Adolfas Mekas made his mark in American independent filmmaking with this avant-garde comedy that shook up film festivals circa 1963. Although it is said to have inspired Andy Warhol, it’s its own animal entirely, eighty minutes of cinematic frivolity that’s too sincere to be a parody of the filmic conventions it so happily celebrates.
Hallelujah the Hills
Blu-ray
Kino Classics
1963 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 82 min. / Street Date October 30, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Peter Beard, Sheila Finn, Martin Greenbaum, Peggy Steffans, Jerome Raphael, Blanche Dee, Jerome Hill, Taylor Mead, Ed Emshwiller.
Cinematography: Ed Emshwiller
Film Editor: Louis Brigante, Adolfas Mekas
Costumes: Bathsheba
Original Music: Meyer Kupferman
Produced by David C. Stone
Written and Directed by Adolfas Mekas
Trying to describe Adolfas Mekas’ Hallelujah the Hills is a real chore. It is avant-garde in a way that no longer seems all that ‘avant,’ yet its impact in 1963 was very strongly felt in independent filmmaking everywhere.
Hallelujah the Hills
Blu-ray
Kino Classics
1963 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 82 min. / Street Date October 30, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Peter Beard, Sheila Finn, Martin Greenbaum, Peggy Steffans, Jerome Raphael, Blanche Dee, Jerome Hill, Taylor Mead, Ed Emshwiller.
Cinematography: Ed Emshwiller
Film Editor: Louis Brigante, Adolfas Mekas
Costumes: Bathsheba
Original Music: Meyer Kupferman
Produced by David C. Stone
Written and Directed by Adolfas Mekas
Trying to describe Adolfas Mekas’ Hallelujah the Hills is a real chore. It is avant-garde in a way that no longer seems all that ‘avant,’ yet its impact in 1963 was very strongly felt in independent filmmaking everywhere.
- 12/1/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In the Spring of 1964, Los Angeles theater manager Michael A. Getz was arrested and placed on trial for screening Kenneth Anger‘s Scorpio Rising. Below are several articles the Underground Film Journal has found that follow the progression of the case.
From the Los Angeles Times, March 3, 1964:
Festival Entry Scheduled for Cinema’s Screen
“Hallelujah the Hills,” American entry at the first New York Film Festival last September, will begin an engagement at the Cinema Theater on Wednesday.
The comedy also represented the U.S. at Cannes, Montreal, Locarno, Mannheim, and London.
This comedy which stars Peter H. Beard, Sheila Finn, Marty Greenbaum and Peggy Steffans was shot in Vermont.
“Scorpio Rising,” a short subject will accompany the feature.
From the Los Angeles Times, March 21, 1964:
Anger’s ‘Fireworks’ Screening at Cinema
The Cinema Theater has added “Fireworks” by Kenneth Anger to its current bill featuring “Hallelujah the Hills.
From the Los Angeles Times, March 3, 1964:
Festival Entry Scheduled for Cinema’s Screen
“Hallelujah the Hills,” American entry at the first New York Film Festival last September, will begin an engagement at the Cinema Theater on Wednesday.
The comedy also represented the U.S. at Cannes, Montreal, Locarno, Mannheim, and London.
This comedy which stars Peter H. Beard, Sheila Finn, Marty Greenbaum and Peggy Steffans was shot in Vermont.
“Scorpio Rising,” a short subject will accompany the feature.
From the Los Angeles Times, March 21, 1964:
Anger’s ‘Fireworks’ Screening at Cinema
The Cinema Theater has added “Fireworks” by Kenneth Anger to its current bill featuring “Hallelujah the Hills.
- 6/18/2017
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
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