Entr'acte
Directed by	René Clair
Produced by	Rolf de Maré
Starring	Jean Börlin Inge Frïss
Music by	Erik Satie
Cinematography	Jimmy Berliet
Distributed by	Société Nouvelle des Acacias
Release date(s)	Dec 4 1924 (U.S.)
Running time	22 min
Country	France
Language	Silent film French intertitles

Entr'acte (1924) is a short film directed by René Clair, which premiered as an entr'acte for the Ballets Suédois production Relâche at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. Relâche is based on a book and with settings by Francis Picabia, produced by Rolf de Maré, and with choreography by Jean Borlin. The music for both the ballet and the film was composed by Erik Satie.

Contents 1 Production 1.1 Development 2 Release 2.1 Film sequence 2.2 DVD 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Production

[edit] Development

For this production, the Dadaists collaborating on the project invented a new mode of production: instantanéisme. The complete film takes about 20 minutes using such techniques as watching people run in slow motion, watching things happen in reverse, looking at a ballet dancer from underneath, watching an egg over a fountain of water get shot and instantly become a bird and watching people disappear. The cast included cameo appearances by Francis Picabia, Erik Satie, Man Ray, and Marcel Duchamp. The conductor of the orchestra at the premiere was Roger Désormière.

[edit] Release

[edit] Film sequence

The two parts of the film are as follows (note that time indications are approximate, since neither film nor music techniques at the time of the premiere allowed exact temporisation in a public performance):

• A sequence of about 90 seconds, starring Satie and Picabia firing a cannon from the top of a building. This sequence, as silent movie, was played at the beginning of the ballet, right after the "little overture" ("Ouverturette"), and before the curtain raised ("Rideau"). The music to this part of the film is called "Projectionnette", and is included as 2nd item in the Relâche partition. There appears no real effort for music to film synchronisation in this part of the film. Probably the "Projectionnette" music was played two or three times before proceeding to the "Rideau" part of the music.
• The rest of the film was played as entr'acte between the two acts of the ballet. The score for this part of the film is not included in the Relâche partition, but was written down by Satie in a separate score, titled "Cinéma". This part of the music contains "expandable" repeat zones, in order to match the start of a new tune with certain events in the film, thus it was one of the earliest examples of music to film synchronization. In the score, Satie names 10 sections that are associated with scenes in the film.

In 1974, the film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival.^[1]

[edit] DVD

The film is included on the Criterion Collection DVD of Clair's À Nous la Liberté (1931).

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Entr'acte at the Internet Movie Database
• Watch the film
• Music Clip 1 Music Clip 2

v • d • e René Clair Feature films Le Fantôme du Moulin-Rouge (1925) • Le Voyage imaginaire (1926) • La Proie du vent (1927) • Un chapeau de paille d'Italie (1928) • Les Deux timides (1928) • Sous les toits de Paris (1930) • Le Million (1931) • À nous la liberté (1931) • Quatorze Juillet (1932) • The Ghost Goes West (1935) • Break The News (1938) • The Flame of New Orleans (1941) • I Married a Witch (1942) • It Happened Tomorrow (1944) • And Then There Were None (1945) • Le Silence est d'or (1947) • La Beauté du diable (1950) • Les Belles de nuit (1952) • Les Grandes Manoeuvres (1955) • Porte des Lilas (1957) • Tout l'or du monde (1961) • Les Fêtes galantes (1965) Short films Entr'acte (1924) • Paris qui dort (1924, a/k/a The Crazy Ray) • La Tour (1928) • Forever and a Day (1943, segment "1897") • La Française et l'amour (1960, segment "Le Mariage") • Les Quatre vérités (1962, segment "Les Deux Pigeons") Television Les Fables de La Fontaine (1949, episode "?")

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