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- Author-critic Anthony Burgess explores in a free-wheeling way perspectives of James Joyce's great experimental novel "Finnegans Wake". He is in the unusual setting of an Irish pub, utilizing a variety of props to illustrate his points. Burgess, erudite and ironic, brings in photographs, history and even sings a song from the book -- the "Ballad of Persse O'Reilly." All this with Burgess leaning on the big wooden bar of the pub. Internationally known author Burgess ("A Clockwork Orange", "ReJoyce", etc.) has always been fascinated by "Finnegans Wake", its idiosyncratic language, its enormously complicated structure, and its attempt to address those most universal human questions of life, death, sex, mind, and mankind's fall and resurrection.
- The work of photographer Diane Arbus as explained by her daughter, friends, critics, and in her own words as recorded in her journals. Illustrated with many of her photographs. Mary Clare Costello, narrator Themes: Arbus' quirky go-it-alone approach. Her attraction to the bizarre, people on the fringes of society: sexual deviants, odd types, the extremes, styles in questionable taste, poses and situations that inspire irony or wonder. Where most people would look away she photographed.
- Profile of one of the world's most popular motion picture stars, told through interviews with some of the artists who worked with him, family, friends, and excerpts from many of his films and television appearances.
- Documentary about kendo, the senior martial arts form, in which contestants use bamboo staves as dueling weapons. Includes scenes filmed in practice studios, competitions, the Budokan -- Tokyo's main exhibition hall. Also includes demonstrations of many other martial arts forms, and of art and film that illustrate the importance of disciplined fighting in Japanese culture.
- Film director Hitchcock discusses his life and career in long talks with Pia Lindstrom (newscaster and daughter of Hitchcock star Ingrid Berman) and with film historian William Everson. Excerpts from several films illustrate these interviews. Discussion topics include: what is fear?, method acting vs. film acting, the difference between the usual "Who Done It" mystery and what he considers to be real suspense. His choice of leading ladies and why (Bergman, Baxter, Kelly, Marie Saint, Leigh, etc.).
- Portrait of filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, shot in her studio in Munich, Germany and in the nearby Alps. With many photos from her own archive and excerpts from her films, including "Triumph of the Will," "Olympia," and "Tiefland." Extensive interview about her early career as a dancer, as an actress in "mountain films" and finally as a director of "The Blue Light".
- Profile of the great film director D.W. Griffith. Ron Mottram, professor of cinema history and director of the Griffith retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City (1975) interviews silent film stars Blanche Sweet and Lillian Gish about their careers and working with Griffith. Illustrated with many film clips and photographs. Film excerpts include portions of "Way Down East" (1920), "Intolerance" (1916), "True Heart Susie" (1919) and "Birth of a Nation." Ms. Gish reminisces about the long hours, dangerous situations, and the presentation of character without recourse to spoken dialogue. Film excerpts include portions of "Death's Marathon", "The Painted Lady", "Feud in the Kentucky Hills", "A Corner in Wheat", "The Informer", "Country Doctor", all made in the early years when Griffith worked for the Biograph company, 1908-1913. Ms. Sweet starred in many of these films and reminisces about the method of shooting in those days. These films and dozens of others were often turned out two or three a week, shown briefly, and then never seen again. Some of these films include the first "pans", "zooms" or "close ups" ever used. Griffith invented as he went along.
- The pioneering film experimenter Stan VanDerBeek at home discusses his work, found images, toys, inventions, the importance of his family and friends, and tours his "moviedrome" for seeing films against the inside of a giant hemisphere. He reflects on "film as an experience, not an artifact". "It is the aesthetic of anticipation, as distinct from that of meditation." Includes excerpts from his films "Will", "See Saw Seams", "Image After Image After Image," and "Poemfield #1".
