- Anemic Cinema
"Anemic Cinema" or "Anémic Cinéma" (1926) is a Dadaist,
surrealist , orexperimental film made byMarcel Duchamp . The film depicts whirling animated drawings -- which Duchamp called Rotoreliefs -- alternated withpun s in French. Duchamp signed the film with hisalter ego name ofRrose Sélavy ."Rotoreliefs" were a phase of Duchamp's spinning works. To make the optical "play toys" he painted designs on flat cardboard circles and spun them on a
phonograph turntable that when spinning the flat disks appeared 3-dimensional. He had a printer run off 500 sets of six of the designs and set up a booth at a 1935 Paris inventors' show to sell them. The venture was a financial disaster, but some optical scientists thought they might be of use in restoring 3-dimensional sight to people with one eye. [Calvin Tomkins , "Duchamp: A Biography" (1996), pages 301-303.] ( [http://www.aqualoop.com/aqua_sound/delia/Duchamp.html Animated display of the "Rotoreliefs"] )In collaboration with
Man Ray andMarc Allégret , Duchamp filmed early versions of the "Rotoreliefs" and they named the first film version "Anémic Cinéma".The Rotoreliefs are alternated with revolving disks with the following text in French, consisting of puns by Duchamp:
*"Avez-vous déjà mis la moëlle de l'épée dans le poêle de l'aimée?"
*"L'aspirant habite Javel et moi j'avais l'habite en spirale."
*"Bains de gros thé pour grains de beauté sans trop de bengué."
*"L'enfant qui tète est un souffleur de chair chaude et n'aime pas le chou-fleur de serre-chaude."
*"Si je te donne un sou me donneras-tu une paire de ciseaux?"
*"On demande des moustiques domestiques (demi-stock) pour la cure d'azote sur la côte d'azur."References
ee Also
* "" (DVD collection which includes "Anemic Cinema")
External Links
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123380 "Anemic Cinema" at IMDB]
* [http://www.ubu.com/film/duchamp_anemic.html Film at Ubu website]
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