Vormittagsspuk

Dada. Surreal. Experimental. Avant garde. Weird. Yet I couldn't stop watching. Watching. Watch. Stop watch. Stopwatch moving in time lapse photography; is the message here that time flies when one is having fun? Are we supposed to be having fun here? Bowler hats flying through the air turn into tea cups immediately before they land and crash into pieces.

Bow ties and handguns and x-rays of handguns with minds of their own.

I like the bits with the fire hoses, and the concentric circles, bull's eyes, which don't want to be shot at. And who can blame them? Bearded men stroking their beards and their negative images doing likewise.

Is the plot everyday items rebelling against everyday routine, or just excuses to show trick photography? Making art out of something ugly? Anti art? The clock strikes twelve, splits into two even pieces. Ende. Ende. Ende neu.

Ghosts Before Breakfast is a light-hearted and playful Dada film. Its imaginative images come at you in a nice steady rhythm. Those visuals incorporate a fair amount of trick photography and effects, and they are all done really well. The most indelible image in the film is the flying hats but there are many other repeat motives, such as revolvers and beard stroking intellectuals. Like Dada in general, there is a definite sense of humour. At times it's almost in slapstick territory. I suppose if Charlie Chaplin was to have made a Dada film then it might have looked something like this. Overall, this is a good example of a 1920's art-film with a comic touch. And like so many of its peers it easy to see its influence on modern Pop Art. Interesting to also note that the Nazi Party tried to destroy all copies of this film when the got into power in Germany not long after this was made. They considered it decadent - this should be taken as a recommendation.

Surrealism/Dadaism in the service of irrationality but also against hierarchies, mostly malign ones as shown in the revolver-target deconstruction. Funny and bold in terms of the angles, the cuts and the (rudumentary) special effects this is film as a revolutionary and radical art; no surprise really that the Nazis denounced it as 'degenerate'. In this sense, the objects' revolt suggest wider networks with humans.

Hans Richter's "Vormittagspuk" ("Ghosts Before Breakfast" in English) is basically an excuse to be zany. A series of free-associative images, its message is that not even inanimate objects will succumb to regimentation. Sure enough, the Nazis tried to censor the movie, labeling it degenerate art. Seriously, those twerps considered EVERYTHING anti-German!

Fortunately, the goose-steppers' attempts to destroy the movie failed, and it's available on Vimeo. I recommend it.

Hans Richter and his crew must have had a lot of fun making this film. It's equal parts slapstick and Dada. I saw it in a theater as part of a program of 20s surrealist/Dadaist films, and this one was definitely the crowd favorite. It had everybody laughing. I wouldn't be surprised if this film were a big influence on a lot of modern music video directors. For some reason, the imagery put me somewhat in mind of a certain old Devo song. Would go well with the Talking Heads, too.