- A presentation of blues singer Alberta Hunter, famous in the 1920s, 30s and 40s and then almost forgotten until she re-emerged for a celebrated comeback in 1974 in her mid-eighties. On this program she sings several of her favorite and best known songs. Whitney Balliett, music critic for The New Yorker, provides commentary. Miss Hunter's musicians are Gerald Cook (piano) and Al Hall (bass).
- Scripted documentary on the career of the creative team Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein: Interviews with members of their families, and with theater and film professionals who worked with them, actors as well as directors Reuben Mamoulian, Josh Logan, Robert Wise and choreographer Agnes de Mille. Excerpts from stage, film and television productions of their works, including "Oklahoma!", "South Pacific", "Carousel", "The King and I', "Flower Drum Song", "The Sound of Music", etc.
- "Life" Magazine photographer-photojournalist W. Eugene Smith and his Japanese wife Aileen talk with photo magazine editor James Hughes and writer William Pierce and show many of the famous pictures Smith took which established the scandal in Minamata, Japan. Fish poisoning caused by chemical dumping by the Chiso Factory caused mysterious diseases, birth deformities, and serious physiological defects in large numbers of villagers who lived by the sea and ate the fish. Chiso and the Japanese government tried to deny the facts and stop an investigation. The Smiths persevered and brought the story to worldwide notice. After many difficulties the victims were compensated. Smith himself was severely beaten in one of the demonstrations that turned violent. Smith's Minamata photographs established a new standard for photojournalism.
- Painter-draftsman-filmmaker-printmaker Alexander Alexeieff, with his wife and co-worker Claire Parker, discuss the use of their "pin-board" technique for illustration and film animation. With excerpts from their films, a demonstration of the pin-board, and film made on location in Paris about the reception of their art.
- Profile of the Broadway team Alan Jay Lerner and Fritz Loewe, whose credits included the hit shows "Brigadoon", "Paint Your Wagon," "Gigi," "Camelot," and "My Fair Lady." Their story is told through interviews with the artists with whom they worked, and feature film and television excerpts.
- Two paintings owned by The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City) are compared. They are called "masterpieces" by museum Director Philippe De Montebello. One: Rembrandt's self-portrait of 1660. Two: Velazquez' portrait of Juan De Pareja. This half hour contains two separate short films.
- Stan VanDerBeek, experimental filmmaker at work with friend and computer expert Wade Shaw, at the sophisticated new (1972) computer at MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies, and discussing the inevitable interaction of computers with artistic creativity. Clips from several VanDerBeek films.
- Musical biography of Fats Waller. Ken Prymus, and the actors and actresses from 1980 off-Broadway production of "Ain't Misbehavin'", in a portrait of Fats Waller, his life and the music he wrote or made popular. With rare "soundies" film and photographs. Selections performed include "T'aint Nobody's Business", "Ain't Misbehaving", "What Did I Do to Be So Black and Blue?", "The Joint's Jumpin'", "Honeysuckle Rose" and "Your Feet's Too Big."
- The APA ("Association of Producing Artists") rehearses and discusses scenes from Ibsen's "The Wild Duck".
- Overview of the life and art of sculptor Isamu Noguchi. Interview of Noguchi, film of many of his sculptures, designs, stage sets, fountains, public spaces, drawings, etc. Filmed in his studio in Long Island City, NY. With scenes of the artist at work and reflecting on his aesthetics. He is interviewed by Faubion Bowers, well-known writer on the arts. Noguchi at 70 talks about art, space, awareness of gravity, balance, the influence of Japan on his work, early influences (Brancusi, Gorki), playgrounds, Martha Graham sets, sheet metal, the IBM Headquarters in Armonk, NY. Other themes and film segments: New York City work, Osaka fountains, in the Alps working where Michelangelo mined his stone, environments in Paris, gardens ("time is either friendly or it destroys...; all returns to earth"), the nature of sculpture ( "it is reflected light"), paper lanterns, in Japan learning from nature and natural mediums, apparent contradiction between nature and the modern world: "Industrialized civilization requires industrial tools... machines instead of hands."
