Author: thehorsesheadblog

“The Cool World” is very hard to track down (I’ll explain why later), but I was able to find an upload of the film here. This version is missing a bit of the opening, which is embedded below.

The Plot: Duke Custis (Rony “Hampton” Clanton) is a 15-year-old Black boy growing up in Harlem, and a member of the street gang the Royal Pythons. Duke’s dream is to be leader of the Pythons and a “big shot” in Harlem, which he feels he can achieve by purchasing a gun (or “piece”) from neighborhood lowlife Priest (Carl Lee). Filmed in a pseudo-documentary style, “The Cool World” chronicles Duke as he navigates the seedy sides of Harlem, the politics of gang leadership, and the futile struggle to escape this perilous lifestyle.

Why It Matters: The NFR calls the film a “stark semi-documentary” and cribs from Bosley Crowther’s New York Times review, in which he praises the film’s “pounding vitality” and “hideous visual truths”.

But Does It Really?: I appreciated “Cool World” more than I enjoyed it. As a film it’s fine, with a rough presentation augmenting the characters’ rough conditions, but ultimately, it’s not my thing. Still, watching movies like “Cool World” for the blog have helped me further appreciate independent filmmakers, especially those of this era where filmmaking equipment was much harder to come by. Shirley Clarke is one of the unsung heroes of the independent film scene, and I’m glad the NFR has made room for her.

Everybody Gets One: Born to a wealthy family in New York, Shirley Clarke started off as a dancer, studying with, among others, Martha Graham. In her mid-30s, Shirley became interested in film making, and her first short, 1953’s “A Dance in the Sun” documented the choreography of modern dancer Daniel Nagrin. She soon found herself in the same circles as fellow independent filmmakers/NFR directors Jonas Mekas, Lionel Rogosian, and Stan Brakhage, all of whom, along with Clarke and several others, founded The Film-Makers’ Cooperative in 1961 (which is still in operation today). Clarke’s first feature – 1961’s “The Connection” – was as controversial as the play it was adapted from, and its frank depiction of heroin addiction led to the film being banned in New York state. During production of “The Connection”, Clarke met actor Carl Lee, who would be her creative and romantic partner for the next 20 years.

Seriously, Oscars?: Like many an independent feature of the era, “The Cool World’ received zero Oscar nominations, but did better with European awards, in this case being nominated for the Golden Lion at the 1963 Venice Film Festival. At this point in Shirley Clarke’s career, she had already received her sole Oscar nomination for her 1959 short “Skyscraper”. Coincidentally, Clarke’s other 1963 feature, “Robert Frost: A Lover’s Quarrel with the World”, won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, though due to Academy rules at the time the nomination and award were given solely to the film’s producer, Robert Hughes.

• Speaking of “before they were famous”, among the film’s professional actors are Clarence Williams III (Linc from “Mod Squad”) as Python leader Blood, and Gloria Foster (the Oracle in “The Matrix“) making the most of her limited screentime as Duke’s mother. And apparently Antonio Fargas (Huggy Bear from “Starsky and Hutch”) is also in this film, but I can’t confirm who he played. Fargas would have been about 17 during filming, maybe he’s one of the rival gang members?
• Shout out to Mal Waldron, who composed the film’s jazz score, performed by the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet and expertly matching the film’s shifting moods.
• Duke needs $75 for a gun, which adjusted for inflation would be about $770 today. Yikes. Too bad there aren’t any lawns for Duke to mow in Harlem.
• And then we get LuAnne, Blood’s supposed girlfriend who for all intents and purposes is a sex worker, hanging out at the Pythons’ headquarters and offering her services for $1.50 (about $15 today). It works within the world of the movie, but it’s still icky if you think about it for too long. LuAnne’s performer Yolanda Rodriguez didn’t have much of a film career after “Cool World”, though she did produce a handful of projects in the 2000s.

