Kenneth Anger

Kenneth Anger

Birth : 1927-02-03, Santa Monica, California, USA

Death : 2023-05-11

History

Kenneth Anger (born Kenneth Wilbur Anglemeyer; February 3, 1927 - May 11, 2023) was an American underground experimental filmmaker, actor and author. Working exclusively in short films, he produced almost forty works since 1937, nine of which in particular have been grouped together as the "Magick Lantern Cycle," and form the basis of Anger's reputation as one of the most influential independent filmmakers in cinema history. His films variously merge surrealism with homoeroticism and the occult, and have been described as containing "elements of erotica, documentary, psychodrama, and spectacle." Anger himself has been described as "one of America's first openly gay filmmakers, and certainly the first whose work addressed homosexuality in an undisguised, self-implicating manner," and his "role in rendering gay culture visible within American cinema, commercial or otherwise, is impossible to overestimate." Some of his particularly homoerotic works, such as Fireworks (1947) and Scorpio Rising (1964), were produced prior to the legalisation of homosexuality in the United States. He has also focused upon occult themes in many of his films, being fascinated by the notorious English occultist Aleister Crowley, and is a follower of Crowley's religion, Thelema. This influence is evident from films like Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954), Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969) and Lucifer Rising (1972). Anger has described filmmakers such as Auguste and Louis Lumière and Georges Méliès as influences, and has been cited as an important influence on later film directors like Martin Scorsese, David Lynch and John Waters.He has also been described as having "a profound impact on the work of many other filmmakers and artists, as well as on music video as an emergent art form using dream sequence, dance, fantasy, and narrative." During the 1960s and 70s he associated and worked with a number of different figures in popular culture and the occult, including Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey, sexologist Alfred Kinsey, artist Jean Cocteau, playwright Tennessee Williams and musicians Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page and Marianne Faithfull. He is also the author of the controversial best seller Hollywood Babylon (1959) and its sequel Hollywood Babylon II (1986), in which he claims to expose many of the rumours and secrets of Hollywood celebrities. Description above from the Wikipedia article Kenneth Anger, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.​

Profile

Kenneth Anger
Kenneth Anger
Kenneth Anger
Kenneth Anger

Movies

24 Hour Sunset
This film portrait of a new kind is a deep dive into the heart of the los angeles art scene. From a ride on Sunset boulevard in a convertible car at the sunrise, going Through a lunch with the art dealer Patrick Painter and a visit to Peter Shire's studio... Having a beer and a deep talk with Paul McCarthy, calling Raymond Pettibon stuck in New-York or searching for Ed Ruscha in bars.... From Ariana Papademetropoulos opening exhibition to the visit of a car wreck with Umar Raschid... From the old house of Cary Grant to the dodgy underground of Downtown passing through Eugenio Lopez's private art collection on the Hollywood hills... Through intimate conversation, 24 Hour Sunset gives us access to the thoughts, inspirations and practice of legendary artists, world famous art dealers, appraised curators and collectors, as well as the young up coming scene of artists living in Los Angeles.
Anton LaVey: Into the Devil's Den
Himself
In 1989, I met Anton LaVey for the first time. At this time in his life, LaVey was seeing only a select few people. For this film, I've met and interviewed some of them, to try and create a composite image of what he was really like, and what he meant to these people. It's a memory lane trip, filled with personal stories, dark humor, great music and never before seen material with the Black Pope himself.
Cinemagician: Conversations with Kenneth Anger
Iconic American filmmaker Kenneth Anger has inspired generations of creative storytellers since the late 1940s. He is a unique visionary who drifts from pure poetry within his magical filmmaking to sardonic gossip in his bestselling "Hollywood Babylon" books. In-between these extremes we find a person who never tires of exploring his own creativity. In this intimate documentary, Anger lets us in on his fascinating life story, his approaches to filmmaking, and his relationship to British occultist Aleister Crowley.
Magick Lantern Cycle
Director
Nine films grouped together that form the basis of Anger's reputation as one of the most influential independent filmmakers in cinema history.
