experimental
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a ...
short film directed by
Ron Rice
Ron Rice (born Charles Ronald Rice; 1935 in New York City – 1964 in Acapulco, Mexico) was an American experimental filmmaker, whose free-form style influenced experimental filmmakers in New York and California during the early 1960s.
Caree ...
.
Description
''Chumlum'' is largely non-narrative, with no dialogue or clear succession of events. It begins with the exterior of a building before moving to a loft inside, where Jack Smith is swinging. Many more people, dressed in elaborate costumes with ambiguous gender presentation, join. They lie in hammocks, smoke opium, caress each other, and dance. Smith appears as a wizard who has cast a spell to entrance and pacify them. The setting shifts to a forest and finally a beach.
The film uses multiple
superimposition
Superimposition is the placement of one thing over another, typically so that both are still evident.
Graphics
In graphics, superimposition is the placement of an image or video on top of an already-existing image or video, usually to add to t ...
s to create abstract patterns. Visual elements such as sheets, hammocks, dancers, limbs, pearls, waves, and birds are layered over each other. It contains exoticist visual references to ancient Rome, tropical Latin America, and Orientalism.
Production
During the production of Smith's ''
Normal Love
''Normal Love'' is an experimental film project by American director Jack Smith (film director), Jack Smith. It shows the adventures of an ensemble of glamorously dressed monsters. Smith filmed the project in 1963 and began screening the work in pi ...
'', Rice often accompanied the director to film shoots. After the day's shooting was complete, Smith and the cast members, still in their costumes from the film, sometimes congregated at Rice's loft on Canal Street. ''Chumlum'' was made during these visits. Actors in the film include Smith, Beverly Grant,
Mario Montez
René Rivera, (July 20, 1935 – September 26, 2013), known professionally as Mario Montez, was one of the Warhol superstars, appearing in thirteen of Andy Warhol's underground films from 1964 to 1966. He took his name as a male homage to the ac ...
,
Gerard Malanga
Gerard Joseph Malanga (born March 20, 1943) is an American poet, photographer, filmmaker, actor, curator and archivist.
Early life
Malanga was born in the Bronx in 1943, the only child of Italian immigrant parents. In 1959, at the beginning of ...
, and Barbara Rubin. One of its outdoor locations was a field of goldenrods that also serves as the setting for Smith's ''Yellow Sequence''.
Release
The Gramercy Arts Theater screened ''Chumlum'' in December 1963 with two other films by Rice—'' The Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man'' and ''Senseless''. The city's license department charged the venue with presenting an improperly licensed program. John Fles arranged the film's West Coast premiere, a double feature with the
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' adve ...
serial ''
Rocket Ship
A space vehicle is the combination of a spacecraft and its launch vehicle which carries it into space. The earliest space vehicles were expendable launch systems, using a single or multistage rocket to carry a relatively small spacecraft in p ...
''.
Anthology Film Archives
Anthology Film Archives is an international center for the preservation, study, and exhibition of film and video, with a particular focus on independent, experimental, and avant-garde cinema.35 mm restoration which premiered in 2018. The film is part of their Essential Cinema Repertory collection. It was digitized for home media as part of the 2009 DVD box set '' Treasures IV: American Avant-Garde Film, 1947–1986''.
the Film-Makers' Cooperative
The Film-Makers' Cooperative a.k.a. legal name The New American Cinema Group, Inc. is an artist-run, non-profit organization incorporated in July 1961 in New York City by Jonas Mekas, Shirley Clarke, Stan Brakhage, Lionel Rogosin, Gregory Markopoul ...