- Documentary on the importance of calligraphic styles in different aspects of Japanese life, and the importance placed on good writing technique. Includes scenes of school children learning to write, citizens' writing competitions, calligraphy masters whose work is collected as art, styles of writing associated with billboards, menus, kabuki theater, etc. Also includes a brief analysis of the difference between modern Japanese writing and the older traditional ideograms.
- George Dunning -artist, illustrator, film animator - explains his work, draws, tours his studio in England showing how film animation is produced from hand-drawn cells. Many examples of his pictures and films, including "The Flying Man", "Damon the Mower," and the Beatles animated film "The Yellow Submarine". Topics: Techniques that transform drawings and paintings into film --exposure sheets, levels where characters should appear, "peg" animation. Dunning shows how he achieved sequential drawings for "Damon the Mower." His acknowledged debt to Canadian filmmaker Norman McLaren.
- Portrait of composer Marvin Hamlisch, winner of Academy Awards for his scores of the motion pictures "The Sting" and "The Way We Were", and winner of a Tony Award for his music for the long running Broadway hit "A Chorus Line." On this documentary he is seen at work composing, arranging, and recording, chatting with collaborators, and conducting a studio orchestra for the soundtrack of the film Starting Over". The program includes excerpts from several of the films Hamlisch scored, including "The Spy Who Loved Me", "The Swimmer" and "Bananas." Reminiscing about collaboration with Hamlisch are his old friend Joel Grey and Priscilla Lopez, who had a leading role in "A Chorus Line."
- History of "The March of Time" newsreel series, which, before television, covered the news for motion picture audiences 1935 to 1951. Interviews with creative team of producer, director, editors. Many excerpts from the newsreel series. With: Louis De Rochemont, producer. Maury Wiseman, film editor. Jack Glen, director. Lothar Wolff, editor. (All creative personnel on "The March of Time.") Interview subjects cover reporting styles, logistical difficulties with 35 mm. cameras and big lights, the use of reenactments, the difference between the "truth of yesterday and the truth of today and how truth in film is perishable." Reflections on technical details for a "natural look", no zooms or panning, flat lighting, wide angle lens and distortion; and "The March of Time's" influence on today's television journalism. With many excerpts from "The March of Times".
- Profile of film director Richard Lester, who speaks of his career, from early work in commercials to the experimental "Running, Jumping, Standing Still Film" with Peter Sellers and The Goon Show cast, through features: the Beatles' film "A Hard Day's Night", "The Knack and How to Get It", "How I Won the War", "The Bed Sitting Room", "The Three Musketeers", "The Four Musketeers." Clips from all these works. Lester talks of "the benevolent dictatorship of being a director", his commitment to the subject of his films, his anti-war message, his desire to widen the understanding of the audience.
- Three distinguished theater producer-directors recapture the heady days of the famous Group Theater and discuss its origins, successes, failures, and eventual decline. Harold Clurman, Lee Strasberg and Bobby Lewis - all actively involved in American theater production, as well as criticism and history - were among the young pioneers who gave life to one of the country's great experiments in the theater during the 1930s. Clurman and Strasberg, with Cheryl Crawford, were the Group's original founders. Many photographs from the period recall their efforts and collaborators, which included Elia Kazan, Stella Adler, Clifford Odets, Franchot Tone and John Garfield. The Group Theater was active from 1931 to 1940. It came in with the Depression and went out with the World War. It was intended as a forum for plays that would make a political difference in a world that seemed to be sliding backwards. It was intended as a new start in the choosing, casting and presentation of plays. It was a way of exploring acting techniques and of forging a cohesive group of talent that would work together and stay together. And it was intended to be socially conscious and have an effect on American society. To some extent it achieved all these aims. But as Mr. Clurman points out at the end of this vital discussion, its also labored against itself by not having a thoroughly thought out program and the finances to keep it going. Among the Group Theater's most memorable successes were "Awake and Sing" (1935), "Waiting for Lefty" (1935), "Johnny Johnson" (1936), "Golden Boy" (1937), and "My Heart's in the Highlands" (1937). The Group Theater was the first to present the work of Clifford Odets and Marc Blitzstein. Mr. Clurman has written about The Group Theater in his book "The Fervent Years."
