Ballet Mécanique (1924)
- Directed by
- Dudley Murphy, Fernand Léger
- Genre
- silent film, experimental film, live-action/animated film
- Country
- France
- Runtime
- 19 min
- Rating
- 6.5 of 10 from 116 voters
- Elsewhere
- IMDb
How it feels
This is an experimental Dadaist film from 1924 that shows rapid sequences of mechanical objects, human faces, and abstract patterns in a nonstop visual rhythm. There is no story, only a montage of moving shapes and everyday items cut together in a pulsing repetitive way.
experimentalabstractrhythmicfragmentedmechanicalfast-pacednon-narrativeavant-garde
What happens
Ballet Mécanique (1923–24) is a Dadaist, post-Cubist art film conceived, written, and co-directed by the artist Fernand Léger and the filmmaker Dudley Murphy (with cinematographic input from Man Ray). It has a musical score by the American composer George Antheil. The film premiered in a silent version on 24 September 1924 at the Internationale Ausstellung neuer Theatertechnik (International Exposition for New Theater Technique) in Vienna presented by Frederick Kiesler. It is considered to be a major work of early experimental filmmaking. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
More like this
- Entr'acte (1924)
- Emak-Bakia (1926)
- L'Arriviste (1924)
- A Machine for Recreating Life (1924)
- Les grands (1924)
- L'Inhumaine (1924)
- La Gosseline (1924)
- Opus III (1924)
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