Heaven and Earth Magic

1962 (?) animated dada

Rating: 17/20

Plot: Surrealistic and almost entirely plotless unless I'm completely missing something. Any plot this might have revolves around a guy having his gigantic watermelon stolen by a dog and becoming so distraught over the loss that he attacks the world with a hammer.

All black and white cut-up stop-motion and bizarre sound effects here--partly trippy, partly dreamy, partly minimalistic, partly dark and partly humorous. This Harry Smith, by the way, IS the folklorist Harry Smith, and I'm now completely fascinated by the guy. Apparently, Heaven and Earth Magic (really titled #12) was completed in 1957 as a six-hour film and then toyed around with until '62. Six hours of this? Seemingly nonsensical and completely random both with visuals and off-kilter sound effects, there are recurring images and ideas that sort of hold the thing together. Never fear though! There's mostly chaos--flying hammers, spinning torsos, wandering cows, dancing skeletal horses, disembodied faces, whirling gears, edible sheep. This has to be one of the most colorful black and white films I've ever seen. This is very Lynchian, and my mind was racing! Check it:

This was on my television!

Here I am, almost completely mesmerized: