in the gothic will recognise this as a familiar lament.


Posthumous recognition has placed Morrieson among the top rank of New Zealand authors and he is the subject of at least one biography. Several films were made of his work. When his house was set to be demolished there was a modest uporoar among the NZ literati who wanted it preserved. A petition was organised to save the house, but a counter petition, signed by the residents of his old hometown, attracted four times the signatures and the house was demolished. There was still a lot of enmity felt towards him - for what reason - we'll leave to your imagination.


The film that you are about to see was directed in 1981 by Sam Pillsbury. At the time i was considered to be one of the most accomplished New Zealand films ever produced, equalled only by Sleeping Dogs and Goodbye Pork Pie. The cast includes Australian actress Tracy Mann and, in the title role, American actor and horror icon John Carradine, whose career spanned six decades and over four hundred movies. At the time of prodution, Carradine was well into his seventies, crippled by arthritis, and willing to work on any film no matter how shoddy, as long as the cheque cleared, which saw him appear in some of the worst horror movies of all time, including Satan's Cheerleaders, Astro Zombies and the abysmal Frankenstein Island. This was undoubtedly his best work of the period.

Freud describes the uncanny as something that is familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time. The German word he uses is unheimlich, which translates into English as the unhomely. I can think of no better way to describe New Zealand, especially as an Australian. It is strangely familiar; the people, the place, the architecture, the type of society, the way of life, yet also strangely unfamiliar, although the unfamiliarity is hard to put your finger on, which only makes it all the more uncanny. There is a strong gothic underbelly to New Zealand, one that Morrieson captures perfectly in The Scarecrow. During my last stay in NZ, a psychotic P (or ice, as it is known in Australia) freak went amok in a 7-11 with a samurai sword. The place is full of stories of bizarre behaviour, grisly murders, and marvellously eccentric characters.

The one gripe that New Zealanders have about Australia is that no one ever visits there. It's all one-way traffic. So having fallen in love with the place, I suggets you consider it as a possible holiday destination. Just remember to stay out of the 7-11s. Enjoy the movie.

SUMMER 06/07 CINEMATHEQUE PROGRAM

Sat 28/10 & Mon 30/10 HALLOWEEN ZOMBIE DOUBLE

I Walked with a Zombie USA/1943/69mins/B&W/16mm Dir: Jacques Tourneur. An ambiguous combination of horror fantasy and psychological thriller, the film blurs the distinction between good and evil, poetically depicting tribal customs without stereotyping.

White Zombie USA/1932/67mins//B&W/16mm Dir: Victor Halperin. Bela Lugosi is at his malevolent best as plantation owner and voodoo priest, Murder Legendre, in this atmospheric creeper.

Sat 4/11 & Mon 6/11 FILMS OF SAUL AND ELAINE BASS

This program celebrates the vision of Hollywood’s greatest graphic designer, Saul Bass, creator of many memorable short films, title sequences and poster designs for Hitchcock, Scorsese and others.

Bass on Titles USA/1977/35mins/Colour/16mm. Bass discusses the development of his titles designed for feature films. The film features ten of the more than forty film titles Bass has created including, 'Man with the Golden Arm', 'Seconds', and 'Walk on the Wild Side'.

Why Man Creates USA/1968/24mins/Colour/16mm. Using a variety of film techniques, Bass examines the nature of the creative process. Won an Oscar for Best Short Documentary of 1969.
“This is a really powerful documentary.” imdb.com
“I saw it twice in high school. My teacher was Eliza Stone. She was strange and tough- a frail old bird whose class is one of the few I would not cut.” imdb.com

The Searching Eye USA/1964/16mins/Colour/16mm. A cinemato-graphic treat in which ordinary objects reveal unexpected worlds of visual experience.

Psycho (Trailer) USA/1960/7mins/B&W/16mm. Bass & Hitchcock collaborated on this revolutionary promotional trailer for 'Psycho'.

Notes on the Popular Arts USA/1977/20mins/Colour/16mm. Uses live action, animation, and special effects to show how the popular arts in America serve as means of self-projection and fantasy fulfilment. Nominated for the Best Short Film Oscar of 1978.

Quest USA/1983/30mins/Colour/16mm. A race of people are trapped on a strange planet where lack of sunlight and vegetation has reduced the life to 8 short days. Based on a story by Ray Bradbury.

Sat 11/11 & Mon 13/11 dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y (Sat. starts 2:30pm)

USA/1998/68mins/Colour/Digital Dir: Johan Grimonprez.Buckle up for this acclaimed hijacking documentary that eerily foreshadowed 9-11. Blends archival footage of hijackings with surreal and banal themes, including fast food, pet statistics, disco, and quirky home movies. David Shea composed the superb soundtrack to this free fall through history. The theme of hijacking planes can be read as a metaphor for the hijacking of images out of their context.

