Forever In Time

Written and produced by Robert W. Mull, Forever in Tune is the intriguing and often sad story of famed photographer Edward S. Curtis' (18681952) obsession with documenting the American Indian. Operating out of a small studio in Seattle with his brother Asahel, Edward became entranced with the vanishing customs and traditions of local Indian tribes, and eventually envisioned a large scale project to capture forever in time the swiftly disappearing ways of the Indian. The work, entitled The North American Indian, would be comprised of 40 volumes of exposition and photographs. How Curtis brought his dream project to fruition is the subject of this program which follows his desperate attempts to raise financing (including writing pulp novels, making a big-budget Hollywood film-In the Land of the Headhunters-which commercially bombed, and touring with a musicale featuring Curtis' photography). Curtis would publish the final volume of his masterwork at the age of 62, only to be arrested shortly thereafter for failure to pay alimony (his wife had sued him for divorce years earlier). Incorporating motion picture footage from the era, many Curtis photographs, and interviews with surviving Curtis family members, Forever In Time is an excellent and inspirational documentary about persistence and commitment. Highly recommended. [Note: Purchasers might want to add a note to the box to stick around after the credits roll, following the program is a long series of Curtis' photographs in a section entitled "The North American Indian: A Portfolio."] (Available from: The Cinema Guild, 1697 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.)