72 Hours In André Balazs’ Chateau Marmont With Kenneth Anger
Self
On LA’s iconic Sunset Boulevard and inside the glamorous rooms of ChateauMarmont, Floria Sigismondi shot Kenneth Anger for an additional special edition for System Magazine.
Mansfield 66/67
Himself
About the last two years of movie goddess Jayne Mansfield’s life and the speculation swirling around her untimely death being caused by a curse after her alleged romantic dalliance with Anton LaVey, head of the Church of Satan.
The 1000 Eyes of Dr Maddin
Guy Maddin, who has been nicknamed the Canadian David Lynch, is undoubtedly one of the last remaining Magi of cinema. Despite living in the middle of the digital age, this heretical director hailing from the snowy plains of Canada has spent 25 years transposing the uncommon and the uncanny onto screens over-saturated with naturalistic imagery. A lover of primitive cinema, he has cunningly summoned the light-and-shadow techniques and experimentations of the Golden Age of film to resuscitate a unique cinematographic language which plays with the spectator’s unconscious by means of visual trickery as disturbing as it is absurd. In an attitude as playful at that Maddin’s films this documentary follows the mediumistic experiments of this master of illusion, filmed during the ‘’spirit’’ shootings he presented in Europe.
Airships 1, 2, 3
Director
Kenneth Anger's Airship series consists of three short films that exhume newsreel footage of mighty dirigibles hovering ominously in the sky, the filmmaker's characteristic fusion of magic, symbolism, mystery, and myth — as well as the opulent use of colour and, in the first film, anaglyph 3D — imbuing the already incredible footage with an eerie, supernatural quality.
42 One Dream Rush
Lucifer (segment "Night of Pan")
An omnibus of 42 short films by auteur directors based on Dreams.
42 One Dream Rush
Director
An omnibus of 42 short films by auteur directors based on Dreams.
Missoni
Director
A dream-like intoduction of the 2011 Missoni fashion ad.
FLicKeR
Himself
In 1960, Brion Gysin invented the Dream Machine, a hypnotic light device with the power to induce hallucinations, drugless highs, and revolutionize human consciousness. It looks simple enough; a 100-watt light bulb, a motor, and a rotating cylinder with cutouts. Just sit in front of it, close your eyes, and wait for the visions to come. The Dream Machine enthralled mystics and freethinkers everywhere; Kurt Cobain had a dream machine, and William S. Burroughs thought it could be used to “storm the citadels of enlightenment.” With a custom-made Dream Machine in tow, director Nik Sheehan takes us on a journey into the life of Brion Gysin; his art, his complex ideas, and his friendships with some of the most eccentric counter-cultural icons. Taking the Dream Machine as the basis of its explorations, FLicKeR asks crucial questions about the nature of art and consciousness, and imagines a humanity liberated to explore its creativity in complete freedom.
Rabbit's Moon
Editor
Rabbit's Moon
Cinematography
Rabbit's Moon
Writer
Rabbit's Moon
Director
Brush of Baphomet
Director
A look at the artwork of Aleister Crowley.
Night of Pan
Lucifer
A magician encounters the void that separates the human mind from divine consciousness and in turn faces the mad god.
Death
Director
As a firm believer in resurrection, I approach the subject of “DEATH” not as the closing of a final door, but as a beginning. In my short cinepoem “DEATH” I begin with a golden skull, and conclude with the silver death mask of the notorious gangster, John Dillinger. In between we see the bunks and bodies of two of the Heaven’s Gaters, deluded into believing by an evil cult that death by suicide would deliver them to a waiting flying saucer. Then a succession of silver embossed tantric skulls of enlightened ones lead us to the necessary conclusion. By these small token gestures I chose to broach the vast subject that remains unknowable. Death is indeed the spice of life -for without it life would have no meaning. It is necessary to give form, pacing and contrast to the good time of living.
Ich will!
Director
Composed from footage found in the Imperial War museum, London, of Hitler Youth in full swing.
