Review of Rose Hobart (1936) by Daryl C — 10 May 2008

Although there are many to choose from, this is just about my favorite movie, the ultimate surreal experience. Joseph Cornell took a minor "exotic" melodrama, and by reediting it, cutting it with stock footage, removing the sound and then placing a variety of different soundtracks on it (it turns out there were options that he left; the soundtrack used on the compilation Joseph Cornell DVD from the Voyager Foundation is the one that was used at Anthology Film Archives for years; the soundtrack included on the Treasures from American Film Archives DVD boxset is an alternative soundtrack that Cornell left), Cornell was able to create a perfect object of (irrational) contemplation, a motion picture "exquisite corpse".

Just for the record: during the 1950s, Stan Brakhage, Larry Jordan and Ken Jacobs all worked as assistants to Joseph Cornell. They were all excited by ROSE HOBART when Cornell would show it to them; Jacobs was so excited that he asked Cornell if he could borrow the film, and Jacobs took it and then showed it to his friend, Jack Smith. As Jacobs has said, they were all so amazed by the film that they ran it backwards, forwards, upside down, with soundtrack A, with soundtrack B, and silent. They couldn't get enough of it! I think that anyone who sees ROSE HOBART will understand why.