| Canned Corn (Reel 4) | ||
|---|---|---|
| This clip is not available for streaming at this time. Please contact WPA. | Tape Master: | |
| Catalog #: | 494423 | |
| Clip Number: | 494423-1 | |
| Orginal Film: | WPA 830 | |
| Timecode: | ||
| Location: | Various | |
| Year Shot: | ||
| Audio: | Yes | |
| Color: | No | |
| Headings: | ENTERTAINMENT/FICTION FILMS: Comedy | |
| Description: | ON PREVIEW CASSETTE # 202155 Take 16mm prints of famous and not-so famous Hollywood films of the 1930's through 1950's, toss in some newsreel and documentary footage, edit them so as they vaguely seem seamless (should you abandon establishing and cohesive temporal elements of time, space and character) and you would end up with "Canned Corn". Bizarre stuff, folks, but very entertaining. Some of the ensuing material we do not have the rights to, while others are public domain, so please pay attention to the bold notes below. Lengthy Schlitz open (in color), followed by title open (in B&W) newsreel of Tacoma Narrows Bridge (Galloping Gertie) rattling, twisting, shaking, falling apart & collapsing in a "dance of death" absolutely fantastic excerpts from a documentary about early cinema. Opens with title, "The First Movie Plot Is Born", cut to a Lumiere Brothers film about a woman washing clothes in a washing tub outside home, only to have her mischievous son come along and push it over. Cut to archival short of CHICAGO FATIMA shaking her moneymaker the way she did at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. Early short of a hoe-down going down in a house. Excellent short of turn of the century city life, folks clamoring the sidewalks, men in black suits and bowler hats, women in fancy hats and floor-length dresses (early fashion, high society) recreation of Schlitz "pioneers" sitting in an office, testing new batches of beer back to early cinema doc: traveling MS of road congested w/ early automobiles; silly newsreel of the WRIGHT BROTHERS launching a biplane in a "French" field, intercut with MS's of French dignitaries being much too cordial with each other in a grandstand, Marshal HENRI PETAIN among them. MS of famous actress LILLIAN RUSSELL leaving her dressing room, backstage of theater. MS's opera legend ENRICO CARUSO leaving a building, posing with friends for the camera. MS of BUFFALO BILL CODY receiving friends in his den, greeting them with an odd handshake. MS of ANDREW CARNEGIE shaking a man's hand, posing for camera. "Birth of the Flickers": flickering newsreel of Atlantic City life, turn of the century, men & women walking along Boardwalk, young women posing in swimwear of the day. "GREAT CITY DEMOLISHED": excellent motion footage of the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco; well-dressed crowds watch as firefighters fight smoldering ruins, day & night; LS's of ruins, people walking about, gathering belongings. Newsreel of THEODORE ROOSEVELT arriving & speaking at an outdoor rally. "War Clouds": newsreel of KAISER WILHELM inspecting German troops. "Russian Royalty": newsreel of TZAR NICOLAS & royal family walking about. "Terror of the Sea, 1200 Perish When Austrian Battleship Is Torpedoed": amazing LS of battleship sinking, large groups of men jumping into the sea, some leaping off the hull as the ship rapidly capsizes. (DO NOT USE!) excerpts from "It Conquered the Earth", a clunky sci-fi film (DO NOT USE!) excerpt from a Walter Lantz cartoon about a Martian invasion excerpt from "captured Nazi war films": TLS/MSs Nazi soldiers blowing up railroads, bridges and supply ducts as they retreat (from Stalingrad, perhaps?) excerpts from an unidentifiable B-movie Western à (DO NOT USE!) excerpts from "The Sign of the Cross" (1932), a bizarre and downright bestial Roman Empire picture featuring Charles Laughton as Nero (with gladiators, lions eating Christians, and Amazons battling Pygmys, one should see this rather downer of a film in its entirety)à à (DO NOT USE!) excerpt from an unidentified Mae West filmà à (DO NOT USE!) excerpts from "A Lady Takes A Chance", starring John Wayneà à wacky Schlitz commercial (a man pours a beer from a wall advertisement)à à newsreel of atomic bomb blast at Bikini Atollà | |
WPA FILM LIBRARY