Uniform Attraction
Director
A short film about the fetishistic interest in military uniforms.
Foreplay
Director
The training practice of a soccer team – close-up of feet, body parts, muscles – entirely silent except for the noises of the ball being hit – a sort of minimalist, crisp, homoerotic version of Philippe Parreno's and Douglas Gordon's Zidane – A 21st Century Portrait.
The Films of Kenneth Anger: Volume Two
Writer
Covering the second half of Anger's career, from his legendary SCORPIO RISING to his breathtaking phantasmagoria LUCIFER RISING, Fantoma is very proud to complete the cycle with this long-awaited final volume of films by this revolutionary and groundbreaking maverick, painstakingly restored and presented on DVD for the first time anywhere in the world. Contains the films: Scorpio Rising (1964) Kustom Kar Kommandos (1965) Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969) Rabbit's Moon (1979 version) Lucifer Rising (1981)
The Films of Kenneth Anger: Volume Two
Director
Covering the second half of Anger's career, from his legendary SCORPIO RISING to his breathtaking phantasmagoria LUCIFER RISING, Fantoma is very proud to complete the cycle with this long-awaited final volume of films by this revolutionary and groundbreaking maverick, painstakingly restored and presented on DVD for the first time anywhere in the world. Contains the films: Scorpio Rising (1964) Kustom Kar Kommandos (1965) Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969) Rabbit's Moon (1979 version) Lucifer Rising (1981)
Disinfo.Con
Self
Disinfo.Con contains an amazing 4 hours of footage from The Disinformation Company's massive counterculture event in New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom. New York hadn't seen anything like this since the Nova Convention in 1978 which saw Frank Zappa, Patti Smith and others anoint William Burroughs as king of the counterculture. A quarter century later Disinformation's keynote speakers Richard Metzger and Douglas Rushkoff ushered in a dizzying, day-long array of performances ranging from sword-swallowing to sanskrit chanting, interspersed with lectures and conversations with counterculture luminaries like Mondo 2000 founder R.U. Sirius, industrial music progenitor Genesis P-Orridge, Grant Morrison, Robert Anton Wilson, theorists, performance artists and others from the extremes of popular culture. Nothing beats actually experiencing an event like this in the flesh, but this DVD comes pretty close to capturing the spirit of the counterculture as we lurch into the 21st century.
The Films of Kenneth Anger: Volume One
Writer
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)
The Films of Kenneth Anger: Volume One
Director
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)
I'll Be Watching You
Director
A young man with a stylish crew cut watches a surveillance video monitor with great interest as a security guard makes out with a bodyguard (both with similar crew cut) among luxury cars in the underground parking of a posh building.
Elliott's Suicide
Director
A homage to the late American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith, Elliott’s Suicide is a sentimental 15 minute tribute, lacking Anger’s usual irony for obvious reasons. The film begins with shots of friends’ and fans’ last words written on Smith’s memorial on Sunset Boulevard, then to footage of a Macy’s parade, focusing closely on the oddly outfitted participants, some in renaissance attire, cowboys with lassos, and beauty queens. The film is scored with Smith’s music, resulting in a melancholy effect, especially in the segment that follows Smith through the woods and films him as he digs up a guitar, then plays a song. This footage is repeated in the end of the film, but in a negative reversal print, suggesting pretty damn clearly that the subject matter has moved beyond the veil.
My Surfing Lucifer
Director
Using found footage, we're introduced to the short life of Bunker Spreckels, Clark Gable's stepson and surfing legend.
Anger Me
Himself
Elio Gelmini interviews Avantgarde filmmaker Kenneth Anger. With archive footage of Angers films, he portrays the filmmaker from his childhood until present day.
Notes on Marie Menken
Himself
A look at avant-garde filmmaker Marie Menken.
Hedy Lamarr: Secrets of a Hollywood Star
"Secrets of a Hollywood Star" is another documentary made after "Calling Hedy Lamarr" in 2006. It features interviews with Hedy's friends in both Europe and Hollywood and her film/studio partners.
