Past related screenings: 
Skeleton Dance. 1929. USA. Directed by Walt Disney. Animated by Ub Iwerks. In his 1937 essay "Surrealism in Hollywood," Dalí notes, "One believes to have dreamed those dazzling cataclysmic rainbows which are the Silly Symphonies of Disney." 6 min.
Fantasia. 1940. USA. Produced by Walt Disney. These eight animated sequences are set to a classical concert conducted by Leopold Stokoswki. The Toccata and Fugue segment is particularly Surrealist, with its allusions to the nightmare state and spectral beings. Disney was keen to introduce Surrealist iconography into his films, and even fleetingly included a Dalí-like eye in the "parade of the pink elephants" sequence in Dumbo (1941). Print courtesy Walt Disney Pictures. 124 min.
Animal Crackers. 1930. USA. Directed by Victor Heerman. With Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo Marx. Dalí viewed all of the Marx brothers as comedic anarchists; he, along his Surrealist colleague Antonin Artaud, viewed the brothers' disruptive jokes and stunts as liberating processes. But it was the silent Harpo whose frenzied bearing was closest to Dalí's own hyperactive behavior, and in 1937 he pronounced, "Harpo Marx is Surrealist in everything." 96 min.
Monkey Business. 1931. USA. Directed by Norman McLeod. With Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo Marx. Stowaways on a posh transatlantic crossing, the Marx Brothers race all over the ship to elude capture. Their distinct brand of comedy involved the anarchic disruption of polite society—much in the way Dalí agitated with his own style of performance and self-promotion. Print courtesy Universal Pictures. 77 min.
A Day at the Races. 1937. USA. Directed by Sam Wood. With Groucho, Harpo, and Chico Marx. Dalí sketched several portraits of Harpo Marx on the set of A Day at the Races, incorporating emblematic images of a lobster and a melting-tongue-like form perched atop Harpo's harp; the dislocation of the tongue may signal an acknowledgement of Harpo's muteness. Dalí even prepared a script titled Giraffes on Horseback Salad as a starring vehicle for Harpo, but the project was never realized. Print courtesy MGM/Swank Motion Pictures, Inc. 111 min.
The Ten Commandments. 1923. USA. Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. In "Surrealism in Hollywood," Dalí asserts that DeMille is a Surrealist due to the "sadism and fantasy" he employs in his films. Dalí admired the techniques Hollywood artists used to create the appearance of decay and antiquity on production sets; following his Hollywood visit, he created several paintings that incorporate images of decomposition and ancient history. Print courtesy George Eastman House, preserved with funds provided by The Film Foundation. Silent. 159 min.
The Sign of the Cross. 1933. USA. Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. With Claudette Colbert. DeMille is best known for epic films that are long on gilded spectacle and short on historical accuracy, but Dalí considered the director's anachronistic use of modern devices in his Biblical films to be a decidedly Surrealist tendency. The notorious scene of Colbert bathing in milk influenced Dalí's own Chaos and Creation (1960), in which he showers a beautiful woman with water and chocolate sauce. Print courtesy UCLA Film and Television Archive, preserved with funding by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Cecil B. DeMille Estate. 115 min.
Cleopatra. 1934. USA. Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. With Claudette Colbert. Passions consume Julius Caesar and Marc Antony as they vie for Cleopatra's affections, and both men are eventually done in by their lust. The excesses of Roman and Egyptian courts are illustrated with lush sets and costumes, but Dalí was most intrigued by the film's anachronistic modern dialogue. Print courtesy Universal Pictures. 100 min.
The Ten Commandments. 1956. USA. Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. With Charlton Heston, Yvonne De Carlo. During the early 1950s Dalí returned to the Roman Catholic church, not only to embrace his former religion, but also as a means to reintroduce himself to the religious iconography of Italian Renaissance paintings. His numerous portraits of his wife Gala as the Madonna of Port Lligat balance Renaissance imagery with modern aspects of the burgeoning atomic age. Dalí delighted in DeMille's camp version of ancient times and infused his own quasi-religious paintings with similar incongruities. 222 min.
see for more:
http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/film...ns.php?id=9217
07-10-08, 06:55 AM
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