Underground Film

A masterpiece of cinema literature, Tyler has evaluated the Underground in general and the seminal films in particular, covering the history and scope of the genre with insight and verve. "Indispensable for anyone interested in contemporary filmmaking, its history, personalities, and rationale".--Publishers Weekly. 67 film stills and frame enlargements.

"Parker Tyler (1904-1974), one of the few great American film critics, was intimate with and enormously respected by many of the underground and experimental filmmakers of his time. In this book, Tyler"

* The Underground Taboo Versus the Taboo on Reality * The Exploding Peephole of the Underground * Toward Exhibition and Exhibitionism * Popularizing Peepshows: the Infantile Gimmick * No Establishment at All? * Underground Climb: from Exhibitionism to Art * Underground Infantilism: Surfacing Superstars * Superstar Space: the Playroom * Can the Technician Escape the Pad? * The Pad Can Be Commercialized * Performing Children, Performing Madmen * The ParanoiacCritical Kick * The Pads Predecessor: an Archetype * Underground Film Is Primitive Film * Where the Rub Is * The Abstractness of the Avant-Gardes * The Avant-Garde Laboratory * Dotting the Eyes of Distortion * Psychedelic Anamorphosis and Its Lesson * Dotting the Eye of History * Film Aesthetics: Rampant and Purist * The Plot Thickensbut Seriously * The Plastic Pulse Ticks On * In the Pad: Plastique versus Surplot * Hard-core History * The Esthetics of Film History * The Population Explosion and the Remedy * Basic Film Forms * Hisotyr and Manifesto * The Shape of Things to Come? * Coda