A list of avant-garde and experimental films released in the 1940s.
Title Director Cast Nation Notes 1941Moods of the SeaSlavko Vorkapić, John Hoffman United StatesBlack & white, sound (Felix Mendelssohn: The Hebrides (overture) Who Has Been Rocking My Dream BoatKenneth Anger United StatesLost film. 1942By Night with Torch and SpearJoseph CornellUnited StatesLambeth Walk - Nazi StyleCharles A. Ridley British propaganda short, which "remixes" marching Nazis to a pop song.Public Domain Review, "Lambeth Walk - Nazi Style" Tinsel TreeKenneth Anger United StatesLost filmVariations on a CircleJames Whitney (filmmaker) United StatesColor, silent. Abstract animation, shot in 8mm. Los Angeles Filmforum, "Alternative Projections: John Whitney" 1943AllegrettoOskar Fischinger United StatesAbstract animation, color, sound. Third version, completed in 1943Oskar Fischinger Filmography The Geography of the BodyWillard MaasWillard Maas, Marie MenkenUnited StatesFilm poem, text written and read by George Barker (poet) P. Adams Sitney, "Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde 1943–2000. Oxford University Press, 2002 pg. 75Meshes of the AfternoonMaya Deren, Alexander HammidMaya Deren, Alexander HammidUnited StatesBlack & white; sound by composer Teiji Ito added in 1959. Established the movement known as "New American Cinema." MOMA Object Page Lux Entry The Witch's CradleMaya Deren, Marcel DuchampMarcel Duchamp, Pajarito MattaUnited StatesBlack & white; silent. Never finished; survives as workprint or gathering of trims.Dangerous Minds: ‘The Witch’s Cradle’: Watch Maya Deren and Marcel Duchamp’s stunning occult short 1944At LandMaya DerenMaya Deren, Alexander Hammid, Parker Tyler, John CageUnited States 1945The Eye and the EarStefan Themerson, Franciszka ThemersonUnited KingdomLe VampireJean PainlevéFranceOut-Takes From a Study in Choreography for CameraMaya DerenTalley BeattyUnited StatesA Study in Choreography for CameraMaya DerenTalley BeattyUnited StatesVisual Variations on NoguchiMarie Menken United States 1946The Potted PsalmSidney Peterson, James BroughtonBeatrix Perry, Harry Honig United StatesLive action surrealist short. MUBI entryRitual in Transfigured TimeMaya DerenMaya Deren, Rita Christiani, Frank Westbrook, Anaïs NinUnited States 1947The CageSidney Peterson United StatesDreams That Money Can BuyHans RichterMax ErnstUnited StatesFireworksKenneth AngerKenneth Anger, Bill Seltzer, Gordon Gray United StatesForest MurmursSlavko Vorkapić, John Hoffman United StatesBlack & white, sound; made for MGM, but withheld from release. Jacobs dates it to 1941; most other sources give 1947.Lewis Jacobs, "Experimental Cinema in America II," Hollywood Quarterly, Vol. 3, No. 3, Spring 1948, reprinted in Lady in the LakeRobert MontgomeryRobert Montgomery, Audrey TotterUnited StatesJake Hinkson -- Through the Camera's Eye: Experiments with Subjective Camera in Film Noir Motion Painting No. 1Oskar Fischinger United StatesPrivate Life of a CatMaya Deren, Alexander HammidUnited StatesLe TempestaireJean EpsteinFranceTransmutationJordan Belson United StatesBelson's first film, shown at Art in Cinema screenings in San Francisco in the early '50s; lost film.Experimental Cinema -- Jordan Belson 1948Du sang, de la volupté et de la mortGregory Markopoulos United StatesColor, 70 min. Begun in Los Angeles in 1947; finished in Toledo, Ohio. In three parts: Psyche, Lysis & Charmides.Harvard Film Archive Markopoulos retrospective In the StreetHelen Levitt, Janice Loeb, James Agee United StatesSilent; sound version issued in 1952 Meditation on ViolenceMaya DerenChao Li ChiUnited States The Petrified DogSidney PetersonGail Randall, Marie Hirsh, Jo LandorUnited StatesThe Worldwide Celluloid Massacre review The Sound of Eye: The Petrified Dog Weegee's New YorkWeegee United StatesVisionary Film: Weegee ICP: Weegee's New York 1949Christmas, U.S.A.Gregory Markopoulos United StatesThe Lead ShoesSidney Peterson United StatesMedusaMaya Deren United StatesPacific 231Jean Mitry FrancePuce MomentKenneth Anger United States
Notes