Mouse Heaven
Director
A short film featuring various vintage Mickey Mouse toys.
Anger Sees Red
Writer
Starring the color red, we see a chap in a blue shirt & blue baseball cap walking down a pink street (thanks to camera filters). Discarding the shirt he takes a nap in the sun, but soon sits up & introduces himself as Red. His missing blue shirt reappears & he goes for a walk looking at stop signs, because they're red, & walks past walls painted red, arriving home to look out the window with binoculars, presumedly at something red.
Anger Sees Red
Director
Starring the color red, we see a chap in a blue shirt & blue baseball cap walking down a pink street (thanks to camera filters). Discarding the shirt he takes a nap in the sun, but soon sits up & introduces himself as Red. His missing blue shirt reappears & he goes for a walk looking at stop signs, because they're red, & walks past walls painted red, arriving home to look out the window with binoculars, presumedly at something red.
Busby Berkeley: Going Through the Roof
Self
Documentary profile of legendary dance choreographer Busby Berkeley.
The Man We Want to Hang
Director
"The Man We Want to Hang" is a 12-minute short, consisting of Anger filming borrowed paintings done by legendary and controversial occultist Aleister Crowley.
Rescued from the Closet
Himself
A collection of interviews recorded for the making of the 1995 documentary "The Celluloid Closet," on the subject of LGBT representation in film history.
Hollywood Babylon
Director
An homage to Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon, shot at the Museum of Death.
Don't Smoke That Cigarette
Director
This is a compilation of TV commercials, interviews and propaganda regarding the cigarette and tobacco industry.
Die Beach Boys und der Satan
Himself
A German documentary that explores the darker side of the Beach Boys, primarily focusing on Brian Wilson and the Pet Sounds album, with detours to the Manson Family.
Birth of a Nation
Self
Filmmaker Jonas Mekas films 160 underground film people over four decades.
Darryl F. Zanuck: 20th Century Filmmaker
Himself - Author / Historian
A biography of Darryl F. Zanuck, mogul and the power behind 20th Century Fox throughout the Golden Age.
Jonas in the Desert
Himself
Not a documentary in the strictest sense of the word. Rather, it is a journey through the world of the artist Jonas Mekas - one of the exponents of independent U.S. movies; founder and director of the New York Anthology Film Archive.
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
Self
A film collage tracing the story of the lives, loves, and deaths within the artistic community surrounding Jonas Mekas.
Lucifer Rising
Editor
Egyptian gods summon the angel Lucifer, in order to usher in a new occult age.
Lucifer Rising
The Magus
Egyptian gods summon the angel Lucifer, in order to usher in a new occult age.
Lucifer Rising
Director
Egyptian gods summon the angel Lucifer, in order to usher in a new occult age.
Rabbit's Moon
Director
Rabbit's Moon is an avant-garde short film by American filmmaker Kenneth Anger, and released in two different versions. It was filmed in 1950, but not completed (nor released) until 1971. This, the second version, was re-released in 1979, sped up and with a different soundtrack.
Senators in Bondage
Editor
A short film by Kenneth Anger, only available to private collectors and never publicly released.
Senators in Bondage
Producer
A short film by Kenneth Anger, only available to private collectors and never publicly released.
Senators in Bondage
Writer
A short film by Kenneth Anger, only available to private collectors and never publicly released.
Senators in Bondage
Director
A short film by Kenneth Anger, only available to private collectors and never publicly released.
Look Back at Anger
Self
A collage-style documentary of one of Kenneth Anger's visits to Pittsburgh in the early 1970s
Hollywood Babylon
Novel
This is like a documentary on the scandals in the Golden Age of Hollywood during the 1920's. Contains many reenactments of major scandals.
