Kenneth Anger
Date of Birth: 03 Feb 1927
Country: USA
Biography: Kenneth Anger grew up in Hollywood and started out as a child actor, but his interest in filmmaking was evident at an early age: he made his first film, "Who's Been Rocking My Dreamboat?", at age 9. Anger developed into one of the pioneers of the American underground film movement. His gritty, violent, often homosexual-themed films were too strong for American audiences of the time, and many of his productions were filmed in Europe, mainly France. However, Anger is best known for authoring the landmark "Hollywood Babylon" books, which detailed a far more seamier side of the Hollywood film industry than most people were aware of.
Total Credits at Criticker: 15 (Actor), 26 (Director), 11 (Writer)
Find more information about Kenneth Anger at The Internet Movie Database
Titles you haven't rated - Actor (15) | Director (26) | Writer (11)
Scorpio Rising (1964) - Short Film
An army of gay/nazi bikers make their engines roar and ride the way to pain/pleasure as sexual and sadistic symbols are intercut into the dazing chaos and rhythmic experiences of this underground film by cult director Anger (imdb)
Kustom Kar Kommandos (1965) - Short Film
A man in tight jeans buffs his car to the strains of "Dream Lover". (imdb)
Fireworks (1947) - Short Film
Anger's short film "Fireworks" depicts the brutal rape and torture of Anger himself. (imdb)
Eaux d'artifice (1953) - Short Film
A woman dressed elegantly walks purposely through the water gardens at the Villa d'Este in Tivoli, as the music of Vivaldi's "Winter" movement of "The Four Seasons" plays. Heavy red filters give a blue cast to the light; water plays across stone, and fountains send it into the air. No words are spoken. Baroque statuary and the sensuous flow of water are back lit. Anger calls it "water games."
Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954) - Short Film
A hallucinogenic adventure, a trippy dive into Crowley Land, an otherworldly playground of dreams and a dome-full of sensuality and pleasure. (IMDB Comments)
Rabbit's Moon (1950) - Short Film
Pierrot waxes romantic, entranced by the moon. Harlequin appears and bullies him, then uses a magic lantern to project an image of Columbine...(imdb)
Puce Moment (1949) - Short Film
A soundtrack plays folk rock as a woman prepares, at noon, to take her Borzois for a walk. She goes through her dresses, all 1920's style flapper gowns, holding them one at a time, shaking them as if they are dancing. She picks one - in puce. She puts it on, delighted, adds perfume, languishes on a chaise for a few minutes, then goes for her walk. It all has a 20's feel. (imdb)
Who Has Been Rocking My Dreamboat (1941) - Short Film
About a dozen local children in the Santa Monica area were pressed into service to perform in 14-year-old filmmaker Kenneth Anger's solo directing debut. Filmed on a playground, Who Has Been Rocking My Dream Boat begins with what was described by Anger as a "montage of American children at play...in the last summer before Pearl Harbor." (All Movie Guide)
Tinsel Tree (1942) - Short Film
Made when Kenneth Anger was only 14 years old, Tinsel Tree was a short that demonstrated his early disdain for the Christmas season... (All Movie Guide)
Prisoner of Mars (1942) - Short Film
Kenneth Anger plays a "chosen adolescent" who is elected to be sent on a trip to Mars in a rocket. He awakes in a Martian maze only to find that he not the first to arrive from Earth, as evidenced by the human bones littered about... (All Movie Guide)
The Nest (1943) - Short Film
In this short film, a brother (Bob Jones) and sister (Jo Whittaker) seem to share a common bond beyond what would be considered "normal," not only to each other, but to themselves... (All Movie Guide)
Drastic Demise (1945) - Short Film
World War II ends, and Kenneth Anger goes wheeling with his camera into the crowd of a post-War party on Hollywood Boulevard. The short film ends with an atomic bomb going off. Although circulated on 16 mm through 1967, Anger then withdrew Drastic Demise. It is possible that the film no longer exists, but it may be among a few extant titles that Anger has stated he prefers not to show. (All Movie Guide)
Escape Episode (1946) - Short Film
Escape Episode was a wholly atypical project for filmmaker Kenneth Anger, and yet it was the most well-received of his early films. Based on the myth of Andromeda, a girl is held captive in a decaying mausoleum located by the seaside by a "religious fanatic dragon" (according to Anger)... (All Movie Guide)
Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969) - Short Film
Experimental short, featuring strobe-like homoerotic imagery with several shots of the Rolling Stones in performance and an original synthesizer score by Mick Jagger. (imdb)
Lucifer Rising (1972) - Short Film
Lucifer is depicted as a fallen favorite of God. (All Movie Guide)
Senators in Bondage (1976) - Short Film
A film rumored about in press releases, which might not actually exist.
Ich will! (2000) - Short Film
Another of Kenneth Anger's short films which apparently exists, but the content of which remains unknown.
An editing about the way cigarettes were suspected to induce lung-cancers. (imdb)
The Man We Want to Hang (2002) - Short Film
The film (with a lively score by Liadov) generally consists of slow, generous shots of the gallery exhibits, the majority of them starting with a shot of the bottom of the painting or drawing and panning up to reveal the rest, the gaze ascending, the shot itself possibly a metaphor for the process of observation of the works, as the gaze at the esoteric art reveals symbols and meanings with a correspondent ascendance in consciousness... (alterati.com)
Mouse Heaven (2004) - Short Film
An experimental short reflecting on the iconic power of Mickey Mouse and commenting on the cultural and sentimental value placed on commercial merchandise. (mediaartists.org)
Anger Sees Red (2004) - Short Film
Starring the color red, we see a chap in a blue shirt & blue baseball cap walking down a pink street (thanks to camera filters). Discarding the shirt he takes a nap in the sun, but soon sits up & introduces himself as Red... (weirdwildrealm.com)
My Surfing Lucifer (2009) - Short Film
Using found footage, we're introduced to the short life of Bunker Spreckels, Clark Gable's stepson and surfing legend. (imdb)
Missoni (2010) - Short Film
The film, shot in Anger's psychedelic, overlay-heavy style, captures 11 members of the Missoni family as they disport against a black background and occasionally in in a pastoral setting, done up in wigs and looking somewhat bewildered. The film has a distinctly cultish atmosphere, recalling the mystical goings-on in the artist's previous films, from "Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome" (1954) to "Scorpio Rising" (1963) and "Lucifer Rising" (1970-81). (MUBI)
42 One Dream Rush (2009) - Short Film
An omnibus of short films by auteur directors based on Dreams. (imdb)
Airships (2013) - Short Film
Kenneth Anger's Airship series consists of three short films that exhume newsreel footage of mighty dirigibles hovering ominously in the sky, the filmmaker's characteristic fusion of magic, symbolism, mystery, and myth -- as well as the opulent use of colour and, in the first film, anaglyph 3D -- imbuing the already incredible footage with an eerie, supernatural quality. (tiff.net)
Brush of Baphomet (2009) - Short Film
Kenneth Anger documents the Aleister Crowley's paintings. (FilmAffinity)