The Short Films of David Lynch - The Amputee

The Amputee (1974) was made for the American Film Institute while Eraserhead was in financial limbo. The AFI was testing two different stocks of black and white video, and enlisted Frederick Elmes to test each one. Lynch asked Elmes if he could shoot something with this stock, and he allowed him, so Lynch and Catherine Coulson stayed up all night writing the script. The result was a one shot scene with Catherine Coulson about a woman attempting to write a letter while a female nurse (played by Lynch) tends to her leg stumps. It exists in two versions: one that goes for 4 minutes, and one that goes for 5.