Rabbit's Moon
Editor
A Japanese fairy tale meets commedia dell'Arte. All in white, the naïf Pierrot lies in a wood. Doo-wop music plays as he rises, stares about, and reaches for the moon. Although music abounds and the children of the wood are there at play, Pierrot is melancholy and alone. Harlequin appears, brimming with confidence and energy. He conjures the lovely Colombina. Pierrot is dazzled. But can the course of true love run smooth? Filmed in France in 1950, it was not completed nor released until 1971
Rabbit's Moon
Cinematography
A Japanese fairy tale meets commedia dell'Arte. All in white, the naïf Pierrot lies in a wood. Doo-wop music plays as he rises, stares about, and reaches for the moon. Although music abounds and the children of the wood are there at play, Pierrot is melancholy and alone. Harlequin appears, brimming with confidence and energy. He conjures the lovely Colombina. Pierrot is dazzled. But can the course of true love run smooth? Filmed in France in 1950, it was not completed nor released until 1971
Rabbit's Moon
Writer
A Japanese fairy tale meets commedia dell'Arte. All in white, the naïf Pierrot lies in a wood. Doo-wop music plays as he rises, stares about, and reaches for the moon. Although music abounds and the children of the wood are there at play, Pierrot is melancholy and alone. Harlequin appears, brimming with confidence and energy. He conjures the lovely Colombina. Pierrot is dazzled. But can the course of true love run smooth? Filmed in France in 1950, it was not completed nor released until 1971
Rabbit's Moon
Director
A Japanese fairy tale meets commedia dell'Arte. All in white, the naïf Pierrot lies in a wood. Doo-wop music plays as he rises, stares about, and reaches for the moon. Although music abounds and the children of the wood are there at play, Pierrot is melancholy and alone. Harlequin appears, brimming with confidence and energy. He conjures the lovely Colombina. Pierrot is dazzled. But can the course of true love run smooth? Filmed in France in 1950, it was not completed nor released until 1971
Langlois
Self
Documentary portrait of Henri Langlois, co-founder of the Cinémathèque Française.
Kenneth Anger: Film as Magical Ritual
Himself
Anger discusses his Aleister Crowley-inspired theories of art: How he views his camera like a wand and how he casts his films, preferring to consider his actors, not human beings but as elemental spirits. In fact, he reveals that he goes so far as to use astrology when making these choices. This is as direct an explanation of Anger’s cinemagical modus operandi as I have ever heard him articulate anywhere. It’s a must see for anyone interested in his work and showcases the Magus of cinema at the very height of his artistic powers. Fascinating. (Dangerous Minds)
Invocation of My Demon Brother
Camera Operator
The shadowing forth of Our Lord Lucifer, as the Power of Darkness gather at a midnight mass. The dance of the Magus widdershins around the Swirling Spiral Force, the solar swastika, until the Bringer of Light—Lucifer—breaks through.
Invocation of My Demon Brother
The Magus (uncredited)
The shadowing forth of Our Lord Lucifer, as the Power of Darkness gather at a midnight mass. The dance of the Magus widdershins around the Swirling Spiral Force, the solar swastika, until the Bringer of Light—Lucifer—breaks through.
Invocation of My Demon Brother
Editor
The shadowing forth of Our Lord Lucifer, as the Power of Darkness gather at a midnight mass. The dance of the Magus widdershins around the Swirling Spiral Force, the solar swastika, until the Bringer of Light—Lucifer—breaks through.
Invocation of My Demon Brother
Director of Photography
The shadowing forth of Our Lord Lucifer, as the Power of Darkness gather at a midnight mass. The dance of the Magus widdershins around the Swirling Spiral Force, the solar swastika, until the Bringer of Light—Lucifer—breaks through.
Invocation of My Demon Brother
Writer
The shadowing forth of Our Lord Lucifer, as the Power of Darkness gather at a midnight mass. The dance of the Magus widdershins around the Swirling Spiral Force, the solar swastika, until the Bringer of Light—Lucifer—breaks through.
Invocation of My Demon Brother
Director
The shadowing forth of Our Lord Lucifer, as the Power of Darkness gather at a midnight mass. The dance of the Magus widdershins around the Swirling Spiral Force, the solar swastika, until the Bringer of Light—Lucifer—breaks through.
