Unseen cinema. 1, The mechanized eye. Episode 17, Poem 8 / Cineric, Inc. presents ; by Emlen Etting ; produced by Emlen Etting

Additional Titles:: Mechanized eye : experiments in technique and form and Unseen cinema : early American avant-garde film, 1893-1941
Published:: [United States] : Filmmakers Showcase, [1933]
Physical Description:: 1 online resource (21 minutes)
Additional Creators:: Etting, Emlen, 1905-1993 and Cineric (Firm)

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Language Note:

Silent with musical accompaniment.

Summary:

THE MECHANIZED EYE is part of the film retrospective UNSEEN CINEMA that explores long-forgotten American experimental cinema. Emlen Etting’s ciné-poem was "conceived directly in the language of visual symbols in action.” He wanted the expressive hand-held cinematography to represent an invisible observer. A painter by training, his methodology was to "always be willing to make mistakes for the ardent desire to transcend.” —BRUCE POSNER. I thought, how interesting it would be if we used the film in a different method. So far it had been used like a novel to tell a story, or else as a documentary and there was nothing else in between, and I wanted to use the film as a poetic medium, to do a poem like T.S. Eliot’s poems, and to do it entirely visually. That’s how I came about to do my film I called "Poem 8,” and as far as I know, it was the first film that experimented in that as a poetic medium. —EMLEN ETTING. Mr. Etting’s own film is still uncut; therefore, it is hard to discuss. He has excellent camera work, as in shots of outdoor dancing staged by Mary Binney Montgomery. He shows excellent eye for masses, has a liking for silhouette, and pays not too much attention to his lightings. Curiously enough, his camera feels most at home in the countryside away from the artificial. He has caught natural rhythms, such as the wind going in waves over a grass field. It is the type of thing that the professional camera never notes. —ERIC M. KNIGHT, "THE PHILADELPHIA LEDGER”. Born into Main Line high society in Philadelphia, Emlen Etting was a painter, sculptor, scholar of French literature, and book illustrator. His figurative paintings and drawings depict the loneliness of modernity and the extravagance of nature. Etting illustrated works by Paul Valéry and Franz Kafka, among others. His three films produced before 1940 are milestones of poetic filmmaking. —R. BRUCE ELDER 16mm 1.37:1 black & white silent with music 18fps 19:47 minutes. Camera, editing: Emlen Etting.

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Duration:

["00:20:14"]

Digital File Characteristics:

video file

Note:

Title from resource description page (viewed June 29, 2020).
"Experiments in technique and form".
"Early American avant-garde film, 1893-1941".

Creation/Production Credits Note:

Camera, editing: Emlen Etting; New music by Rodney Sauer.

Participant/Performer Note:

Interpreted by Mary Binney Montgomery, Agnes Hitchock, Caresse Crosby.

View MARC record | catkey: 31500478