The Magic Box—The Films of Shirley Clarke: 1929-1987

The folks at Milestone Films have spent almost a decade gathering, preserving, restoring, and re-releasing the films of Shirley Clarke, whose work spans documentary, experimental, and dramatic narrative films. The fourth and final volume of Project Shirley is a three-disc set featuring the short films and other previously uncollected works. The first disc includes experimental films made between 1957 and 1987, most in collaboration with other artists like D.A. Pennebaker, a partner on both "Brussels Loops," which was made for the 1957 World Fair in Brussels, and the Oscar-nominated documentary short "Skyscraper" (1960), and playwrights Sam Shepard and Joseph Chaiken on the video shorts "Tongues" (1982) and "Savage/Love" (1981). Clarke began as a dancer and choreographer and disc two features her dance films, which were her earliest works. In these shorts (including unfinished films and outtakes), viewers can see her develop her expressive, poetic approach and then return to the form in a series of films with choreographer Marion Scott in the 1970s. Disc three presents Clarke's 1963 documentary Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel with the World, which earned the filmmaker an Academy Award, as well as Christopher and Me, a 1960 adventure with sailing boats that is part children's film and part dreamy remembrance, and a collection of home movies. Also included here are a TV interview with Clarke from 1956 and photo galleries. While most of these shorts are neither as well known nor as essential as previous releases in the series (notably the landmark films Portrait of Jason and The Connection), this volume features previously lost and unavailable titles and completes the exhaustive reclamation of a neglected artist. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)