Le Ballet Mecanique 1924 - Fernand Léger, Georges Antheil, Dudley Murphy, Man Ray

(France 1924, bw/color, 16m at 18 fps); director: Fernand Léger, Dudley Murphy; screenplay: Fernand Léger; photography: Fernand Léger, Dudley Murphy, #Man Ray; music: Georges Antheil. #kikidemontparnasse #kiki Charlot, disarticulated silhouette, presents the mechanical ballet. A woman rocks on the swing in the garden. In a neutral space, objects burst: a straw hat, some numbers, bottles of wine, a white triangle. Kiki’s lips shine, as big as the frame. Discs and reflective spheres rotate and oscillate; the mirror surface returns the image of a man standing, and that of another behind the camera. Pendulum motorbike of Christmas tree balls; casseroles, cake molds, and other kitchen utensils come alive with a whirling motion. Two eyes in the foreground open wide, then the eyelids fall; therefore the eyelashes result in eyebrows, as before and vice versa. In the dance of objects emerges the head of a young man, then, in the most frenetic rhythm of bottles, connecting rods, triangles/circles, numbers and typewrit