Heaven and Earth Magic (also known as Number 12,[2] The Magic Feature, or Heaven and Earth Magic Feature) is a 1962 American avant-garde independent[3] cutout animation film directed by visual artist, filmmaker and mystic Harry Everett Smith. Jonas Mekas gave the film its title Heaven and Earth Magic in 1964/65.
| Heaven and Earth Magic | |
|---|---|
 Film still from Heaven and Earth Magic | |
| Directed by | Harry Everett Smith |
| Produced by | Harry Everett Smith |
| Edited by | Harry Everett Smith |
Production company | Mystic Fire Video |
| Distributed by | Mystic Fire Video |
Release date |
|
Running time | 66 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Plot
editHarry Smith stated of Heaven and Earth Magic: "The first part depicts the heroine's toothache consequent to the loss of a valuable watermelon, her dentistry and transportation to heaven. Next follows an elaborate exposition of the heavenly land in terms of Israel, Montreal and the second part depicts the return to earth from being eaten by Max Müller on the day Edward the Seventh dedicated the Great Sewer of London."[4]
Production
editThe film used cut-outs created from 19th-century catalogues.[5][6]
Music
editThe film is accompanied by a musique concrète score featuring the noises of water, clocks and sound effects albums.[7] John Waters of The Independent described it as "the sort of soundtrack you could put together in a hotel room", noting that "Smith lived at the Chelsea Hotel, rent unpaid, for much of that time."[7]
Reception and legacy
editFred Camper from Chicago Reader praised the film's artistic style, calling it "a mysterious world of alchemical transformations in which objects suggest a multitude of possibilities."[8] Time Out Magazine offered the film similar praise, comparing it to the works of Max Ernst and Georges Méliès.[9]
It is listed in the film reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, noting the film as director Harry Smith's magnum opus, and saying "Incomplete, deeply idiosyncratic, rearranged from materials taken largely from an earlier period —a Victorian-era catalogue— it is explicitly "folk" in nature."[10] Writing in 1999 for The Independent, Waters noted that "Smith's stop-frame animations look remarkably similar to Terry Gilliam's Monty Python animations made a few years later".[7]
A still from the movie was used as the album art for Slowdive’s 2017 self-titled album.
See also
editReferences
editCitations
edit- ^ Marcus 2011, p. 106.
- ^ Alchemical Transformations: The Abstract Films of Harry Smith – Senses of Cinema
- ^ FilmAffinity
- ^ "No. 12: Heaven and Earth Magic | Film Studies Center | University of Chicago". Archived from the original on 12 June 2010.
- ^ Harry Smith Archives
- ^ Mind, Medium and Metaphor in Harry Smith's Heaven and Earth Magic on JSTOR
- ^ a b c Walters, John L. (30 June 1999). "Now that's what I call folk music!". The Independent. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
- ^ Camper 2020.
- ^ TimeOut 2014.
- ^ Schneider 2013, p. 392.
Sources
editBooks
edit- Marcus, Greil (April 26, 2011). The Old, Weird America: The World of Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes. Picador. ISBN 978-1-4299-6158-5.
- Steven Jay Schneider (2013). 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. Barron's. ISBN 978-0-7641-6613-6.
Websites
edit- Camper, Fred (26 October 1985). "Heaven and Earth Magic". ChicagoReader.com. The Chicago Reader. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
- "Heaven and Earth Magic 1962, directed by Harry Smith". TimeOut.com. Time Out Magazine. 13 March 2014. Archived from the original on April 17, 2014. Retrieved February 10, 2020.