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I've been wanting to explore Kenneth Anger's films but I can't seem to locate any DVDs anywhere except for the bootlegs on eBay. Are the bootlegs the only way to go?

Lots of goodies on youtube, Michael! It's a lot cheaper.

The BFI's PAL 3-video collection of Anger's films is still available at www.moviemail-online.co.uk. They're a bit of a rip-off at £16.00 each, as they could have put all the films on one tape, but they're the best versions available and have nice cover art.

Lino, thanks! Scorpio Rising seems to be split up in three parts on youtube. I'd rather to have a DVD.

orlik, the videotapes look good however the prices are ridiculous and I gave up my VCR long time ago.

We've been waiting for about four years now (literally) for Fantoma to get its act together. The last we've heard from them, they're still clearing the music rights for a possible Halloween release, although the closer it gets, the less likely it seems. We're keeping a close watch in this thread.

neuro, thanks for the Fantoma info. I prefer to wait for its DVD than buying bootlegs, etc.

All I know about Anger is Scorpio Rising. Is that the only thing that Anger's famous for? Any other Anger films worth discussing?

Michael wrote:All I know about Anger is Scorpio Rising. Is that the only thing that Anger's famous for?

Pretty much. That, and writing Hollywood Babylon.

Michael wrote:Any other Anger films worth discussing?

All of them, as far as I'm concerned. Except maybe Puce Moment and Eaux d'Artifice - never quite got into those.

Matt, aren't you forgetting Lucifer Rising, in which Anger played Lucifer, Donald Cammell played Osiris and Marianne Faithful played Lilith? That's one of his key works too.

Lino wrote:Matt, aren't you forgetting Lucifer Rising, in which Anger played Lucifer, Donald Cammell played Osiris and Marianne Faithful played Lilith? That's one of his key works too.

But far fewer have seen that than have seen Scorpio Rising. It's definitely one of his best films, but I wouldn't say it's famous.

Anger had a knack for getting famous (and infamous) people in his films. Anais Nin appears in Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome with a birdcage on her head. The Rolling Stones are in Invocation of my Demon Brother (and I belive Anger repaid the favor by educating them in Satanism and "styling" the cover of Their Satanic Majesty's Request). Bobby Beausoleil, later part of the Manson family, appears in a few films and did the soundtrack for one (can't remember which).

It was for Lucifer Rising. While in jail for the Manson murders!

Matt wrote:Except maybe Puce Moment and Eaux d'Artifice - never quite got into those.

And Eaux d'Artifice is one of my favorites, so all of them.

...except maybe Puce Moment

-Toilet Dcuk

I just watched part of first bit of Lucifer Rising on Youtube...the music is NOT the Beausoleil soundtrack, is it? Is that the unused Jimmy Page soundtrack? I used to have a tape of the Beausoleil one, and remember it being much different--a full band playing rather cheesy, druggy space rock!

Not meaning to reduce Anger in any way, is Scorpio Rising anything like Pink Narcissus? Just asking. Pink Narcissus reminded me of Genet's breathtaking Un Chant d'Amour (sort of).. I have to thank Lino for recommending the latter to me months ago.

Well, yes and no. They share certain superficial similarities of style, but the content is completely different. Scorpio Rising is completely obsessed with machismo and so it's all leather, chains, motorcycles, skulls, Nazi helmets, etc. But it's also quite camp in the way the music comments on the action, in the way Anger incorporates footage from King of Kings, and in the way he ogles his languorous subjects with his camera.

Matt wrote:But it's also quite camp in the way the music comments on the action

Exactly. I always get a kick from hearing the oh-so-romantic Blue Velvet while some biker is getting dressed or something like that (haven't seen it in a long time). Anger's films work at its best when he juxtaposes imagery and sounds that are initially completely alien to each other. Much like what John Waters tried to do with parts of Multiple Maniacs.

toiletduck! wrote:

Matt wrote:Except maybe Puce Moment and Eaux d'Artifice - never quite got into those.

