Kenneth Anger, the avant-garde filmmaker whose surrealistic queer compositions Fireworks and Scorpio Rising made him a pioneer of underground cinema and a target for censorship, has died. He was 96.
Anger’s death was announced Wednesday by the Sprüeth Magers art gallery. “Kenneth was a trailblazer,” it said in a statement. “His cinematic genius and influence will live on and continue to transform all those who encounter his films, words and vision.”
No details of his death were immediately available.
In 1959, Anger authored the smutty exploitative book Hollywood Babylon — banned after its U.S release in 1965 — and followed it up with a sequel in 1984.
Anger’s work spanned the years 1941 to 2013 yet totaled just eight hours, a kaleidoscope of symbolism, homoeroticism and the occult found in his 36 dialogue-free short films (some complete, others fragmented) by THR‘s count.
His collage Scorpio Rising (1963), a pastiche of pop songs plastered over homoerotic biker imagery,...
Anger’s death was announced Wednesday by the Sprüeth Magers art gallery. “Kenneth was a trailblazer,” it said in a statement. “His cinematic genius and influence will live on and continue to transform all those who encounter his films, words and vision.”
No details of his death were immediately available.
In 1959, Anger authored the smutty exploitative book Hollywood Babylon — banned after its U.S release in 1965 — and followed it up with a sequel in 1984.
Anger’s work spanned the years 1941 to 2013 yet totaled just eight hours, a kaleidoscope of symbolism, homoeroticism and the occult found in his 36 dialogue-free short films (some complete, others fragmented) by THR‘s count.
His collage Scorpio Rising (1963), a pastiche of pop songs plastered over homoerotic biker imagery,...
- 5/24/2023
- by Rhett Bartlett
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Slate film critic and author Dana Stevens and I share something in common. We adore Buster Keaton. I discovered him as a teenager at New York’s Olympia Theater when silent film maven Raymond Rohauer released his “Rohauer Collection,” including eight Keaton classic 20s features, from “The General” and “The Navigator” to “Sherlock, Jr.,” that had been out of theatrical release for decades. All at once, a generation of film critics wrote about the Keaton oeuvre, as if discovering him for the first time.
And I fell in love, both as a cinephile admiring Keaton’s transformation of the language of cinema, and a girl with a crush on a handsome movie star. But it wasn’t just Keaton’s balletic fearless athleticism; something sad behind his eyes drew me in. I read the Rudi Blesh biography, and learned about Keaton’s rough and tumble youth on the Vaudeville circuit,...
And I fell in love, both as a cinephile admiring Keaton’s transformation of the language of cinema, and a girl with a crush on a handsome movie star. But it wasn’t just Keaton’s balletic fearless athleticism; something sad behind his eyes drew me in. I read the Rudi Blesh biography, and learned about Keaton’s rough and tumble youth on the Vaudeville circuit,...
- 3/3/2022
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
More Keaton is always a good thing — fans of The General and The Cameraman will find plenty to enjoy in these two classics. Buster befriends a cow ( ! ) in Go West and conquers several sports in College. Cohen’s Buster Keaton Collection series is up to Volume 4, with both shows featuring Italian restorations. With music scores by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Score Orchestra and Rodney Sauer; the disc extra is a rare audio talk by Buster himself.
Go West and College
Blu-ray
The Buster Keaton Collection Volume 4
Cohen Film Collection
1925, 1927
B&w / 1:33 Silent Ap / 133 min.
Street Date December 8, 2020 / 29.95
Starring & Directed by Buster Keaton
The collector and distributor Raymond Rohauer ended up with the ownership of all of Buster Keaton’s films, which was a good thing in the long run because Buster himself might have let them crumble into dust. The collection is in the hands of Cohen Media now,...
Go West and College
Blu-ray
The Buster Keaton Collection Volume 4
Cohen Film Collection
1925, 1927
B&w / 1:33 Silent Ap / 133 min.
Street Date December 8, 2020 / 29.95
Starring & Directed by Buster Keaton
The collector and distributor Raymond Rohauer ended up with the ownership of all of Buster Keaton’s films, which was a good thing in the long run because Buster himself might have let them crumble into dust. The collection is in the hands of Cohen Media now,...
- 12/12/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In his day Buster Keaton’s popularity trailed that of Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, but now those reputations have switched around. These two ‘lesser’ Keaton features generate more sheer fun than anything going. Seven Chances and Battling Butler are great on remastered Blu-ray — better materials, no missing frames — but do yourself a favor and find a way to see a Keaton picture with a big audience!
Seven Chances & Battling Butler: The Buster Keaton Collection Volume 3
Blu-ray
Cohen Film Collection
Street Date August 20, 2019 / 29.98
Original Music composed and Conducted by Robert Israel
Produced by Joseph M. Schenck
Starring, and Directed by Buster Keaton
Seven Chances
1925 / B&w + Color / 1:37 Silent Ap / 56 min.
Starring: Buster Keaton, Snitz Edwards, Ruth Dwyer, T, Roy Barnes, Jean Arthur, Constance Talmadge.
Cinematography: Elgin Lessley, Byron Houck
Art Direction: Fred Gabourie
Written by Clyde Bruckman, Jean Havez, Joseph Mitchell from a play by Roi Cooper Megrue
Directed...
