I’ve turned the original Tomb of the Mummy puzzle game into a Facebook app. So if you spend most of your time over there you can give it a try.
It’s really pretty difficult and has resulting in tons of nasty emails for me. One guy worked on the puzzle for three weeks and left it on his monitor when his girlfriend came over. She apparently sat down and solved it in thirty seconds. The guy was furious and really let me know about it!
Enjoy.
This film was shot in 1950 by Jerome Hill. It was then edited by underground film pioneer Jonas Mekas in 1991. It shows Carl Jung talking and stone carving at his home by a lake. He’s working at things he liked to do and he’s describing something rather elusive. I think Jung’s great contribution was in not fearing the deep subconscious, but rather enjoying it and opening the door to let it in.
Here’s my own take on how you open the door just like Jung did… sort of.
Seattle avant-garde filmmaker Jon Behrens made this gorgeous piece in 2008 with 16mm film, latex paint and inks applied directly to the film surface. It creates a mysterious space travel and exploratory sensation that has some connection – at least in my mind – to Kubrick’s 2001. There’s a big pile of magnificent work waiting for you to enjoy from this filmmaker. Visit his Vimeo page and personal website for more information.
You can rent Behrens’ films for 16mm projection from Canyon Cinema. He also has a DVD of collected works.
Joseph Bennett made this film to show you what can happen to people who love books too much.
Suddenly, a man dies at the controls of a train!
Suddenly, a car swerves to destruction!
Suddenly, a plane dives to death!
The earth dies screaming!
I often think of myself as this Cosmic Man.
A collection of vintage toy commercials put together by Jon Behrens. Do kids play war anymore?
A film by Fred. L’Epée.
Lotte Reiniger, the animator who made the oldest surviving animated feature, The Adventures of Prince Achmed, created this version of Hansel and Gretel in 1955. It uses her cutout silhouette technique.
Ray Harryhausen, the great stop-motion animator of dinosaurs, sea creatures and dancing skeletons made this version of Hansel and Gretel in 1951. The dolls are a bit off-putting if I must be honest about it. But it’s got some great movement and settings. This is one of a series of films he made for children after World War II.
A short film that’s mostly puppetry by one of the wild insane men of American twentieth century art, Joseph Cornell.
The National Film Preservation Board of The Library of Congress has added a film to its National Film Registry by Mary Ellen Bute called Tarantella (1940). Here’s a short documentary about this animator and her total dedication to her art. Cartoon Brew has more information about the recent additions to the Registry.
Filmed in the dullest imaginable environment of shops along a major Los Angeles street at night when the shops were closed.
My Christmas film.
The music is a public domain recording of Artie Shaw and his orchestra playing ‘There’s Something in the Air’ in 1936. The singer is Peg LaCentra. I found it at the Internet Archive.
Czechoslovakian animator Karel Zeman made The Fabulous World of Jules Verne in 1958 and it is, without exception, the finest example of Verne on film that I have ever seen. It is an adaptation of Verne’s novel, Facing the Flag. The combination of live action and Mysti-Mation (sets and animation painted to look like illustrations) not only evokes the atmosphere of old book illustrations, but it evokes the visual act of imagination that happens when I read a Jules Verne book. This film is perfection. I’m somewhat distrustful of the ‘steampunk’ movement but I would certainly imagine that this film must be one of its holy grail objects of worship. It should be for sure. Disney could never come close to this, then or now, because they are focused solely upon happiness.
Parts 2 through 8 after the jump!