Kustom Kar Kommandos
Cinematography
A man in tight jeans buffs his car to the strains of The Paris Sisters’ “Dream Lover”.
Kustom Kar Kommandos
Editor
A man in tight jeans buffs his car to the strains of The Paris Sisters’ “Dream Lover”.
Kustom Kar Kommandos
Writer
A man in tight jeans buffs his car to the strains of The Paris Sisters’ “Dream Lover”.
Kustom Kar Kommandos
Director
A man in tight jeans buffs his car to the strains of The Paris Sisters’ “Dream Lover”.
Scorpio Rising
Director of Photography
A gang of Nazi bikers prepares for a race as sexual, sadistic, and occult images are cut together.
Scorpio Rising
Editor
A gang of Nazi bikers prepares for a race as sexual, sadistic, and occult images are cut together.
Scorpio Rising
Writer
A gang of Nazi bikers prepares for a race as sexual, sadistic, and occult images are cut together.
Scorpio Rising
Director
A gang of Nazi bikers prepares for a race as sexual, sadistic, and occult images are cut together.
Arabesque for Kenneth Anger
Filmed at the Alhambra in Spain in just one day, according to Marie Menken. Arabesque for Kenneth Anger concentrates on visual details found in Moorish architecture and in ancient Spanish tile. The date 1961 refers to the addition of Teiji Ito's soundtrack and its subsequent completion, but the film was likely shot in 1960 or earlier. - David Lewis
The Dead
An experimental short film from Stan Brakhage.
The Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome
Editor
Lord Shiva wakes. A convocation of magicians in the guise of figures from mythology; a masquerade party at which Pan is the prize. The wine of Hecate is poured: Pan's cup is poisoned by Shiva. Kali blesses the assembly as a bacchic rite ensues.
The Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome
Cinematography
Lord Shiva wakes. A convocation of magicians in the guise of figures from mythology; a masquerade party at which Pan is the prize. The wine of Hecate is poured: Pan's cup is poisoned by Shiva. Kali blesses the assembly as a bacchic rite ensues.
The Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome
Hecate
Lord Shiva wakes. A convocation of magicians in the guise of figures from mythology; a masquerade party at which Pan is the prize. The wine of Hecate is poured: Pan's cup is poisoned by Shiva. Kali blesses the assembly as a bacchic rite ensues.
The Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome
Writer
Lord Shiva wakes. A convocation of magicians in the guise of figures from mythology; a masquerade party at which Pan is the prize. The wine of Hecate is poured: Pan's cup is poisoned by Shiva. Kali blesses the assembly as a bacchic rite ensues.
The Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome
Director
Lord Shiva wakes. A convocation of magicians in the guise of figures from mythology; a masquerade party at which Pan is the prize. The wine of Hecate is poured: Pan's cup is poisoned by Shiva. Kali blesses the assembly as a bacchic rite ensues.
Eaux d'artifice
Editor
A woman dressed elegantly walks purposely through the water gardens at the Villa d'Este in Tivoli, as the music of Vivaldi's Winter movement of The Four Seasons plays. Heavy red filters give a blue cast to the light; water plays across stone, and fountains send it into the air. No words are spoken. Baroque statuary and the sensuous flow of water are back lit. Anger calls it water games.
Eaux d'artifice
Cinematography
A woman dressed elegantly walks purposely through the water gardens at the Villa d'Este in Tivoli, as the music of Vivaldi's Winter movement of The Four Seasons plays. Heavy red filters give a blue cast to the light; water plays across stone, and fountains send it into the air. No words are spoken. Baroque statuary and the sensuous flow of water are back lit. Anger calls it water games.
Eaux d'artifice
Producer
A woman dressed elegantly walks purposely through the water gardens at the Villa d'Este in Tivoli, as the music of Vivaldi's Winter movement of The Four Seasons plays. Heavy red filters give a blue cast to the light; water plays across stone, and fountains send it into the air. No words are spoken. Baroque statuary and the sensuous flow of water are back lit. Anger calls it water games.