Seven Chances & Battling Butler: The Buster Keaton Collection Volume 3
Blu-ray
Cohen Film Collection
Street Date August 20, 2019 / 29.98
Original Music composed and Conducted by Robert Israel
Produced by Joseph M. Schenck
Starring, and Directed by Buster Keaton
Seven Chances
1925 / B&w + Color / 1:37 Silent Ap / 56 min.
Starring: Buster Keaton, Snitz Edwards, Ruth Dwyer, T, Roy Barnes, Jean Arthur, Constance Talmadge.
Cinematography: Elgin Lessley, Byron Houck
Art Direction: Fred Gabourie
Written by Clyde Bruckman, Jean Havez, Joseph Mitchell from a play by Roi Cooper Megrue
Directed...
- 8/20/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In a letter dated June 1, 1962, the newly formed Film-Makers’ Cooperative offered their first list of films that were available to rent. Fourteen filmmakers were represented.
The need to form a cooperative distribution center for what were then called “independent filmmakers” was made in a series of meetings in the autumn of 1960. The meetings were organized by Jonas Mekas and Lew Allen; and included New York City-based filmmakers such as Robert Frank, Shirley Clarke, Adolfas Mekas, Ben Carruthers, Peter Bogdanovich and others. These informal meetings would eventually coalesce into the formation of the New American Cinema Group.
On September 30, 1960, Jonas Mekas presented The First Statement of the New American Cinema Group manifesto. One of the items in the manifesto stated that filmmaker Emile de Antonio was entrusted with the task of forming the distribution center, although there’s no record of de Antonio’s actual involvement beyond that.
The distribution center...
The need to form a cooperative distribution center for what were then called “independent filmmakers” was made in a series of meetings in the autumn of 1960. The meetings were organized by Jonas Mekas and Lew Allen; and included New York City-based filmmakers such as Robert Frank, Shirley Clarke, Adolfas Mekas, Ben Carruthers, Peter Bogdanovich and others. These informal meetings would eventually coalesce into the formation of the New American Cinema Group.
On September 30, 1960, Jonas Mekas presented The First Statement of the New American Cinema Group manifesto. One of the items in the manifesto stated that filmmaker Emile de Antonio was entrusted with the task of forming the distribution center, although there’s no record of de Antonio’s actual involvement beyond that.
The distribution center...
- 4/1/2018
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
From the Los Angeles Times, February 28, 1959:
Conviction of Raymond Rohauer, 34, on the misdemeanor charge of exhibiting “obscene, indecent and immoral” motion pictures was reversed yesterday by the Appellate Department of Superior Court.
Rohauer was arrested Oct. 11, 1957, at a theater he was operating, 366 N La Cienga Blvd., following the showing of two films, “Fireworks” and “Voices.” Police charged that the pictures dealt with homosexuality and one depicted a nude woman.
But in an opinion written by Judge Frank G. Swain and concurred in by Judge Edward T. Bishop the appellate court found that the films merely discussed sexual problems and that the showing of a disrobed woman was not in itself obscene. Judge Leon T. David dissented.
Rohauer was found guilty Feb. 20, 1958 and later was fined $250 and placed on three years’ probation. He appealed through Atty. Stanley Fleishman. The conviction was recorded in Municipal Court.
Underground Film Journal notes:...
Conviction of Raymond Rohauer, 34, on the misdemeanor charge of exhibiting “obscene, indecent and immoral” motion pictures was reversed yesterday by the Appellate Department of Superior Court.
Rohauer was arrested Oct. 11, 1957, at a theater he was operating, 366 N La Cienga Blvd., following the showing of two films, “Fireworks” and “Voices.” Police charged that the pictures dealt with homosexuality and one depicted a nude woman.
But in an opinion written by Judge Frank G. Swain and concurred in by Judge Edward T. Bishop the appellate court found that the films merely discussed sexual problems and that the showing of a disrobed woman was not in itself obscene. Judge Leon T. David dissented.
Rohauer was found guilty Feb. 20, 1958 and later was fined $250 and placed on three years’ probation. He appealed through Atty. Stanley Fleishman. The conviction was recorded in Municipal Court.
Underground Film Journal notes:...
- 7/4/2017
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Great Silent director-star Buster Keaton is revered by the likes of Jackie Chan and Johnny Depp, who channels him in "The Lone Ranger" and even borrows some of his train stunts from his 1927 classic "The General" (available in full on Hulu and below). Orson Welles once stated that "The General" is "the greatest comedy ever made, the greatest Civil War film ever made, and perhaps the greatest film ever made." One reason, ironically, that Keaton is remembered is that the remarkable string of features that he produced between 1920 and 1929--including other must-sees "The Navigator," "Sherlock, Jr." and "Our Hospitality"-- was out of circulation for decades. When the films, accompanied by brilliant shorts, were suddenly freed from legal restraints and released by the collector Raymond Rohauer, critics were able to evaluate them all at once and delivered enthusiastic praise. Some of the essays compared Keaton favorably to director and rival Charlie Chaplin,...
- 7/2/2013
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
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