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Influenced by surrealism and his passion for music and dance, controversial abstract filmmaker Norman McLaren is heralded as a ground-breaking visionary. From his early cinematic experiments in Scotland in 1933 to his final film for the National Film Board of Canada in 1983, McLaren's work is remarkable for its inventiveness, research and humanism. This carefully restored collection of 58 of his films includes the Oscar-winning "Neighbors" (1952) and several unfinished and formerly lost efforts. This seven-DVD set of his complete works also provides an illuminating booklet insert, filmed interviews with McLaren himself and 14 new short documentaries that guide the viewer to the heart of McLaren's art, each offering a distinct perspective of his work.
| Catalog Number: MC-587 |
Type: Collection / Set |
Genre: Mixed Genre |
| Copyright: 2006 |
Length: 875 minutes |
Format:
DVD Region: 0 (All) |
| TV System: NTSC |
ISBN: |
UPC: 014381351224 |
| Label: Image Entertainment |
This title is available in Europe for Wholesale - List Prices: £66.99 / 99.99€
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2007-07-24 Digitally Obsessed
By Jeff Wilson
Scottish-Canadian filmmaker Norman McLaren has received his proper due with an in-depth seven-disc boxed set from Home Vision and the National Film Board of Canada. McLaren was born in Scotland in 1914, getting his start in film studying at the Glasgow School of Fine Arts before moving to London, where he joined the General Post Office Film Unit. While there, he made Love on the Wing using the technique of drawing on the film itself, the result of which was considered too avant garde by the GPOFU. Leaving Europe for New York in 1939, he made his way to Canada and joined the National Film Board, where he would remain for the rest of his career, working on whatever he wanted, whether with collaborators or by himself. His work spans the aforementioned method of drawing on film stock to paper cut-outs to stop motion to traditional live action material to chalk drawings. McLaren even experimented with electronic music, incorporating it into his films in vital ways.
The set is intriguingly laid out according to themes, interests, and collaborators of the director, and the producers have taken the unusual step of duplicating films across multiple discs where necessary if they slotted into more than one focus, which many here do. Each group is led by a brief featurette that provides a general introduction to the material we're about to delve into. The seventh disc (and part of the sixth)fconsiders McLaren himself, with vintage documentaries and restoration information about his work. Capping off all this is a slick illustrated booklet with essays, further references, and comprehensive indices detailing the films via focuses and chronology. The booklet is 80 pages, with one half in English, which then flips over and is repeated in French.
The themes include "Painting With Light," "Surrealism," "The Art of Motion," "War and Peace," "Dance," and "The Animator as Musician." Collaborators include Vincent Warren, Grant Munro, Maurice Blackburn, and Evelyn Lambart. Again, because many fit into more than one section, you'll find the classic Blinkety Blank on Disc 1 (McLaren and Space, Painting With Light), Disc 2 (The Art of Motion, Surrealism, Maurice Blackburn), and Disc 5 (The Animator as Musician). There is still a large array of films here, so no need to feel like this is an attempt to pad the set. My only complaint about this set up is the lack of a Play All feature within each theme. Each film has an index page with details about its particular technical details, and some include audio clips of McLaren discussing them.
The films themselves are a remarkable body of work by any standard, and well worth the time and effort needed to navigate to them. Check out the vividly animated Blinkety Blank, animated Quebeçois songs La Poulette grise, Là-Haut sur ces montagnes, and C'est l'Aviron, and the classic jazz-scored Begone Dull Care. There's also Lines Vertical, Lines Horizontal, Mosaic, and La Merle. The beautiful Pas de deux highlights the "Dance" section, and the surprisingly violent Neighbors, which won an Academy Award, highlights the "War and Peace" theme, as does A Chairy Tale. Movies move, McLaren told scholar Donald McWilliams, and this set allows us to see some of the many ways they do so. |
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Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film 1894-1941
MC-448, 2005
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Image Entertainment in conjunction with Anthology Film Archives and Film Preservation Associates has prepared for home video release a DVD version of Unseen Cinema. The 7-disc box set contains 155 films, running 19 hours and is scheduled for release... more >
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