Mechanical Ballet / Ballet Mécanique / Mehanski balet

Fernand Léger, Dudley Murphy
1924, France, 19'

"Fernand Léger (and Dudley Murphy), in BALLET MÉCANIQUE, took a surprising step towards the discovery of the filmic object instead of the script, of naturalistic and dramatic action, the real and plastic form. They completely liberated the object from its rational, anecdotal and symbolic meaning, to build the film on the object's plastic value alone, without worrying about its current meaning." - Hans Richter

»Fernand Léger (in Dudley Murphy) je v filmu BALLET MÉCANIQUE naredil presenetljiv korak k odkrivanju filmskega objekta namesto scenarija, naturalistične in dramatične akcije, resnične in plastične oblike. Objekt sta popolnoma osvobodila njegovega racionalnega, anekdotičnega in simbolnega pomena, da bi film zgradila zgolj na plastični vrednosti objekta, ne da bi se ukvarjala z njegovim trenutnim pomenom.« - Hans Richter

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Language: Silent film
Recommended for children under the age of 14: Yes
Technique: Experimental live-action, drawn and object animation

Team

Directed by Fernand Léger, Dudley Murphy
Written by Fernand Léger
Starring: Alice Prin (Kiki de Montparnasse)
Cinematography: Dudley Murphy, Man Ray
Music: George Antheil

Fernand Léger (1881-1955)

a French painter, sculptor, and avant-garde filmmaker, who transited from cubism and dada through abstraction to more figurative representation. In 1910s he was affiliated with the ground-breaking, Paris-based groups such as "Salon d'Automne" and "Salon des Indépendants". Drafted to the army in the course of the World War I, he became greatly affected by the horror reality of the war. The famous "The Card Players" (1917) marks his so-called "mechanical period" characterized by the themes of automatization, mechanization, and cruelty of the enliven experience. In 1924 he co-created one of the most iconic pieces of avant-garde cinema, Ballet Mécanique, and remained an active artist of the period. He left Europe during the World War II and stayed in the USA where he taught at Yale. Upon return to France he became a member of the Communist Party and tried to adopt dogmas of Marxism-Leninism in art into his experimental styles and poetics. 

“A pioneer of cubism and abstract art, Fernand Léger emerged from the First World War enamored of the so-called machine aesthetic wherein the visual spectacle of modern life was the essential subject for modern painting. He also wrote about cinema, and in BALLET MECANIQUE used rapid editing and the close-up to find visual drama and formal beauty in machine parts and functional objects.” - Matthew Affron

Dudley Murphy (1897-1968)

“Boston-born Dudley Murphy was an engineering student, World War I pilot, and movie set decorator before launching his directing career with a series of evocative short films including the first American avant-garde film to be screened in New York City, THE SONG OF THE CYPRESS (1921). These musically driven experiments culminated in the jazz-infused BALLET MECANIQUE, and influenced his later Hollywood and independent features, including THE EMPEROR JONES (1933)." - Susan Delson

Read more
https://lightcone.org/en/film-364-le-ballet-mecanique