"An eccentric, roller coaster ride through history." Time Out

Sat 18/11 & Mon 20/11 OFF THE CHARTS

USA/2003/58mins/Colour/Digital Dir: Jamie Meltzer. This fascinating, at times unsettling, documentary exposes the strange underworld of the song-poem industry. In this little known subculture, "ordinary people" respond to come-on ads in the back pages of magazines, mailing in their heartfelt but often bizarre poems to "music industry" companies that, for a fee, turn those poems into real recordings. OTC explores a unique, never-before-seen slice of Gothic Americana through interviews with song-poem writers, the jaded producers and musicians who set their words to music, and a few of the growing number of zealous song-poem connoisseurs.

“Probably the best movie you've never seen.” imdb.com

Screens with short 16mm musical films: Let’s Sing with Popeye,
Autobahn, Braverman’s Condensed History of the Beatles,
Fish Heads, Mongoloid, and The Three Little Bops.

Sat 25/11 & Mon 27/11 PARODIES

There are chuckles aplenty with this gaggle of zany send-ups.

Hardware Wars USA/1977/13min/Colour/16mm Dir: Ernie Fosselius. Silly and amateurish, but hilarious nonetheless, this ‘Star Wars’ spoof was the first fan film and still the best.

The Dove USA/1968/15mins/B&W/16mm Dir: George Coe & Anthony Lover. Madeline Kahn stars in this Oscar nominated Bergman parody that captures the tone of the Swedish master.

Porklips Now USA/1980/22 minutes/Colour/16mm Dir: Ernie Fosselius. A parody of 'Apocalypse Now' featuring Martin Sheen look-alike William Gray as "Dullard".

Blaze Glory USA/1969/8mins/Colour/16mm Dir: Lee Janson & Chuck Menville. Ingeniously filmed Western satire.

Dream Doll UK-Yugoslavia/1979/12mins/Colour/16mm Dir: Bob Godfrey & Zlatko Grgic. A lonely man falls in love with a life-size, inflatable doll in this Oscar nominated animation based on "The Red Balloon". “Twelve minutes of heaven.” imdb.com

Song of the Prairie Czechoslovakia/1949/22mins/Colour/16mm. Dir: Jiri Trnka An operatic parody of American westerns by the virtuoso Czech puppeteer.

Massingham Trailers UK/1949/9mins/B&W16mm. Dir: Richard Massingham. A set of trailers from the films of Richard Massingham, who specialised in making satires of educational films. Henri Langlois once mentioned the director in the same breath as Jean Vigo, Luis Buñuel and Mack Sennett. An antecedent of The Goon Show, Richard Lester and Monty Python, he mined a manic and uniquely British strand of comedy.

Kama Sutra Rides Again UK/1970/9mins/Colour/16mm Dir: Bob Godfrey. This parody of sex manuals by Australian born animator Godfrey was shown before A Clockwork Orange in the UK.

Java Junkie USA/1979/5mins/Colour/35mm Dir: Tom Schiller. A witty film noir send-up about a caffeine addict.

Sat 2/12 & Mon 4/12 AFRO PROMO

Australian Premiere. USA/1997/91mins/Colour & B&W/Digital. Curated by Jenni Olson and Karl Knapper. Filled with insights on race and social dynamics, this fascinating compendium of Coming Attractions explores an extensive range of stylistic approaches – Blaxploitation, Comedy, Music Bio, Plantation Drama, and more – all smartly organized by genre, or viewable as one outrageous joyride through motion picture history.

“A sometimes funny, sometimes frightening look at Tinseltown’s presentation of Blacks.” – Edward Marguiles, Movieline

“Offers considerable fun, and food for thought.” Variety
“Less a history of Hollywood racism than a chilling testament to the capacity of marketing to co-opt social change.” Village Voice

Sat 9/12 & Mon 11/12 Short Film Smorgasbord

A gourmet selection of the finest in short filmmaking.

Les Astronautes France/1960/B&W/13mins /16mm Dir: Walerian Borowczyk. Assistant Dir: Chris Marker . A satirical look at competitive space travel using collage and pixilation techniques

Street of Crocodiles UK/21mins/1986 This animated puppet film is adapted from the short stories of the Polish writer and artist Bruno Schulz published in the thirties. The Street of Crocodiles is part of an eerie, derelict town where strange but recognisably human figures engage in an endless round of apparently meaningless activity.

