Director: Ken Jacobs

Starring: Jack Smith, Jerry Sims

Year: 1959 –63

Runtime: 15 mins.

Synopsis: Featuring Jack Smith. Material was cut in as it came out of the camera, embarrassing moments intact. 100′ rolls timed well with music on old 78s. I was interested in immediacy, a sense of ease, and an art where suffering was acknowledged but not trivialized with dramatics. Whimsy was our achievement, as well as breaking out of step. (from Film-Makers’ Cooperative)

DVD: Treasures IV: American Avant-Garde Film, 1947-1986 (compilation DVD)

Official Website: None

Underground Film Timeline: 1960 — 1969

Reviews: DVD Talk (Glenn Erickson)

Video: None

Director: Jack Smith

Starring: Mario Montez, Francis Francine, Sheila Bick, Joel Markman, Arnold Rockwood, Judith Malina, Marian Zazeela

Year: 1963

Runtime: 105 mins. (However, runtimes listed for this film vary wildly from source to source as Smith never actually completed the film.)

Synopsis: Smith’s second feature length film appears to derive from his adoration of Maria Montez, the B- movie star best know for her performance in Cobra Woman. It features a variety of ’30s horror film monsters, a mermaid, a lecher, and various cuties performed by a cast which included Mario Montez, John Vaccaro, Diane DePrima, Beverly Grant, Tiny Tim, and others. (from Flicker)

DVD: Not Available.

Official Website: None

Underground Film Timeline: 1960 — 1969

Reviews: Chicago Reader (Fred Camper)
Chicago Reader (Jonathan Rosenbaum)

Video: None

Director: Gregory Markopoulos

Starring: Olympia Dukakis, Paul Kilb, Violet Roditi, Albert Torgessen

Year: 1963

Runtime: 49 mins.

Synopsis: Paul (Paul Kilb), a handsome young man clearly alienated from the heterosexuality represented by dancing couples, stands on the roof of a Manhattan building as if contemplating suicide, his foot a bit over the edge. A man identified in the titles as the artist physician (Albert Torgessen) appears and places a hand on Paul’s shoulder, summoning him back from the brink. (from Fred Camper review)

DVD: None

Official Website: None

Underground Film Timeline: 1960 — 1969

Reviews: Chicago Reader (Fred Camper)

Video: None

Director: Jack Smith

Starring: Mario Montez, Francis Francine, Sheila Bick, Joel Markman, Arnold Rockwood, Judith Malina, Marian Zazeela

Year: 1963

Runtime: 45 mins.

Synopsis: An homage to classic Hollywood movies, a cadre of transvestites and other sexually ambiguous characters — or “creatures” — romp around in a silent tableaux accompanied by soundtracks from old films. Eventually, one of the creatures is molested by the rest of them, which triggers an earthquake. Despite the carnage that follows, the creatures manage to still carry on and have a grand ol’ time.

DVD: Not Available. Print available for rental from the Film-makers’ Cooperative.

Official Website: None

Underground Film Timeline: 1960 — 1969

Film Festivals: Third International Experimental Film Competition, Knokke-Le-Zoute, Belgium, 1964

Awards: Fifth Independent Film Award, Film Culture
Prix Film Maudit, Third Int’l Film Exposition, Knokke-Le-Zoute, Belgium, 1964

Reviews: Senses of Cinema (Constantine Verevi)
Chicago Reader (Jonathan Rosenbaum)

Video: None