• Between LuAnne and Priest’s girlfriend (who seems to be auditioning for Miss Adelaide in “Guys and Dolls”) , I would have assumed this movie was directed by a man with some serious issues. Shirley Clarke once mentioned that she made films about other cultures and other races to avoid directly dealing with “the woman question”, so I suspect the objectified female characters in this movie are an offshoot of that, conscious or otherwise.
• Shoutout to cinematographer Baird Bryant for his great work throughout the movie. While the outdoor scenes are your typical documentary-style shaky cam, the scenes inside cramped apartments make the most of their limited space, with creative compositions and blocking of the characters.
• Noteworthy to me for its brief NFR connection is a sequence with Blood’s brother Douglas, who mentions that he was traveling with the Freedom Riders, or as Duke mistakenly calls it, the “free bus rides”.
• I’m pretty confident that the Pythons could beat the crap out of the Sharks and the Jets. Now that’s a movie I’d want to see.
• I liked the montage of Duke and LuAnne at Coney Island, with the two having a fun day and LuAnne seeing the ocean for the first time. It’s the movie’s last bit of levity before it all goes to hell. Plus all of the shooting games on the boardwalk emphasize the “gun equals manhood” toxic masculinity drilled into Duke his whole life. Bonus points to LuAnne/Yolanda for making the behind-the-back basketball shot in one uninterrupted take.
• An interesting time capsule: the sign in the Pythons’ hangout that reads, “This house has NO fallout shelter”.
• The climactic fight between the Pythons and the Wolves occurs on a playground; the symbolism is not hard to miss. The moment that really struck me was when Duke fatally stabs one of the Wolves, the boy’s dying words are “thank you.” This all concludes with Duke being driven away in a police car as we hear snippets of the conversations happening on the streets of Harlem, a sign of how insignificant the gang warfare really is compared to the rest of the world.

• While Shirley Clarke’s filmography had started to become forgotten during her lifetime, she did live long enough to see “Cool World” make the NFR in 1994. Thankfully in more recent years there has been a renewal of interest in her films, largely due to “Project Shirley”, an undertaking by the good people at Milestone Films to restore and re-release all of Shirley’s films for future generations. Well, almost all of Shirley’s films…
• “Cool World” producer Frederick Wiseman would go on to become a renowned documentary filmmaker, including “Hospital“, which was inducted into the NFR the same year as “Cool World”. Wiseman still owns the distribution rights to “Cool World” and for whatever reason will only license it out to schools for educational purposes, meaning the film is not readily available to the public, nor is it part of Milestone Film’s “Project Shirley”. Wiseman is 94 years old as of this writing, and still making documentaries! While I wish him continued good health, I look forward to “The Cool World” getting a proper restoration and release in…the 2030s?

This write-up is another one of my “placeholder posts”. Of the four shorts that comprise the “Martha Graham Early Dance Films”, 2 ½ of them are currently viewable online. To cover the 1 ½ I couldn’t watch, I found later recordings of these same dances, which to the best of my knowledge are faithful recreations of Martha Graham’s original pieces.

The Plot: Hailed as the “Picasso of Dance”, Martha Graham revolutionized the dance world with movements we now refer to as Modern Dance. While Graham’s domain was primarily the stage, a few of her pieces were filmed for teaching purposes, with four films of her early work (all with her as the central dancer) being included in this NFR selection. “Heretic” (1931) is a brief scene of a woman ostracized by a group of Puritans. “Frontier” (1936) showcases a pioneer woman celebrating the exciting promise of a new land. “Lamentation” (1943) is a physical exploration of mourning and grief. “Appalachian Spring” (1944) is a lengthy character study about a newly married couple, a frontier woman, a preacher, and his “flock”.

Why It Matters: The NFR proclaims Martha Graham to be “one of the most important artists of the 20^th century” and highlight the films as “four of the artist’s most important early works.” The “lyrical beauty” of “Appalachian Spring” also gets a shoutout.

But Does It Really?: Oh boy, am I out of my element on this one. Modern dance is one of my artistic blind spots, but I appreciated the chance to learn more about it. The Martha Graham films represent an important American artist and her important American art form, but they also acknowledge one of the less recognized perks of the National Film Registry. Yes, the NFR is primarily for preserving classic narrative movies and important historical events, but it can also preserve this country’s other arts. Thanks to the growing use of film in the 20^th century, future generations can see artists of all stripes creating their passion projects: paintings, poems, songs (cough Broadway cast recordings cough), and yes, even modern dance. A yes for the inclusion of the “Martha Graham Early Dance Films” and for broadening the definition of what an NFR film can be.

Everybody Gets One: Born in Pennsylvania to a Presbyterian family, Martha Graham grew up in a house that discouraged dancing, and she didn’t see her first dance recital until she was 14. After watching Ruth St. Denis perform in Los Angeles, Graham was hooked, and within a few years was studying at the dance school co-founded by St. Denis. While performing as a dancer in Greenwich Village in the early 1920s, Graham started experimenting with a new, more emotionally driven form of dance, eventually creating what is now known as “Graham technique”. In 1926, she established the Martha Graham Dance Company and began teaching her new method of modern dancing, a style of movement that, among other things, focuses on the correlation between contraction and release of the body. Although Graham believed that live theater should never be filmed, she eventually relented to having some of her own work recorded for posterity.

