From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1959 film
Skyscraper is a 1959 documentary film by
Shirley Clarke about the construction of the
666 Fifth Avenue skyscraper.
Film
The construction of
666 Fifth Avenue skyscraper is shown.
[2] The film is mostly black and white.
[7] The film was sponsored by
Tishman Realty & Construction Co.;
Reynolds Metals Co.;
Bethlehem Steel Co.;
Westinghouse Elevator Co.;
York Air Conditioning .
Production and reception
Sky was a short film,
[8]
[9] and a documentary.
[10]
[11]
[12] It was considered experimental.
[10]
[5]
[13] As well as Clarke and Van Dyke contributing it also involved Wheaton Galentine and
D. A. Pennebaker .
[14] Clarke said the film was a musical comedy regarding the skyscrapers construction.
[15]
It won the
Venice Film Festival award.
[2]
[16]
[17] It was also nominated for an
Academy Award
[12]
[18] in the
Best Short Live Action category
[19] in 1959.
[20] It also won many other festival prizes.
[5]
See also
References
^
a
b
c
"Willard Van Dyke, Shirley Clarke. Skyscraper. 1959" .
Museum of Modern Art .
Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2018 .
^
a
b
c
d Harbert, Benjamin J. (2018).
"The Use and Abuse of Musicological Concepts" . American Music Documentary: Five Case Studies of Ciné-Ethnomusicology .
Middletown, Connecticut :
Wesleyan University Press . p. 111.
ISBN
9780819578020 .
Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2018 .
^
Carney, Ray .
"The Beat Movement: Beat Screening List" .
Boston University .
Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2018 .
^
"Bridges and Skyscrapers: shorts program" .
Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane .
Queensland Art Gallery .
Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2018 .
^
a
b
c
d
e
f Lev, Peter; Ellis, Jack C.; Faller, Greg S.; Neve, Brian; O'Donnell, Victoria; Wasko, Janet (2006).
"American Documentary in the 1950s" . In
Harpole, Charles (ed.). The Fifties Transforming the Screen, 1950–1959 . History of the American Cinema . Vol. 7.
University of California Press . pp. 242–243.
ISBN
9780520249660 . Archived from
the original on 10 July 2018.
^
Grant, Barry Keith (2011).
"Growing Up Absurd: Shtick Meets Teenpic in The Delicate Delinquent" . Shadows of Doubt: Negotiations of Masculinity in American Genre Films . Detroit:
Wayne State University Press . p. 109.
ISBN
978-0814334577 . Archived from
the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2018 .
^ Barrett, Michael (13 December 2016).
"Shirley Clarke's Films Collected and Restored" .
PopMatters . Retrieved 23 June 2019 . Another commissioned film is the Oscar-nominated Skyscraper (1961), made with Pennebaker, Willard Van Dyke and Irving Jacoby. To explain how a New York building was raised, it uses the conceit of supposing that the construction workers are commenting upon this footage, thus giving a workers' point of view on their accomplishment. The last few minutes of this black and white film adds color footage that looks like it might be lifted from an industrial commercial.
^ Vallance, Tom (26 September 1997).
"Obituary: Shirley Clarke" .
The Independent .
Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2018 .
^
Dargis, Manohla .
"The Shirley Clarke Project by Milestone Films" .
The New York Times .
Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2018 .
^
a
b Cohen, Thomas F. (2012). "After the New American Cinema: Shirley Clarke's Video Work as Performance and Document".
Journal of Film and Video . 64 (1–2).
University of Illinois Press : 57–64.
doi :
10.5406/jfilmvideo.64.1-2.0057 .
JSTOR
10.5406/jfilmvideo.64.1-2.0057 .
S2CID
191635595 . Clarke's revered place in the history of cinema has so far depended on her experimental documentary films such as Bridges Go Round (1958) and Skyscraper (1959)
^
Sadoul, Georges (1972).
Dictionary of Film Makers .
University of California Press . p. 47.
ISBN
9780520021518 . Retrieved 23 June 2019 . documentaries (Scary Time, Loops, Skyscraper with Lewis Jacobs, Willard van Dyke)
^
a
b Geltzer, Jeremy (2016).
"Profanity and the Patently Offensive" . Dirty Words and Filthy Pictures: Film and the First Amendment .
University of Texas Press . p. 202.
ISBN
9781477307434 . Retrieved 23 June 2019 . Clarke's documentary Skyscraper (1959) received an Academy Award nomination.
^ Cohen, Thomas F. (2012).
"Independent Cinema meets Free Jazz" . Playing to the Camera: Musicians and Musical Performance in Documentary Cinema .
Columbia University Press . p. 92.
ISBN
9780231501804 . Archived from
the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2018 .
^ Beattie, Keith (2011-09-28).
"Performing the Real" . D.A. Pennebaker . Contemporary Film Directors . Vol. 146.
University of Illinois Press . p. 82.
ISBN
9780252036590 .
Archived from the original on 10 July 2018.
^
Monaco, James (1991).
The Encyclopedia of Film .
Perigee Books . p.
548 .
ISBN
9780399516047 . Retrieved 23 June 2019 . Skyscraper (1958), described by co-director Shirley Clarke as a "musical comedy about the building of a skyscraper."
^
Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey (1995).
"Clarke, Shirley" .
Women Film Directors: An International Bio-critical Dictionary .
Greenwood Publishing Group . pp.
88 .
ISBN
9780313289729 . Retrieved 10 July 2018 .
^
"Portrait of Jason" (PDF) (Press release).
^ Bebb, Bruce (Spring 1982). "The Many Media of Shirley Clarke".
Journal of the University Film and Video Association . 34 (2).
University of Illinois Press on behalf of the
University Film & Video Association : 3–8.
JSTOR
20686887 .
^
"Project Shirley: Short Films by Shirley Clarke" . Los Angeles Filmforum . March 3, 2015.
Archived from the original on July 24, 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2018 .
^
Edinburgh International Film Festival .
"EIFF Biography of Shirley Clarke" . EdinburghGuide .
Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2018 .
External links