n Incomplete Retrospective of Film in the 20th Century

presented by Tom Whiteside

Location: R.A. Fountain

Durham film historian and experimental filmmaker Tom Whiteside presented  “An Incomplete Retrospective of Film in the 20th Century.” The  2 1/2 hour program of 16 mm film (NOT VIDEO!) included cartoons, documentaries, narrative shorts, and experimental film, with brief introductions to each provided by Whiteside.

Included on the program:

• “The Gay Shoe Clerk,” by Edwin S. Porter, 1903 — a very short (only three shots long!) film comedy
• “The Untamable Whiskers,” by Georges Melies, 1904 — a simple trick film by the French master of the genre
• “Princess Nicotine,” by J. Stuart Blackton, 1909 — a trick film involving tobacco, a smoker, and a fairy
• “Return to Reason,” by Man Ray, 1923 — from Paris, the first film by this influential Dadaist
• “Rain,” by Joris Ivens, 1929 — a lyrical film of a rainfall in Amsterdam, the best meteorological example of a “city symphony”
• “The River,” by Pare Lorentz, 1938 — poetic documentary about the Mississippi River and the power of nature
• “Last Winter,” by Tom Whiteside, 1988 — an experimental landscape film made in North Carolina. Natural images in unnatural colors.

We promoted this as “an interesting and entertaining evening, so long as patrons were not expecting ‘Hollywood-style’ entertainment.”

The program was rated “G” for general audiences and began at 8 p.m. Admission was $3. 

Tags: film