- Primer on the meaning, techniques and background of Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey." Keir Dullea, who starred in the film as astronaut Bowman, narrates on camera and over many excerpts from the film.
- An overview of the holdings of the library of The Jewish Theological Seminary (New York) and how they illustrate the theme that although Judaism has expressed itself over the centuries in many forms, it remains true to a central theme.
- Perspectives on poetess Anna Akhmatova, the celebrated Russian poet who bridged Tsarist and Revolutionary Russia, was adored and called "the soul of her time," and who suffered desperately under Stalin's disfavor. Irene Moore, a founder of the American Stanislavsky Theatre, recites Akhmatova's poetry in Russian. Samuel Driver, professor (Brown Univ.), Irene Kirk, professor (Univ. of Connecticut.) who have written about Akhmatova, reminisce about her life and times. Narrated by critic Faubion Bowers. With many photographs of Akhmatova and her world. Themes: Akhmatova, partly because of her vanity and her sufferings, partly because of the American feelings about the Stalin era, and mainly because her poetry weaves so many purely Russian idioms and contexts together, is usually inaccessible in translation to Americans. The academics here are passionate to change that. Driver is the author of a new book on the poet, and Kirk was one of the last Americans to see her alive and hopes to convey something of her importance to the Russians.
- Artist, painter, photographer, filmmaker Rudy Burckhardt explains his aesthetic (voice only) and demonstrates his techniques. With many film excerpts, Burckhardt's own voice and comments by critic Faubion Bowers. Plus still pictures of Burckhardt at work on location and in his studio. Burckhardt was born in Switzerland and has worked in several media, including still photography, film, and paint. At this time he was experimenting with painting on images projected onto his canvas. He was one of the earliest "time lapse" photographers, a technique by which processes that may take weeks or months to achieve in real time are compressed to a few minutes. Included here are excerpts from his films "Pursuit of Happiness", documenting the patterns of pedestrians on a New York City street; "See Naples and..." examining ordinary moments in the life of a busy Italian city; "Haiti", images from the island nation; "Doldrums" about Jersey City, N.J.; "Trash Lives", glorifying the banality of what we leave lying on the streets; and "Caterpillar", a time-lapse view of a day-long journey by an inchworm -- presented in one minute.
- The state of radio in a world of television. Hosted by the famous comedy team Bob and Ray, with examples of various kinds of radio shows in production and interviews with the men who are the stars of the medium. Film and photographs illustrate the golden age of radio that was pushed aside by television. With Bob Elliott, radio personality, Ray Goulding, radio personality, E.G. Marshall, actor, Himan Brown, producer-director, Lou Adler, radio news director, Gene Klavan, radio personality, Norm N. Nite, FM radio personality, Tom Meehan, writer, playwright. Featured: production of the "CBS Mystery Theater", sound effects, reflections of how comedy differs when it is only heard and not seen, production of an all-music format. Also: reflections on "top 40's" radio, on "old-gold" and "black" radio, and on the new "listener-sponsored" stations.
- The celebrated African-American author and long-time expatriate Chester Himes discusses his life and work with the young poet-author-political activist Nikki Giovanni. Himes also relates an illustrated memoir of Harlem in the 20's and 30's that he wrote especially for this interview. It features many personal photographs that trace his life and many archive pictures of the times. Himes has had an "underground" following for years for his "surreal" detective fiction and his best known work "Cotton Comes to Harlem." Here he reminisces about the Harlem he knew so well before World War Two, and about America's racial situation which finally drove him into his long exile in Europe. He and Giovanni also discuss the art of fiction and the role of the black writer in America today.
