Re: Kenneth Anger: The love that whirls

From: Andy Ditzler (email suppressed)
Date: Fri Aug 11 2006 - 05:10:21 PDT


Freya,

Check out the filmography in Alice Hutchison's great book on Anger.
There is some information on The Love That Whirls, the pre-Fireworks
films, and later lesser-known films like Senators in Bondage and others.

According to Landis's biography of Anger, he collaborated with Stan
Brakhage on a film soon after meeting him in the 50s, and this footage
was also destroyed or confiscated by the lab. I wonder what else was
lost or destroyed this way.

-------------------
Andy Ditzler

----- Original Message -----
From: "Freya" <email suppressed>
To: <email suppressed>
Sent: Friday, August 11, 2006 6:33 AM
Subject: Kenneth Anger: The love that whirls

> Some of the people on this list seem capable of
> existing in more than one time zone simultaneously,
> which is definitely a neat trick, but not one I'm
> capable of and I find I often have to stumble away to
> bed before I pass out on my keyboard.
>
> Anyway, I just found something amazing!
>
> A description of the film that Eastman Kodak
> alledgedly (*cough*) destroyed of a work by Kenneth
> Anger. I'd heard about this work a few times but have
> never been able to find out anything about it.
>
> It's a great story, so I thought I would share it with
> you:
>
> _________________________
>
> The Love That Whirls
> 1949-Mexico
>
> PLOT DESCRIPTION
> The Love That Whirls was based on a passage found in
> The Golden Bough, the pioneering anthropology book by
> Sir James George Frazer. In sum, a boy is declared a
> god for a year, and ultimately serves as a king. But
> at the end of the year, he is sacrificed. This was
> shot in Mexico, and the climactic scene would have
> featured an Aztec-style human sacrifice conducted
> mostly in the nude. The information above is based
> upon Kenneth Anger's own description of this project,
> and that will have to suffice, as no one has ever seen
> this movie -- not even Anger himself. After wrestling
> the raw stock from Mexican customs officials who
> sought to seize it, the Eastman Kodak laboratory that
> processed the film refused to return it to Anger on
> the grounds that it was pornographic. It is presumed
> that The Love That Whirls was destroyed then and
> there. ~ David Lewis, All Movie Guide
> _________________________
>
>
> I'm now curious as to where the title originates, as I
> note there is also an album with the same title. Can
> anyone fill me in on what is being referanced?
>
> I also came across referances to still more films by
> Kenneth Anger in still more random filmographies,
> however sone of them especially caught my eye:
>
> Le Jeune Homme et la Mort (1953) (Copyright
> restrictions prevent exhibition)
>
> Does this mean that the film is completed and exists?
> Does anyone know more about it and what the copyright
> restrictions might be?
>
> Also:
>
> Histoire d'O (1959-1961) availability uncertain
>
> Uncertain??? Does this mean there might be prints
> floating around? Does this mean it was actually
> released? Presumably if it was released then someone
> on this list would have seen it at some stage?
>
> Lastly I found this:
>
> Le Jeune Homme et la Mort
> 1951.
> Study film of the Cocteau baller, intended
> to be used by Anger in Subsequent filming
> of baller in 35mm, color this second filming,
> the movie, never took place.
>
> This seems to imply the film was not completed but
> that perhaps 16mm film of the project does exist?
>
> I'm not sure what a baller is either. Anyone have an
> idea?
>
> It's reassuring to know that other filmmakers have
> such a magnitude of uncompleted film projects too.
>
> love
>
> Freya
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
> http://mail.yahoo.com
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>

__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.