Eaux d'artifice
Director
A woman dressed elegantly walks purposely through the water gardens at the Villa d'Este in Tivoli, as the music of Vivaldi's Winter movement of The Four Seasons plays. Heavy red filters give a blue cast to the light; water plays across stone, and fountains send it into the air. No words are spoken. Baroque statuary and the sensuous flow of water are back lit. Anger calls it water games.
Puce Moment
Editor
Puce Moment is a short 6 minute film by Kenneth Anger, author of the Hollywood Babylon books, filmed in 1949. Puce Moment resulted from the unfinished short film Puce Women. The film opens with a camera watching 1920s style flapper gowns being taken off a dress rack. The dresses are removed and danced off the rack to music. (The original soundtrack was Verdi opera music; in the 1960s, Anger re-released the film with a new psychedelic folk-rock soundtrack performed by Jonathan Halper.) A long-lashed woman, Yvonne Marquis, dresses in the purple puce gown and walks to her vanity to apply perfume. She lies on a chaise lounge which then begins to move around the room and eventually out to a patio. Borzois appear and she prepares to take them for a walk.
Puce Moment
Producer
Puce Moment is a short 6 minute film by Kenneth Anger, author of the Hollywood Babylon books, filmed in 1949. Puce Moment resulted from the unfinished short film Puce Women. The film opens with a camera watching 1920s style flapper gowns being taken off a dress rack. The dresses are removed and danced off the rack to music. (The original soundtrack was Verdi opera music; in the 1960s, Anger re-released the film with a new psychedelic folk-rock soundtrack performed by Jonathan Halper.) A long-lashed woman, Yvonne Marquis, dresses in the purple puce gown and walks to her vanity to apply perfume. She lies on a chaise lounge which then begins to move around the room and eventually out to a patio. Borzois appear and she prepares to take them for a walk.
Puce Moment
Writer
Puce Moment is a short 6 minute film by Kenneth Anger, author of the Hollywood Babylon books, filmed in 1949. Puce Moment resulted from the unfinished short film Puce Women. The film opens with a camera watching 1920s style flapper gowns being taken off a dress rack. The dresses are removed and danced off the rack to music. (The original soundtrack was Verdi opera music; in the 1960s, Anger re-released the film with a new psychedelic folk-rock soundtrack performed by Jonathan Halper.) A long-lashed woman, Yvonne Marquis, dresses in the purple puce gown and walks to her vanity to apply perfume. She lies on a chaise lounge which then begins to move around the room and eventually out to a patio. Borzois appear and she prepares to take them for a walk.
Puce Moment
Director
Puce Moment is a short 6 minute film by Kenneth Anger, author of the Hollywood Babylon books, filmed in 1949. Puce Moment resulted from the unfinished short film Puce Women. The film opens with a camera watching 1920s style flapper gowns being taken off a dress rack. The dresses are removed and danced off the rack to music. (The original soundtrack was Verdi opera music; in the 1960s, Anger re-released the film with a new psychedelic folk-rock soundtrack performed by Jonathan Halper.) A long-lashed woman, Yvonne Marquis, dresses in the purple puce gown and walks to her vanity to apply perfume. She lies on a chaise lounge which then begins to move around the room and eventually out to a patio. Borzois appear and she prepares to take them for a walk.
Fireworks
Editor
Fireworks revolves around a young man associating with various navy sailors, who eventually turn on him, stripping him naked and beating him to death, ripping open his chest to find a clock ticking inside. Several fireworks then explode, accompanied by a burning Christmas tree and the final shot shows the young man lying in bed next to another topless man.
Fireworks
Writer
Fireworks revolves around a young man associating with various navy sailors, who eventually turn on him, stripping him naked and beating him to death, ripping open his chest to find a clock ticking inside. Several fireworks then explode, accompanied by a burning Christmas tree and the final shot shows the young man lying in bed next to another topless man.