And Eaux d'Artifice is one of my favorites, so all of them.

...except maybe Puce Moment

I love Eaux d'Artifice as well - it's really like one of Anger's 'chamber' films, besides the spectacular, sensually overwhelming masterpieces Scorpio, Pleasure Dome and Lucifer, but it's still a beautifully realized film.

Puce Moment is probably his slightest film, but it makes a nice 'starter' to Pleasure Dome, which follows it on my tape.

This might make me sound like a real anorak, but if you look closely at the comics that one of the bikers is reading in Scorpio (during the Elvis 'Devil in Disguise' song), you can see that the speech bubbles seem to comment on the action, and even to have a homoerotic subtext. There's also that great subliminal 'Christ blow job' edit. I was so amazed when I first saw that - and I thought I was watching a nice film about some strapping, healthy young fellows who enjoy riding motorbikes.

It's interesting seeing other forum members show their ambivalence towards Puce Moment. I was at a small screening of it amongst some other random AVG films and everyone in the room glowed with admiration for Puce Moment. I was the one guy who seemed far more interested in every other film showed that day but Puce Moment seemed to be the film of the hour. Puce for me is quite simply the beginning of a longer movie that doesn't exist.

Does anyone else really love Rabbit's Moon?

orlik wrote:Does anyone else really love Rabbit's Moon?

Yes, but I'd love to see the original version with the normal speed and without that ridiculous song.

Michael wrote:neuro, thanks for the Fantoma info. I prefer to wait for its DVD than buying bootlegs, etc.

All I know about Anger is Scorpio Rising. Is that the only thing that Anger's famous for? Any other Anger films worth discussing?

I always took Fireworks for his most famous work... I guess Scorpio probably is, but I'm suprised at the lack of mention of this film in this thread, considering it's considered one of his best, if not his best.

I was lucky enough to see all of Anger's films again recently and was pleased to see they all held up really well. Even my least favourite films were much better than I remembered (this was the first time I'd seen the longer version of Rabbit's Moon - much more satisfying than the cryptic snippet I'd seen previously), and that includes the unloved Puce Moment, which has a really disarming pre-Kuchar brio. I see it as a bit of a comic throwaway between more ambitious works, like Kustom Kar Kommandos.

I'll also leap to the defence of Eaux d'Artifice, which is darkly beautiful and supremely synaesthetic (maybe Vivaldi's finest filmic moment). This could be Anger's least overtly sexual but most erotic film.

However many times I see Scorpio Rising, it still manages to bitch-slap me with its audacity and brilliance. Every element in the film seems to be subversive (even the coy pop songs and the Jesus footage, which subvert the antisocial posing of the main action). And I can never think about Kustom Kar Kommandos without breaking into a grin.

I hope whoever finally wrangles these films on to disc manages to include the alternate / original versions (if they still exist). There's a world of difference between the two Rabbit's Moons I've seen (neither of which was the original, I believe), and my most recent viewing of Inauguration seemed quite different - and much better - than my previous encounters. Is it only the pre-Scorpio films that have so many variants?

zedz wrote:Is it only the pre-Scorpio films that have so many variants?

Only Anger knows the answer to this question. Word is that every print of every film is different. Some by just a little, others more so.

Matt wrote:

zedz wrote:Is it only the pre-Scorpio films that have so many variants?

Only Anger knows the answer to this question. Word is that every print of every film is different. Some by just a little, others more so.

Well, that's definitely going to do my head in. Now that you mention it, on my most recent viewing of them, Invocation seemed shorter and Lucifer seemed much tighter, but I'd assumed that the integrity of the soundtracks (if 'integrity' is the appropriate description for Jagger's "I've got a new Moog and I'm going to use it, even though I don't know how it works" efforts) meant that the films were unchanged and I was viewing them in a new light.

Anyone know anything about this collection?

Tribe