- John Whitney, Sr. one of the early pioneers in films made by computer-driven cameras explains and demonstrates his work. Shot on location at Whitney's home in California, includes excerpts from his films "Matrix 3", "Catalog", "Permutations" and "Lapis." 1975. Making abstract motion in time, and impinging directly on the viewer's emotions as music does -- these were among Whitney's early goals. "Music organizes time in a special way, creates tension in us, then satisfies, gratifies. We can do the same for patterns-- something is going to happen, make it happen in a way you don't expect. Film permutations can be parallel to tones in harmonic sequence; dominant chord resolves into tonic chord." To do this, says Whitney, "we need new tools, and to learn how to control them. They're unlike musical instruments which we have been practicing on for 300 years. We have to start from scratch. "
- Filmmakers Costa-Gavras and Marcel Ophuls discuss the nature of films with a sharp political edge, with clips from Costa-Gavras' films. Two internationally known directors who have made a specialty of films with an outspoken political edge discuss the values and methods in the genre, and the problems they have faced. Costa-Gavras was best known for "Z" and "State of Siege", and Ophuls for "The Sorrow and The Pity" and "Sense of Loss" when this conversation -- illustrated with film clips -- was produced. Costa-Gavras' film "Special Section" had just been released. Costa-Gavras' films, though based on real facts and issues, are scripted and professionally acted. Ophuls' work is documentary in style. They address such themes as the difference between "objective" and "subjective" truth, and their personal motives for choosing this form of film art.
- A film essay on the way in which the fundamentals of Jewish law have remained true to their historical origins and have been passed down through the centuries, and have been informed by those centuries.
- Gisela May, star of Bertolt Brecht's East German "Berliner Ensemble" theater, in a concert of his songs. The music is by several of the major composers who worked with him: Paul Dessau, Hanns Eisler, Kurt Weill. The songs are sung in the original German, each preceded by a brief English explanation or accompanied by subtitles. From "Die Dreigroschenoper" ("Threepenny Opera"): "Moritat" ("Mack the Knife"), and "Seerauber Jenny" ("Pirate Jenny"). From "Happy End" the song "Surabaya Johnny." From "Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder" ("Mother Courage"): "Lied des Solomons." From "Schweyk im zweiten Weltkrieg" ("Schweyk in the Second World War"): "Das Moldau Lied." From "Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny" ("The Rise and Fall of Mahagonny"): "Alabama Song" (in English.) Also included here: "The Song of the Nazi Soldier's Wife," "Ballade von Marie Sanders," and "Zu Potsdam unter den Eichen."
- America's great film director-actor Buster Keaton, discussed by film critic Andrew Sarris and Raymond Rohauer, cinema historian, with some unusual perspectives on his goals and motivations. Illustrated with many film excerpts from 1917 to 1928. Rohauer knew Keaton and was partly responsible from rescuing many of his old films from destruction. Sarris is a leading film critic who has often written about Keaton. Excerpts include portions of "The General" (1926) a film illustrating "man versus machine." "Cops" (1922), which questions the meaning of "law and order." "Frozen North", a satire on William Hart films, and "The Boat" in which Keaton goes down but then wades to shore. In "Sherlock, Jr." Keaton is a film projectionist who in dream enters the movie. "College" (1927) spoofs the happy ending, "Steamboat Bill, Jr." mocks the cyclone that destroys everything in its path. Rohauer describes rescuing Keaton's films from a garage and talking with Keaton at the end of his life when he had been forgotten.
