Heaven and Earth Magic (also called Number 12, The Magic Feature, or Heaven and Earth Magic Feature) is an American avant garde feature film made by Harry Everett Smith. Originally released in 1957, it was re-edited several times and the final version was released in 1962. The film primarily uses cut-out-animated photographs.
The 66-minute cut of the film is now available on DVD and VHS from the Harry Smith Archives. It is sometimes screened at one-time cinema events, often with some kind of live music instead of the film's soundtrack (which consists solely of sound effects). A recent Ann Arbor Film Festival revival featured a score by laptop musician Flying Lotus.
This film is screened at John Zorn's Essential Cinema concerts, where a group of musicians perform behind the film. In the liner notes to Naked City's "Heretic" album it says "This record is dedicated to Harry Smith. Mystical Animator, Pioneer Ethnomusicologist, Hermetic Scholar, Creator of Heaven + Earth Magic, one of the greatest films of all time."
Read more about Heaven And Earth Magic: Plot
Famous quotes containing the words heaven, earth and/or magic:
“Nay, had she been true,
If heaven would make me such another world
Of one entire and perfect chrysolite,
I’d not have sold her for it.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or
the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the
cistern.
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit
shall return unto God who gave it.
Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, all is vanity.”
—Bible: Hebrew Ecclesiastes (l. XII, 6–7)
“Thou treacherous, base deserter of my flame,
False to my passion, fatal to my fame,
Through what mistaken magic dost thou prove
So true to lewdness, so untrue to love?”
—John Wilmot, Earl Of Rochester (1647–1680)