Animating the Subconscious

Friday, October 19, 2012 | 7:30 pm
The Surreal Screen

The surrealists were fond of popular entertainments at their most deliriously irrational and artificial, finding in cinema, as Luis Buñuel once put it, “a marvelous and dangerous weapon . . . the finest instrument there is for expressing the world of dreams, of the emotions, of instinct.” Animation historian Jerry Beck returns to LACMA for an evening devoted to studio cartoons from the 1930s to the 1950s that delve into these subliminal territories with punch-drunk panache. Liberated from the laws of science, decorum, and logic, these cartoons exemplify Hollywood’s dream factory at its most sublimely imaginative and adventurously hilarious.

Full program (all 35mm prints):

  • Fantasmagorie 1908/b&w/1 min. | Directed by Emile Cohl
  • Bimbo’s Initiation 1931/b&w/6 min. | Fleischer Studios Talkatoon  
  • Snow White  1933/b&w/7 min. | Fleischer Studios 
  • Lullaby Land 1933/color /7 min. | Silly Symphonies (Walt Disney Pictures)  
  • Porky In Wackyland 1938/b&w/7 min. | Looney Tunes
  • Willoughby’s Magic Hat 1943/b&w/7 min. | Phantasies (Columbia Pictures)
  • Imagination 1943/color/7 min. | Color Rhapsodies (Columbia Pictures)  
  • The Old Grey Hare 1944/color/8 min. | Looney Tunes 
  • Duck Amuck 1953/color/7 min. | Looney Tunes
  • Destino 2003/color/7 min. | Walt Disney Pictures

Bing Theater | $10 for the general public; $7 for LACMA members, seniors (62+), and students with valid ID; $5 LACMA Film Club members with valid ID. | Tickets: 323 857-6010 or purchase online.