Other notes

• The Martha Graham Dance Company is still going strong almost a century after its founding, now known as the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance with two locations in New York. The Graham technique is still being taught as part of modern dance, though be aware that since the early 2000s the term “Graham technique” is a registered trademark, so please be careful with how you use it.

• The pieces highlighted in these films have been revived by the Martha Graham Dance Company over the years, some more frequently than others. “Appalachian Spring” has become so popular and so celebrated it is one of the rare Martha Graham pieces to be licensed out for other dance companies to perform.

Bonus Clip: Because I love it so much, here’s that clip from “The Birdcage”. Thanks to “Lamentation”, you now understand why Robin Williams puts his shirt over his head as he shouts “Martha Graham! Martha Graham! Martha Graham!”

The Plot: This obscure treasure from the UCLA film archive follows an unidentified Black person who we would identify today as transgender, though this film isn’t concerned with labels. We follow our protagonist as she turns a few heads walking down the street, flirts with a man, and gets her apartment ready for a dinner date. Throughout the film, our protagonist narrates their hopes for future relationships, recounts a brief run in with an undercover police officer, and reminds us that behind every good man…there’s a woman.

Why It Matters: The NFR calls the short “stunning”, though skirts around the subject matter, merely stating the film is “pre-Stonewall” and is a portrait of “gender fluidity”.

But Does It Really: This is an interesting one. On the one hand “Behind Every Good Man” is a brief but poignant film shedding a positive light on a topic that was virtually unspoken of at the time. On the other hand, I get the sense that “Behind Every Good Man” was plucked from the obscurity of the UCLA archives for NFR inclusion, removed from its original context to represent a culture that it can only scratch the surface of. To make matters worse, there is little to no information about the film’s production (Nikolai Ursin passed away decades before the film’s NFR induction), so we have no real way of knowing what went into the making of this film or why this particular short has been deemed significant. “Behind Every Good Man” is an interesting time capsule, but I do wish it had delved a little deeper into its subject. I am all for more movies on the NFR about the transgender community, but “Behind Every Good Man” barely justifies its NFR inclusion, and the lack of surrounding context makes for an unfulfilling viewing experience.

Everybody Gets One: The infuriatingly scare information about the film extends to the filmmaker. We know that Nikolai Ursin was a film student at UCLA in the late ’60s and early ’70s. In addition to “Behind Every Good Man”, I found information on one other film Ursin made while at UCLA: 1970’s “Second Campaign”, co-directed by Norman Yonemoto, a documentary short about the People’s Park protest of 1969 in Berkeley. We have zero information about the transgender woman that this film focuses on. Not their name, not what their connection to Nikolai Ursin was, nothing. Whoever they are, I hope they lived (or continue to live) a good life.

Further Viewing: We’re only one year away from “Tangerine” being eligible for the NFR. Sean Baker’s 2015 film still gets shout outs for its respectful, nuanced portrayal of transgender sex workers, and is that one movie you heard about that was filmed entirely on an iPhone 5S.

The Plot: On June 28^th, 1969, a police raid of the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York’s Greenwich Village, escalated when the bar’s gay clientele fought back, leading to violence and rioting over the next five days. While the Stonewall Riots have been designated the starting point of the modern gay rights movement, Greta Schiller’s documentary focuses on American gay culture within the generations leading up to that historic night. Through archival footage and first-hand accounts, “Before Stonewall” chronicles gay (or what we now call queer) life in America between 1900 and 1969; a history of repression, marginalization, burgeoning communities, and the very beginnings of liberation.

Why It Matters: The NFR write-up isn’t very helpful, describing the documentary’s overall themes without offering any superlatives for the film or its creators. It always surprises me when the NFR doesn’t specify what makes their selections important or unique.

But Does It Really?: “Before Stonewall” is the right movie at the right time. Of course this film’s subject matter is significant, but beyond that, the film is a documentation of the first “out” generations openly discussing their lives and struggles for posterity. “Before Stonewall” is a movie about beginnings: the beginning of gay rights, but more importantly the beginning of the queer activism that continues to this day. Schiller’s oral history approach, candid interview subjects, and overall optimism towards this material make “Before Stonewall” a landmark film in queer history and a compelling watch.

Shout Outs: Brief clips from “Salome” (and its allegedly all-gay cast), plus a snippet of Judy Garland singing “Over the Rainbow“.