Very Nice Very Nice Canada/1961/7mins/B&W/16mm Dir: Arthur Lipsett. Impressions of the absurdity and triviality of everyday life, described by Kubrick “one of the most imaginative and brilliant uses of the movie screen and soundtrack that I have ever seen.”

Television Land USA/1971/12mins/B&W/16mm Dir: Charles Braverman. A montage of images of television that indicates the profound effect television is having upon society.

Outer Space Austria/1999/10mins/Colour/16mm Dir: Peter Tscherkassky. Prolific Austrian avant-garde filmmaker and theorist, Tscherkassky. reinvents a 1981 Barbara Hershey horror vehicle in this bravura experimental film. Gavin Smith's Films Of The Year, Film Comment.

The Sandman USA/1981/4mins/Colour/35mm Dir: Elliot Noyes Jr. An animated film made entirely from sand. More titles to come.

Sat 16/12 & Mon 18/12 ROGER CORMAN: KING OF THE B’S

Roger Corman: Hollywood's Wild Angel USA/1978/57mins/ Colour/16mm Dir: Christian Blackwood. Corman made his reputation as a director in the ‘50's with films like 'Little Shop of Horrors' and 'Bucket of Blood' then acted as a godfather to a generation of American filmmaking by producing the first films of Scorsese, Coppola, Demme, Bogdanovich, Dante, and many others.

Rock All Night USA/1958/60mins/B&W/16mm. Dir: Roger Corman. This 'fairly deranged rock and roll suspense picture' is a personal favourite of Corman's: 'One of the strangest movies I ever made'. It was shot on one set in a fortnight.

Sat 23/12 Only SATANIC HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD

For years religious groups have claimed Hollywood a dark satanic mill, hell-bent on perverting the minds of impressionable youth. Now, for the first time, you’ll learn the shocking truth behind the Satanic influence in Hollywood in a special multimedia presentation on Hollywood’s satanic underground presented before tonight’s films by Cinematheque curator Brett Garten. Xmas parties welcome.

All Eyes on Sharon UK/1969/12mins/B&W/16mm. Production Featurette about the making of eye of the Devil starring Sharon Tate.

Lucifer Rising USA/1972-1981/27mins/Colour/16mm Dir: Kenneth Anger. An intricate tapestry of images that is about as pure as cinema gets. 'Lucifer Rising' is given dramatic emphasis by Bobby Beausoleil's psychedelic rock score, recorded while he was serving time in prison for his involvement with the Manson Family Murders.

Invocation of My Demon Brother USA/1969/11mins/Colour/16mm Dir: Kenneth Anger. Mick Jagger created the droning Moog soundtrack to this fast moving collage of Magick elements.
“Anger’s short films - and especially this one - have probably been more important in shaping pop and art culture than any other single short film. For that he deserves credit and recognition.” imdb.com

Seventh Victim USA/1943/71mins/B&W/16mm Dir: Mark Robson Regarded as the most personal of producer Val Lewton's productions, and until Rosemary’s Baby, the benchmark for occult horror in Hollywood, this story, about a society of devil-worshippers in Greenwich Village and their attempt to silence one of their members when she endangers their secrecy, is rich in detail; but it is also the oppressive mood, the romantic obsession with death-in-life, which dominates the film.

Sat 30/12 & Mon 1/1 WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER

Australian Premiere. USA/2001/97mins/Colour/35mm Dir: David Wain. Janeane Garofolo and Paul Rudd star in this witty parody of coming-of-age teen movies of the 70s & 80s. Laugh away your NYE hang-over with this over-looked comic gem, never released in Australia, and presented here for the first time in a brilliant 35mm print.

“ A delectable parody of dawn-of-the Reagan-era teen flicks.” David Ansen, Newsweek
“The funniest movie I’ve seen all year.” Ain’t it Cool News

Sat 6/1 & Mon 8/1 RAINBOW MAN

Australian Premiere USA/1997/48mins/Colour/Digital Dir: Sam Green. From the makers of the Academy Award nominated doco, ‘The Weathermen’ comes ‘Rainbow Man’ - one of the most bizarre cases in the annals of American true crime. Rollen Frederick Stewart, a.k.a. ‘Rainbow Man’, achieved notoriety during the late 70's by appearing in the crowd at thousands of televised sporting events wearing his trademark rainbow-coloured afro wig. Later - after he became a born-again Christian - he added a sign reading "John 3:16". Over the years, grabbing the attention of the media became an obsession for Stewart. He abandoned his home and marriage to roam the country living out of his car, studying TV Guide each week in a never-ending quest to stay televised... with tragic consequences.

