If only I'd known department

Selected John Whitney material

Film/Music/Forms – Early Abstractions of the 1940s and 1950s
October 23, 2011, 7:30pm

Spielberg Theatre at the Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90028
Another strain of experimental filmmaking in Los Angeles, predating the War but continuing and expanding after it, was the abstract film, usually (but not always) created through animation. Other examples evolve from a dance film tradition but chose to use the human figure as an abstract form.

Films to be Screened
Film Exercises #4 and #5 (1945, 16mm, color, sound, 13min. total)

Directed by John Whitney and James Whitney


(restored prints courtesy of the Academy Film Archive)


Introspection by Sara Kathryn Arledge. UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, © UC Regents. All rights reserved


Introspection (1947, 16mm, color, sound, 8min.)

Directed by Sara Kathryn Arledge


(restored print courtesy of the Pacific Film Archive)


Mahzel (ca.1949) by John Whitney


Mahzel (ca.1949, 16mm, b/w, sound, 3min.)

Directed by John Whitney


(print courtesy of the Whitney Collection at the Academy Film Archive)


Prelude (ca.1950) by Curtis Opliger


Prelude (1950, 16mm, color, sound, 3min.)

Directed by Curt Opliger


(restored print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive)


Phantasmagoria (1946/49) by Curtis Opliger


Phantasmagoria (1946/49, digital (orig. 8mm), b/w, sound, 6min.)

Directed by Curt Opliger



Color Fragments (1948) by Elwood Decker


Color Fragments (1948, 16mm, color, silent 24fps, 11min.)

Directed by Elwood Decker


(restored print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive)


Crystals (1951) by Elwood Decker


Crystals (1951, 16mm, color, silent 24fps, 2.5min.)

Directed by Elwood Decker


(restored print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive)


Sophisticated Vamp (1951/58) by Lynn Fayman


Sophisticated Vamp (1951/1958, 16mm, color, sound, 4 min.)

Directed by Lynn Fayman


(restored print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive)


Title sequence from Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958, 35mm, color, sound, 3min.)

Directed by John Whitney and Saul Bass



Yantra (1957, 16mm, color, sound, 8min.)

Directed by James Whitney


(print courtesy of the Whitney Collection at the Academy Film Archive)


Paper Moon (1949, digital (orig. 16mm), color, sound, 4min.)

Directed by Flora Mock


(digital copy courtesy of the Academy Film Archive)


Moonlight Sonata (1948, 16mm, color, sound, 7.5min.)

Directed by Frank Collins and Donald Meyer


(restored print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive)