July 10, 2008


Life Imitating Art Imitating Life

A reference made by the representative of Corwood Industries to Carl Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc reminded me. The first time I saw Passion (without musical accompaniment), the film snagged for a second or two, then commenced to burn from exposure to the intense heat of the projector lamp.

posted by Sheila Ryan in aesthetics, memory, movies 

comments

3 Responses to “Life Imitating Art Imitating Life”

  1. Cindy Scroggins on July 10th, 2008 at 1:02 pm

    Oh, I love that! It reminds of the time I was with friends at the old Granada theater in Dallas, watching In the Realm of the Senses. At one point, the film broke just as something nasty was happening, and for some reason that sent me into a fit of hysterical laughing. Then the entire audience started laughing, and we couldn’t seem to stop. All the while, there was nothing at all on the screen.

  2. jandek on July 10th, 2008 at 3:31 pm

    Sheila, you must tell me that it was during the burning-at-the-stake scenes. That would be too much for words.

    The first time I saw Holy Mountain, there was a man dressed eeriely like the Alchemist in the crowd. His hat blocked some of the screen.

    Which reminds me that a while ago in Austin, there was a theatre that was famous for showing blue films with all the sex taken out. I have only the faintest memories. Anyone?

  3. Sheila Ryan on July 10th, 2008 at 4:32 pm

    Naturally my memory is of a great sizzle and flare during Joan’s immolation, but surely this is a spurious memory. Mostly i remember Antonin Artaud.

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