"More than an exploration one life, The Rainbow Man is a parable about alienation, the media, and the meaninglessness that often defines American life." Trevor Groth, Sundance Film Festival

Sat 13/1 & Mon 15/1 Films of LEN LYE

New Zealand born painter, filmmaker, sculptor, writer and teacher, Len Lye, was an artist’s artist and pioneer of “direct” cinema, or making films without a camera. Lye was also a member of Britain’s Realist Film Unit and made documentaries, commercials, and propaganda, or “morale-booster” films. The diverse talents of this eccentric and under-rated artist will be presented tonight with this extensive retrospective of his work. Monday’s screening will be accompanied by a talk by producer John Maynard, former director of the Len Lye Foundation.

Tusalava UK/1929/B&W/7mins/Digital. Lye's first film concerns Aboriginal myths about the witchetty grub.

Rainbow dance UK/1930/4mins/Colour/16mm. An ingenious animated advertisement for the British Post Office.

Experimental Animation UK/1933/2mins/B&W/16mm Fragment of unfinished film by Len Lye using puppet-animation.

Kaleidoscope UK/1935/Colour/4mins/16mm. An abstract film, made as a cigarette commercial using stencilling and hand painting.

Birth of a Robot UK/1936/7mins/Colour/16mm. Puppet film produced for the Shell Oil Company.

Trade Tattoo: The Rhythm of Work-a-Day Britain UK/1937/6mins/Colour/16mm Black and white documentary footage is fed through the Technicolor separation system so that it gains some of the complexities of modern painting.

Colour Flight UK/1938/5mins/Colour/Digital. A mainly abstract film, ostensibly an airline commercial, painted directly onto celluloid and synchronised to 'Honolulu Blues'.

Kill or be Killed UK/1939/18mins/B&W/16mm. Army training film showing how a British soldier stalks and kills a German sniper.

Swinging the Lambeth Walk UK/1939/4mins/Colour/Digital
Abstract animation is synchronised to music.

Newspaper Train UK/1939/6mins/B&W/16mm This wartime morale-booster displays Lye's eccentric sense of humour and his ingenuity in using simple film tricks to achieve complex effects.

N or NW UK/1940/8mins/16mm Slightly surreal tale of a couple sorting out their differences by letter.

Musical Poster No. 1 UK/1940/2mins/Colour/16mm. This hand- painted film warns the public against the danger of talking too much.

When the Pie Was Opened UK/1941/B&W/8mins/16mm. Lively war-time propaganda film giving a recipe for a vegetable pie.

Cameramen at War UK/1941/15mins/B&W/16mm. Documentary on the task of the newsreel cameramen.

Color Cry UK/4mins/1952/Digital. An innovative direct film.

Rhythm UK/1957/B&W/5mins/Digital. The process of assembling a car is cut to match the rhythms of African drum music.

Free Radicals USA/1958-1979/4mins/B&W/16mm. A primitive kinetic dance of white lines and angles meticulously scratched onto black and white film over an 8-month period.

Particles in Space USA/1979/4mins/B&W/Digital. Simple scratches on black leader film take on profound qualities when synchronised to tribal drumming.

Tal Farlow USA/1980/B&W/3 minutes/Digital. Black scratch designs accompany a piece of jazz guitar music.

Sat 20/1 & Mon 22/1 BEST AND WORST ADS

USA-UK-Australia-France-Germany/120mins/B&W & Colour/ 16mm & 35mm. Two hours of the best and worst cinema and TV ads spanning the twenties to the naughties. From the first cinema advertisements produced by German avant-garde artist, Oscar Fischinger, through the incredible advertising films of Len Lye, to the latest high tech ads – this is a vast collection of hucksters and hacks, snake-oil salesmen and visionaries.

Saturday 27/1 BLACKTOP DREAMS

UK author Jack Sargeant will discuss the road movie genre in a guest lecture / Q&A - part of the Chauvel’s road movie season.

Two-Lane Blacktop USA/1971/102mins/Colour/16mm. Dir: Monte Hellman. This existential road movie is an under-rated cult classic and stars Warren Oates, James Taylor, and the Beach Boys Denis Wilson as rev-heads racing because there's nothing else to do.

Sunday 28/1 BLACKTOP DREAMS DOUBLE

Gun Crazy USA/1949/87mins/B&W/16mm Dir: Joseph H. Lewis A sexed-up film-noir couple-on-the-lam road movie described by the Surrealists as a film-noir version of L’age D’or.

They Live By Night USA/1948/95mins/B&W/16mm Dir: Nicholas Ray. A bleak tale of young love on the run from the law and heading nowhere. A classic.

The Chauvel Cinematheque acknowledges the assistance of the National film and Video Lending Service, the National Film & Sound Archive and the Australian Film Commission in the creation of this program.