Everybody Gets One: A 1977 graduate of The City College of New York with a BA in Film/Video Production, Greta Schiller’s first films were the shorts “Greta’s Girls”, and “Greetings from Washington D.C.”, the latter being about the first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in October 1979. In the early 1980s, Schiller was approached by producer Robert Rosenberg about making a documentary based on the then-unpublished book “Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States” by John D’Emilio. “Before Stonewall” was Greta Schiller’s first feature-length film, and quickly evolved beyond the scope of the gay communities in the book to become, as Schiller later put it, “Gay History 101”.

Seriously, Oscars?: No Oscar love for “Before Stonewall”, though it did win a handful of film festival awards and was a Sundance Grand Jury Prize nominee. Following the film’s PBS airing in 1986, it won two News & Documentary Emmys: Outstanding Information, Cultural or Historical Program and Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Researchers. You gotta love an award given out for research.

• “Before Stonewall” makes heavy usage of archival footage, photos, and audio throughout. Most libraries Schiller contacted for the film claimed not to have any footage of homosexuals, but the film’s archival resource director (and future Emmy winner) Andrea Weiss had success at the Library of Congress by searching under more general terms like “cross-dressing” and “Greenwich Village street life”. Most of the film’s archival materials come from the personal photos and home movies of the film’s interviewees, as well as material sent to Greta Schiller after she printed an ad in Village Voice. 
• We begin as all ’80s documentaries were required to: with an ironic in hindsight Ronald Reagan movie clip. In this case, a scene from 1943’s “This Is the Army” where, as a Corporal in charge of an Army revue show, he assigns Alan Hale to dress in drag for the “Ladies of the Chorus” number. Reagan will show up later during the ’60s segment when he’s Governor of California, calling homosexuality “a tragic illness”. No, you’re thinking of the actual tragic illness you ignored for most of your presidency.
• “Before Stonewall” is narrated by Rita Mae Brown, author, feminist, and gay activist. She’s okay, but as far as gay NFR documentaries go she’s no Harvey Fierstein.
• The film’s early segments chronicling the 1900s through 1920s lay an excellent foundation of what’s to come, mostly how repressed homosexuality was, and the extreme subtlety involved if you dared to connect with any other gay person. There’s also a brief mention of cowboys hooking up with each other out on the lone prairie. Somewhere Annie Proulx is taking notes.

• Among the film clips is a scene from the 1932 Clara Bow vehicle “Call Her Savage”, featuring one of the first (if not the first) depictions of openly gay characters, as well as a scene set in a gay cabaret. Ah, the pre-code days, we will miss you when you’re gone.

• I didn’t realize how pivotal the rise of Nazism and WWII were for gay rights. Obviously, the persecution of homosexuals by the Nazis gets a mention, but America entering the war led to (closeted) gay men and women serving in the military and discovering people just like them from across the country and around the world. This moment of discovery and a possible community was a huge eye-opener for me.
• I love when NFR documentaries overlap with each other, and “Before Stonewall” may brush up against more NFR docs than any other, a testament to how long our gay community had to stay hidden in the background of society. A segment dedicated to lesbians in the workforce during WWII feels like a lost scene from “The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter“. This section has one of the film’s most memorable moments: former WAC member Nell “Johnnie” Phelps telling her story of standing up to General Dwight Eisenhower when he requested an investigation into lesbian infiltration within WAC. It’s an exciting tale, until you learn that based on Phelps’ military record it most likely never occurred. Whatever, it makes for good copy, and she tells it very well.
• Another NFR doc that resurfaces here: “Point of Order” and the McCarthy hearings, specifically the debate between Senator McCarthy and Chief Counsel Welch over the definition of the word “pixie”. It is one of the hearing’s rare lighthearted moments. Also, blink and you’ll miss Roy Cohn in the background of that clip. So…go ahead and blink I say.
• I was relieved that there are no homophobic slurs thrown about during this film, other than the newspaper headlines referring to outed gay men as “perverts”. We know things were bad for our gay citizens (and still are), we don’t need the slurs to go with it.
• The film’s late ’50s trip to suburbia is accompanied by “Little Boxes”, the 1962 Malvina Reynolds song that reached a new audience when it became the theme song to the TV show “Weeds”. Its inclusion here made for a fun sing-along during my viewing. Fun Fact: Reynolds wrote “Little Boxes” about the tract housing development in Daly City, California, most of which is still there.
• Speaking of the Bay Area, I was fascinated by the segment about Black Cat Café, a North Beach bar that served as a meeting spot for San Francisco’s beat and gay communities. Black Cat Café closed in 1964 after losing its liquor license, and is now the restaurant Nico’s, though there is a plaque acknowledging the building’s history. “Before Stonewall” hosts a very touching reunion between the bar’s regulars 20 years later. 
• My main takeaway from this movie is “a rising tide lifts all boats”. Much like WWII, the Civil Rights and Women’s movements of the 1960s helped fan the flame of the gay rights movements. The gay community, as depicted here, were the marginalized group within these bigger marginalized group, with gay women and gay people of color becoming invigorated by these movements to stand up for their own rights. Side note: We briefly see clips from the 1963 March on Washington and, unlike another NFR documentary, “Before Stonewall” ponies up and plays a snippet of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
• It must be the late 1960s because I hear Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody to Love”.
• The film, of course, concludes with the Stonewall Riots, which are surprisingly glossed over. Heck, my description in “The Plot” is more detailed than this movie’s account. Keep in mind the riots occurred only 15 years before this film was released, so the assumption is if you’re watching this documentary in 1984 the riots are recent history that don’t need any set-up. It’s like if a modern documentary said, “You remember the housing crisis, we don’t need to get into all of that.”

