Rose Hobart, pt. 1 of 2

Joseph Cornell's "Rose Hobart" (1936) is a short, 19 minute experimental film created by the artist Joseph Cornell, who cut and re-edited the Hollywood film "East of Borneo" into one of America's most famous surrealist short films. Cornell was fascinated by the star of East of Borneo, an actress named Rose Hobart, and named his short film after her. The piece consists of snippets from East of Borneo combined with shots from a documentary of an eclipse. When Cornell screened the film, he projected it through a piece of blue glass and slowed the speed of projection to that of a silent film. The original soundtrack is removed, and the film is accompanied instead by "Forte Allegre" and "Belem Bayonne", two songs from Nestor Amaral's "Holiday in Brazil," a record that Cornell had found at a junk shop. (more on part 2)

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Joseph
• Cornell
• Rose
• Hobart
• experimental
• film
• East
• Borneo

[CreoleCommando]

Whats with the stupid music? I'm sure it was not part of the flim.

[oobleckboy]

@CreoleCommando:

Read the description.

[oobleckboy]

Yes, Dali did claim that Cornell "stole" his dream. (I've got that story in the discription of part 2) I've always wondered if Dali was just drawing attention to himself, or if he really was that nuts. Dali was such an opertunistic self-promoter I assume he had wished he'd made the film and wished to claim it as his own. After all, Dali greatest work of art was "Dali".

[leonocusto]

Oh, I dreamt this yesterday...

[ieatlbjshit]

this was hard to watch for me

[dlewis4621]

renata2405 It was not at all unusual for underground filmmakers to use music that was wildly anachronistic for films that were in some cases very old. In the mid-60s, Harry Smith was using a Beatles LP as background music for "Early Abstractions." When I first saw Rose Hobart in an art gallery around 1982 or so, it was dead silent. I'm not sure where the Latin music soundtrack came into play or how it may reflect Cornell's intentions.

[renata2405]

@oobleckboy the music of this album is from 1957 if i am not mistaken. How does it end up as soundtrack for a film from 1936? Was it like this in 1936 or was music added later? Anyway thanks for posting!

[mikeinvegas2003]

I love Dali,but I do agree that he was a shameless self promoter. I love Cornell's work and his life is very intriguing

[corto1912]

in reply to the comment of the stupid music

and in the mist of reading Utopia Parkway, a biography of Cornell

i am quite sure that this is the kind of music that Cornell chose for his film

even if not the exact piece used during the famous Dali fit projection

the irritation provked by combining these images and this music

is part of what was intended.

[theemonumental]

@nswick1 "Don't believe everything you read on Senses of Cinema" would have been funnier.

xx

[nswick1]

@theemonumental dont believe everything you read. especially on wikipedia

[KRH6626]

Thank you so much. I am writing a paper on this film and it's readily available presence on Youtube has been invaluable.