Fireworks
Dreamer (uncredited)
Fireworks revolves around a young man associating with various navy sailors, who eventually turn on him, stripping him naked and beating him to death, ripping open his chest to find a clock ticking inside. Several fireworks then explode, accompanied by a burning Christmas tree and the final shot shows the young man lying in bed next to another topless man.
Fireworks
Director
Fireworks revolves around a young man associating with various navy sailors, who eventually turn on him, stripping him naked and beating him to death, ripping open his chest to find a clock ticking inside. Several fireworks then explode, accompanied by a burning Christmas tree and the final shot shows the young man lying in bed next to another topless man.
Escape Episode
Director
Early film by Kenneth Anger.
The Nest
Director
A silent black-and-white film in which a brother (played by Bob Jones) and sister (Jo Whittaker) are examining mirrors when a third figure (Dare Harris), causes them to act violently against one another, before a magical rite takes place in which the sister's binding spell is destroyed by the brother.
Prisoner of Mars
Writer
Kenneth Anger plays a "chosen adolescent" who is elected to be sent on a trip to Mars in a rocket. He awakes in a Martian maze only to find that he not the first to arrive from Earth, as evidenced by the human bones littered about. Although circulated on 16 mm through 1967, Anger then withdrew Prisoner of Mars. It is possible that the film no longer exists, but it may be among a few extant titles that Anger has stated he prefers not to show. This science-fiction drama was particularly interesting, as it was a structured as a serial chapter, and made use of miniatures and models.
Prisoner of Mars
Director
Kenneth Anger plays a "chosen adolescent" who is elected to be sent on a trip to Mars in a rocket. He awakes in a Martian maze only to find that he not the first to arrive from Earth, as evidenced by the human bones littered about. Although circulated on 16 mm through 1967, Anger then withdrew Prisoner of Mars. It is possible that the film no longer exists, but it may be among a few extant titles that Anger has stated he prefers not to show. This science-fiction drama was particularly interesting, as it was a structured as a serial chapter, and made use of miniatures and models.
Prisoner of Mars
Kenneth Anger plays a "chosen adolescent" who is elected to be sent on a trip to Mars in a rocket. He awakes in a Martian maze only to find that he not the first to arrive from Earth, as evidenced by the human bones littered about. Although circulated on 16 mm through 1967, Anger then withdrew Prisoner of Mars. It is possible that the film no longer exists, but it may be among a few extant titles that Anger has stated he prefers not to show. This science-fiction drama was particularly interesting, as it was a structured as a serial chapter, and made use of miniatures and models.
Tinsel Tree
Director
Made when Anger was only 14 years old, Tinsel Tree is a short that demonstrated his early disdain for the Christmas season. Anger shows the Christmas tree as it is decorated in a series of close-ups, then the post-Christmas tree is shown burning in a garbage can colored in a burst of hand-painted gold flame. Although circulated on 16 mm through 1967, Anger then withdrew Tinsel Tree. It is possible that the film no longer exists, but it may be among a few extant titles that Anger has stated he prefers not to show. From written descriptions, the connectivity of this very-short short to Kenneth Anger's later work is obvious. (allmovie.com)
Who Has Been Rocking My Dreamboat
Writer
Filmed on a playground, Who Has Been Rocking My Dream Boat begins with what was described by Anger as a “montage of American children at play…in the last summer before Pearl Harbor”.
Who Has Been Rocking My Dreamboat
Director
Filmed on a playground, Who Has Been Rocking My Dream Boat begins with what was described by Anger as a “montage of American children at play…in the last summer before Pearl Harbor”.
Technicolor Skull
Director
Technicolor Skull is a real sensory experience, exploring the mental impact of a magick ritual in the context of an improvised performance. With Brian Butler at the special guitar and the electronics, and Kenneth Anger at the theremin and visuals, the collaboration of these two Californian artists gives birth to a “ceremony” that is enchanting and spectral as well. An initiation to occult rituals, and an event that will leave a mark on you.