- Wide ranging exploration of the ideas of architect Paolo Soleri. With Paolo Soleri, architect, philosopher; Stewart Udall (former Secretary of Interior and head of an environmental consulting firm); Kenneth Gibson, Mayor of Newark, N.J.; Alvin Toffler, author ("Future Shock", etc.); scientist/future-thinker Arthur C. Clarke ("2001: A Space Odyssey", etc.); Moshe Safdie, architect ("Habitat"); Prof. John Gallahue (Columbia Univ., New York City.) and others. An illustrated series of interviews about Paolo Soleri's ideas. Themes: architecture, the future of urban centers, the Earth's ability to sustain itself under the increasing load of human population, the interaction of art and utility, the future of ideas we take for granted,( such as progress and technology), and the changing nature of man himself. Stewart Udall is on-camera host and voice-over narrator. Soleri is seen in dialog with a wide range of persons whose concerns and expertise intersect his own ideas. A great deal of film and photographs illustrate the themes discussed. The main theme discussed in this footage: cities are the man made landscape and are essential to the continuation of civilization; but new cities must evolve in response to a changing world; they must be integrated places, built up into three dimensions, not out endlessly across the landscape..
- The development of film special effects up to the dawn of the computer age. Linwood Dunn, a Hollywood special effects master from the glory days of Hollywood, and Robert Abel, a member of the next generation, each discuss the making of film illusions. Illustrated with film clips. Dunn grew up when the challenge was creating an ape for "King Kong", or making the Eiffel Tower crash down. He shows how the "optical printer" can combine separately recorded images on one strand of film, putting a leopard in a room or a stormy ocean behind a boat. He explains how Welles brought the audience straight through the skylight of the night club in "Citizen Kane", bridging the interior and exterior shots in a flash of lightning. Abel explains how he looks for illusions that don't exist at all in real life, and describes his work as being in the "post 2001" special effects era. His crew has perfected equipment that involves computer driven cameras and printers. One of his demonstrations is of a "7-Up" commercial that starts with one girl and ends with dozens - all printed from the same model.
- The life and work of the great composer Irving Berlin, tracking his work against the history of 20th century America, its ups and downs, in war and peace, progress and sentiments. Interviews with many of the people who worked with him and knew him best. And appearances in many film and television excerpts of the leading performance artists of our time, including Fanny Brice, Eddie Cantor, Al Jolson, Harry Richman, Rudy Vallee, Fred Astaire, Kate Smith, Jack Benny, John Raitt, Betty Hutton, Ethel Merman, Willie Nelson, Diana Ross, Linda Ronstadt and many others.
- One of the major American architectural minds of the twentieth century, Philip Johnson has played an enormous role in both understanding and creating the urban skylines of the country.
- Life and work of American composer Richard Rodgers, whose work, in collaboration with Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein II, and others, gave the world dozens of the greatest musical theater successes. motion picture soundtracks and songs of the 20th century. Interviews with family and friends, artists who worked with him, home movies. Excerpts from many film and television productions featuring his work, including "Oklahoma!', "South Pacific", "The Sound of Music", "The King and I", "Carousel", "Pal Joey", "Cinderella", "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum", "Love Me Tonight", "I Married an Angel", "Babes in Arms".
- Author M.F.K. Fisher, often considered the dean of American food writers, in a casual monologue about her life and work with illustrations from her own photo archives. She talks in her house in Sonoma, CA., where she has lived for many years. Author of many books, including "With Bold Knife and Fork", "Consider the Oyster" and "How to Cook a Wolf", Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher was also a screen writer, a novelist and short story writer (often published in "The New Yorker" magazine) and lived for long periods abroad. It was to food that she returned again and again, and it is through writing about food that she conveyed her view of the life of her times. "When I write about food and hunger I am really writing about love, and the hunger for it, and warmth, and the love of it - it is all one."
- The music, life, composing and playing styles of Scott Joplin, illustrated with performance and graphics. With Eubie Blake, composer-pianist; Joshua Rifkin, composer-pianist; Harold Cromer, dancer. Many performance selections including "Maple Leaf Rag", "The Entertainer" and "Pineapple Rag". Photos of the start of the century, the period in which Joplin lived, St. Louis during the 1904 Worlds Fair, Joplin's musical peers, Ragtime bands, and composers. Rifkin demonstrates how ragtime should and should not be played.