#656) Allures (1961)

I normally don’t include warnings, but if you plan on watching “Allures”, the film contains a lot of flashing lights. I don’t consider myself to be photosensitive, but even for me it was a lot.

The Plot: There’s a couple of ways to look at “Allures”. On first viewing, I saw the film as a series of geometric patterns creating a cosmic experience when married to its electronic soundtrack. Filmmaker Jordan Belson described the film as “a combination of molecular structures and astronomical events mixed with subconscious and subjective phenomena – all happening simultaneously.” But of course, I prefer this quote from Belson which he used for his entire filmography: “It’s a glorious thing if you don’t expect an explanation.”

Why It Matters: The NFR gives a run-down on Jordan Belson, calling him “the master of ‘cosmic cinema'”. The write-up also includes another Belson quote about the film, which he called “probably the space-iest film that had been done until then.”

But Does It Really?: We have a lot of avant-garde filmmaking and abstract animation on the NFR, which makes it harder for a film like “Allures” to stand out among the crowd, which thankfully it does. I will say “Allures” is definitely ahead of its time, with this kind of space-age “trip” becoming common place in films made over a decade later, but totally revolutionary in 1961. “Allures” is very much what the kids would describe today as “no thoughts, just vibes”: Don’t overthink it, just let the sight and sounds wash over you. A pass for “Allures” as representation of abstract filmmaker Jordan Belson, and for giving me an excuse to not overanalyze another movie on this list and just enjoy it as intended.

Everybody Gets One: Jordan Belson was born in Chicago, but moved to California to study painting at UC Berkeley. While in the Bay Area, Belson was inspired to become a filmmaker by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s “Art in Cinema” series (curated by fellow NFR filmmaker Frank Stauffacher). In the late ’50s, Belson began a collaboration with sound artist Henry Jacobs which became the Vortex Concerts; a series of light and sound shows projected inside the Morrison Planetarium at the California Academy of Sciences. “Allures”, as well as most of Belson’s subsequent filmography, is a direct continuation of his light show presentations: a series of images set to an electronic soundscape.

Title Track: “Allures” gets its name from “Etude aux allures”, a 1958 electronic music composition by Pierre Schaeffer that Belson had intended to use for one of his Vortex Concerts before the Morrison Planetarium abruptly ended the series in 1959. Although the name “Allures” remains, none of the Schaeffer soundtrack was used in the final film; the score is an original composition from Henry Jacobs.

Seriously, Oscars?: No Oscar nods for “Allures” or Jordan Belson. For the record: 1961’s Best Animated Short Oscar winner was the Yugoslavian film “Surogat” (aka “Ersatz”), which I learned today was used as inspiration for the “Worker and Parasite” segment on “The Simpsons”. It’s all connected!

We come to my favorite segment of the blog: instead of Other notes it’s time for Things I Thought I Saw During “Allures”.

• A spirograph
• A Magic Eye poster
• The Warner Communications logo from the ’70s
• The intro to “Family Affair”
• Kirby?
• Rover from “The Prisoner”
• The seizure I’m about to have. Enough with the flashing lights!
• Outtakes from “Off/On“.
• Constellations (makes sense)
• Fireworks
• A plasma orb
• My old Lite-Brite! Has my childhood Rosebud finally revealed itself?
• A very bloodshot eye
• More flashing lights! This is worse than “Pokémon”!
• Glinda the Good Witch
• The Janus Films logo. Oh wait, that’s the end of the movie.