"Down the Rabbit Hole" at Oddball Films September 5, 2009

Event: Oddball Films presents “Down the Rabbit Hole”, a program of condensed feature films, feature film parts and a collection unusual films rescued from the cutting room floor from film labs and media centers across the Country. The program features Charles Braverman’s Oscar-winning film Braverman’s Condensed Cream of the Beatles, a non narrative, hyperkinetic history of the Beatles a truly bizarre feature film Alice in Wonderland (1933) featuring a “mis-cast” cast of Hollywood stars including Cary Grant, Cary Cooper and WC Fields. Also featured is the last reel of War of the Gargantuas, the great Toho Japanese Sci-Fi monster classic. Plus clips from educational films such as Pigs, You and Your Five Senses and Secrets of the Underwater World, Alcohol and You, Doughnuts, as well as Medical Test Films, Kodachrome Blatz Beer brewing out-takes, Theatrical trailers such as Monty Python’s Jabberwocky Andy Warhol’s Trash, John Waters’ Pink Flamingos, “Truck Stop Women” and kitschy (Shag rugs, bad wallpaper) 1970s Adult Triple XXX Peepshow film loops straight from the dumpster at the NYC Film Center!
Date: Saturday, September 5th at 8:30PM.
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco
Admission: $10.00 RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or [email protected]
Web: http://www.oddballfilm.com/oddballftp/Down_the_Rabbit_Hole.pdf
Down the Rabbit Hole
Condensations, Feature Parts, Odd Reels, Peep Loops and Mini-movies Screens at Oddball Films
On Saturday, September 5th at 8:30PM Oddball Films presents Down the Rabbit Hole, a program of condensed feature films, odd film reels and a collection unusual films rescued from the cutting room floor of film labs and media centers across the Country. The program features Charles Braverman’s Oscar-winning film Braverman’s Condensed Cream of the Beatles, a non narrative, hyperkinetic history of the Beatles, a truly bizarre condensed feature film Alice in Wonderland (1933) featuring a “mis-cast” cast of Hollywood stars including Cary Grant, Cary Cooper, WC Fields.

Also featured is the last reel of “War of the Gargantuas”, the great Toho Japanese Sci-Fi monster classic. Plus clips from educational films such as Pigs, You and Your Five Senses and Secrets of the Underwater World, Alcohol and You, Doughnuts, as well as Medical Test Films, Blatz Beer brewing clips, Theatrical Trailers such as Monty Python’s Jabberwocky John Waters Pink Flamingos, Truck Stop Women and The Seduction of Mimi, Andy Warhol’s Trash and 1970s kitschy (shag rugs, bad wallpaper) Adult Triple XXX Peepshow loops straight from the dumpster at the prestigious NYC Film Center!
The event will take place at Oddball Films, 275 Capp St, San Francisco. Admission is $10.00. Limited Seating RSVP to [email protected] or phone 558.8117. Late comers will be booed!
Featuring:

Braverman’s Condensed Cream of the Beatles (Color and B+W, 1973)
A Oscar-winning history of the Beatles is told with a kinesthetic collage of still pictures, film clips, art work and album covers, accompanied by their trend-setting music. This non-narrative film showcases the flip, exuberant 60s to the end of the sober, socially conscious decade as we watch airport mob scenes, madcap press conferences, records, concerts, books, posters and movies, all tumble past in a dizzy spasm of bliss.

Alice in Wonderland (B+W, 1933)
This star-laden condensed version of Lewis Carroll's novel combines elements of both the title novel and Carroll's sequel, Through the Looking Glass. In England of the 19th century, young Alice finds that the mirror over the library fireplace opens into a strange world. The clunky plot is superceded by lavish sets, special effects and costumes (and a bizarre animated sequence by Hugh Harman and animation auteur Rudolf Ising). The all-star mis-cast is somewhat wasted though you can hardly go wrong with Gary Cooper (As a senile Knight), Cary Grant (playing the Mock Turtle!) and W.C. Fields, who seems quite at home with the absurdity of his dialogue as none other than Humpty Dumpy. This quirky feature (Ours is an anomaly-a condensed, condensed version) is super-surreal and creepy at the same time.
War of the Gargantuas (Color, 1966)
Here’s the final, action-packed reel of the Japanese sci-fi cult classic. This film was released in Japan as Frankenstein’s Monsters: Sandra versus Gaira.
It’s a 1966 daikaiju eiga (giant monster movie) and introduces two giant, furry Humanoids called Gargantuas, which spawned from the discarded cells of Franensteoin’s monster from the previous film. The two monsters are billed as brothers, Green Gargantua lives in the sea and is violent and savage, preying upon human beings, The Brown Gargantua has been raised in captivity, and is docile and gentle. This reel follows the military battles of these bizarre creatures and their final
climactic confrontation in Tokyo.

Dr. Cyclops (B+W, 1939)
Directed by Ernest B Schoedsack, of King Kong fame Albert Decker chews the scenery as mad scientist Dr. Thorkel, who has developed a process that will shrink human beings to doll size. His first victims include mining engineers Bill Stockton and Steve Baker and biologists Mary Mitchell and Dr. Bullfinch. At first willing to play-act the role of benevolent despot with his miniaturized captives, Thorkel reveals the more sinister side of his personality by abruptly murdering Bullfinch in cold blood (easily the film's most frightening sequence). Watch the escape efforts of the three pint-sized protagonists as they hack their way through a jungle of gigantic foliage and do battle with oversized wildlife. Watch the entire (condensed) film in 11 minutes!
Trashy Trailers (Color, 60s and 70s)
Sometimes a peek at a movie is all you need to get its impact and these trashy trailers do just that. Watch Monty Python’s Jabberwocky, John Waters’ Pink Flamingos, Truck Stop Women, The Seduction of Mimi, Andy Warhol’s Trash and many more mini-movies!

Plus! More odd reels from feature films!

About Oddball Films
Oddball films is the film component of Oddball Film+Video, a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk documentaries like The Weather Underground and The Summer of Love, television programs like Mythbusters and web media productions like Boing Boing, The Bowery Poetry Club and media productions around the world. Our films are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 film 16mm prints, news out-takes, animation, commercials, educationals, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant garde and ethno-cultural documentaries. We’re the largest film archive in Northern California and perhaps one of the most unusual private collections in the US.
We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of unusual cinema.

Official Website: http://www.oddballfilm.com/oddballftp/Down_the_Rabbit_Hole.pdf