Comments on Bright Lights After Dark: The Surreal World of Slavko Vorkapich

I saw "Moods of the Sea" shown by Vorkapich during...

2009-10-26T12:04:40.223-07:00

I saw "Moods of the Sea" shown by Vorkapich during a lecture series at UCLA that I attended. It's an effective Soviet-style montage of crashing waves set to "Fingal's Cave" by Mendelsohn (also known as the Chuck Jones Mynah Bird theme).

Thanks for the correction, Anonymous.

And apparently there's a granddaughter, Danica Vor...

2009-10-26T11:24:51.718-07:00

And apparently there's a granddaughter, Danica Vorkapich, according to the IMDB. She's a crew member on HBO series like Deadwood, apparently.

Wouldn't it be great if some enterprising DVD company (Microcinema? Masters of Cinema?) would issue a "Slavko's Greatest Hits!" compilation? Besides the obvious choices (Life and Death of a Hollywood Extra, all those stunning montages for MGM et al.), there are tantalizing directorial credits for unknown entities like The Past of Mary Holmes (1933) and Moods of the Sea aka Fingal's Cave (1941). I don't know about you, but I would love to know about the past, present, and future of Mary Holmes. And exactly what moods the sea is suffering from.

edward is his son

2009-10-26T11:07:00.056-07:00

edward is his son

As far as I can determine, Edward and Slavko are u...

2009-10-24T13:54:06.867-07:00

As far as I can determine, Edward and Slavko are unrelated.

I thought he did the hallucination sequence in I B...

2009-10-22T09:30:33.611-07:00

I thought he did the hallucination sequence in I Bury the Living, but that's credited to Edward Vorkapich. A relative?

These are unbelievably good, thanks for posting. E...

2009-10-19T10:33:58.331-07:00

These are unbelievably good, thanks for posting.
Erik -
Seattle

Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I am...

2009-10-18T22:35:44.943-07:00

Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I am familiar with Vorkapich's reputation as a legendary teacher to some of this generation's most prominent filmmakers, but I was not aware of his own film work.

His mastery of photography (cinematography) and montage is clearly evident in these clips. Despite their age, they are still stunning and visually relevant -- successfully transcending the primitive makeup and special effects techniques available during that time.