• “Before Stonewall” received a restoration and re-release in 2019, commemorating the 50^th anniversary of the Stonewall riots as well as the film’s 35^th anniversary. The film would be inducted into the NFR later that same year.
• I was not expecting “Before Stonewall” to have both a sequel and a prequel. “Before Stonewall” co-producer John Scagliotti directed both films: 1999’s “After Stonewall” about the 30 years of gay history following the Stonewall Riots, and 2017’s “Before Homosexuals”, exploring the history of homosexuality preceding the 20^th century.

• Greta Schiller’s most recent film is 2024’s “Love Letters”, a documentary about Catherine Stimpson and Elizabeth Wood, a lesbian couple whose custody battle in the ’70s broke down an important gay rights barrier. You can learn more about Schiller’s filmography on the Jezebel Productions website.

We have another placeholder post on our hands. The full footage of “With Car and Camera” is said to be about 60 minutes in length, but only about four minutes can be found online. I’ll continue to update this post when more footage surfaces.

The Plot: In 1922, Walter Wanderwell, a traveler and promoter, embarked on an endurance race around the world in a Ford Model T. For proof of his world travels, Wanderwell had the expedition filmed for the travelogue series “With Car and Camera Around the World”, with the revenue from those screenings providing funds to continue the multiyear journey. Needing a mechanic and filmmaker, Wanderwell hired 16-year-old Idris Welsh, who took the stage name Aloha Wanderwell for the trip. The film series covers the Wanderwells’ four years of traveling, with such exotic locales as Rome, Prague, Agra, and Hollywood (at least in the footage available online at the time of this writing, more to come hopefully).

Why It Matters: The NFR write-up is a rundown of Aloha Wanderwell, her world travels, and her subsequent filmography. There’s also a link to the Academy archive, where you can request a viewing of their collection of Aloha Wanderwell’s films. That’s very tempting, but do I have to go to Los Angeles?

But Does It Really?: This is one of those NFR entries where the story behind it is infinitely more fascinating than the footage itself, which given its global scope is saying something. I loved seeing all the sights of the Wanderwells’ journey, but the life story of Aloha Wanderwell quickly overshadowed anything on the screen. I was totally unaware of Aloha before this film’s NFR induction, and I hope that its inclusion in the Registry will lead to her story being rediscovered. A pass for the film’s NFR inclusion, and a yes for celebrating Aloha Wanderwell.

Everybody Gets One: As previously mentioned, Aloha Wanderwell was born Idris Welch in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and was a world traveler at a young age as her family moved to Europe when Idris’ stepfather joined the Durham Light Infantry in World War I. At age 16, Idris applied for the mechanic/filmmaker position on Walter Wanderwell’s worldwide expedition (with her mother’s permission). Once accepted, she took her childhood nickname – “Aloha” for her love of hula dancing – and Walter’s last name to become Aloha Wanderwell, and in 1922 set out with Walter and his team, quickly becoming the face of the expedition. In just over four years, Aloha traveled 380,000 miles across 6 continents, documented the entire trip for “With Car and Camera Around the World”, showcased these films during a concurrent lecture tour, married Walter while the two were visiting California, and gave birth to their daughter Valri (with their son Nile being born shortly after the tour). By the end of the trip in 1927, Aloha had become the first woman to circumnavigate the globe.

• Question: If this film footage from literally around the world was filmed by a Canadian woman and her Polish husband, how does it qualify for a list of notable American films? But you know me, I hate to nitpick.
• My one takeaway from watching these clips and learning about Aloha Wanderwell is “Where is her biopic?” Seriously, this thing writes itself. You can call it “Aloha” or “Wanderwell” and give it some cheesy tagline like “She traveled the world and found herself.” I’m just blue skying here, but I am available to do a pass at this.