Hearts of Age, The (1934)
Directed by William Vance, Orson Welles
Genre: Short / Classic / Avant-garde
Runtime: 8 min
Country: USA
Color: Black and White
Sound Mix: Silent
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025227/
Orson Welles's first film, a very classic and rare-seen avant-garde film.
Sometimes a student film is just an exercise. Sometime it is a meaningless exercise made important because that student went on to become someone important. In that case, maybe you can in retrospect find some indication of adventure or style in the callow artifact. But sometimes the early project is worthwhile on its own merits.
Nearly everyone thinks this is of the second type. I think it is the third. Yes, the production values stink. Yes, the recent editor added in some stuff that Welles omitted. Yes it is too brief to easily read. But there is some heady stuff here: just the one image of his sexual partner on the bell is pretty rich. Just the notion of making one character the `barker' for the film is impressive, making him surrogate for the filmmaker. Balancing him with someone intent on destroying the project is clever too.
These three notions characterize Welles' films:
Film as a noisy essentially genital experience; the filmmaker as a character whose onscreen presence makes the visions; the explicit representation of all the destructive/ obstructive forces that would prevent the artist from his orgasmic vision.
All of Orson's films were about himself. All of them were essentially consumptive -- he ravishing the material and the environment consuming him. It starts here.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 4: Worth watching.
Orson.Welles.-.Hearts.of.Age.avi 
