Dissolving & Reconstituting Narrative Cinema

10	The Private Lives of Adam & Eve	1958 - Albert Zugsmith (USA)
	Theatrical rupture	Space between film & viewer; rupture types; rupture intentions; intentional rupture

A: Zugsmith

Started out in the field of journalism. Moved into publishing newspapers, then producing independent films and co productions for Major studios in the fifties and sixties. Produced TOUCH OF EVIL for Welles, WRITTEN ON THE WIND and TARNISHED ANGELS for Sirk, SLAUGHTER ON TENTH AVENUE for Arnold Laven, THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN for Jack Arnold and FANNY HILL, for Russ Meyer. (Other productions include obscurities like CAPTIVE WOMEN and INVASION USA.) Films he directed : COLLEGE CONFIDENTIAL., SEX KITTENS GO TO COLLEGE and THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ADAM & EVE (all 1960); DONDI (61); CONFESSIONS OF AN OPIUM EATER (62); THE INCREDIBLE SEX REVOLUTION (6?); ON HER BED OF ROSES (66); and what appears to be his last film to date MOVIE STAR AMERICAN STYLE OR L.S.D. I HATE YOU! (67).
 
B: The space between film & viewer

Let us consider the. film as a 'text' ie. a body , construction or assemblage of meanings, symbolic codes and semantic networks (in a full and complex combination of plot, story and narrative) all of which come into being or come into play when we interact with the text. Our experience of the film, our comprehension and understanding of it, is then centered or located in that interaction in the space between us and the film. (This is in opposition to the notion that 'we' are totally separate from the film and simply pry into it as an isolated and disconnected object.)

This 'space' between us and the film (a space that involves us with the film) is engineered by the film text, in that at every step of the narrative there is a viewer position being created for us. In the most conventional terms, this series of locations or positions created for us (which in total make up the interactive space) is founded on orientation the film is careful to somehow or eventually explain to us two important factors: (a) WHERE we are in the story/plot/narrative; & (b) WHY we are where we are in the story/plot/narrative
 
C : Rupture types

Rupture refers to any manner of crack, break, split, gap, hole, fissure or gulf that can occur in the construction of the film text. A rupture in the film text results in a rupture of our location with the film text, resulting in some form of disorientation : we don't know where we are nor why we are there. Ruptures can manifest themselves in many ways:

(a) ontological rupture something could happen with the actual screen, the celluloid strip, the projection, the speaker system or the social environment of the audience which would suddenly break our interaction with the film text and thrust us back into the reality of our viewing situation. This rupture is thus founded on the physical and material nature of the film event.
(b) plot rupture something could happen in the plot which would force you to reject the first half of the film as having happened in the way you though it had. This rupture is founded on our notions of realism, credibility, actuality, accuracy, believability, etc.
(c) narrative rupture something could happen whereby the form, style, slant and shape of the narrative how it was telling its story could suddenly change direction, forcing you to read the film in a manner different to how you had been interpreting it. This rupture is founded on our comprehension of film language and how grammatical components communicate to us,
 
D: Rupture intentions

The 3 major types of rupture listed above can occur for different reasons some intentional, some unintentional:
(a) budget restrictions
(b) studio production measures
(c) 'inexperienced' direction
(d) changing trends/styles (ie. watching an old film which looks 'funny' today')
(e) experimentation in non conventional form (dialectic rupture)
(f) intentional perversity & anarchic humour (theatrical rupture)
 
E: Intentional ruptures

The dialectic rupture (e) we shall cover with THE MAN WHO LIED. The theatrical rupture (f) is evidenced in THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ADAM & EVE. Apart from its intention to be funny, its textual construction (how plot, story, narrative, character, symbolism, etc. etc. etc. all work together) is based on a series of theatrical ruptures. Consider this sequential breakdown of the film's narrative :

(i) Cartoon cards with captions - (a) "This is a pipe dream" (b); "This is a fantasy" (c); "This is a fable"
(ii) B&W scenes from the forthcoming film : no synch sound, musical theme overlaid plus a set of superimposed title cards:
(a) "Once upon a time, not too many years from now
(b) "Eight very different People embarked on a bus to Reno
(c) "There was the teenager running away from home
(d) "The travelling salesman with the wandering eye
(e) "The husband chasing his bride
(f) "The bride getting a divorce
(g) "The gambler making a mockery of all decency
(h) "The gambler's wife trying to save a bad marriage
(i) "The young man seeking his fortune
(j) "And the kindly old bus driver
(k) "The floods came and death was very real
(1) "The buffoon tried to make jokes
(m) "About life itself and the beginnings of mankind
(n) "In his terror he ridiculed God
(o) "The religious prayed each in their own way
(p) "And two people named Adam and Eve dreamed a fantasy -
(q) "Composed of their own wishes, desires and needs
(r) "Distorted into a crazy quilt
(s) "Of laughter and tears like all dreams."
(iii) Dissolve from image of A&E in church asleep into their dream - which starts with the Universal film logo, then continues with the film's main credits on cartoon cards.
(iv) Zooming into a keyhole from the last cartoon card credit, the B&W film 'starts' with superimposed credits of cast and crew. The image sequence here is of Pinky Parker and his souped up jallopy. The camera picks out every detail of the car, stretching it across this credit sequence.
(v) The 'story' now begins. A voice over of the busdriver then repeats everything already covered in (ii/a) (ii/s), except this time we are more precisely introduced not just to the stereotypes, but to the characters and their initial function in the plot.
(vi) Having been totally keyed in on this introduction of plot and characters, the plot finally moves :
(a) the car/bus chase (includes lots of found footage)
(b) the flood (includes even more found footage)
(c) the church scene where A&E then dream the proceeding story. Important dialogue prefaces the dream : Eve - "I've never even read the bible" & "Take me back to our Paradise"; Adam - "We'll go back to our Paradise".
(vii) Dissolve from A&E in church asleep into their dream but before that dissolve even finishes, we cut to the bus driver looking at them dreaming (ie. are A&E dreaming that he is looking at them dreaming) and he then suddenly looks away from them as lightning strikes a tree which smashes through a stained glass window depicting Satan. The film then turns to colour. We didn't even finish the dream dissolve effect!
(viii) We now presume that we are viewing what A&E are dreaming. A new voice over (whose?) talks about the beginnings of the earth, on top of lots of found footage of nature, explosions, the sea, etc. This sequence finishes with that same voice over saying: "This is the dream of two people ; about the battle of selfishness and lust."
(ix) Then the pipe dream/fantasy/fable begins. It is in colour until Adam (not Eve) bites the apple. Occasionally a dissolve takes us back to the shot of A&E asleep/dreaming in the church (in B&W), presumably to confirm that this dream is their dream. Also intercutting this crazy Garden Of Eden story are dislocated Vaudevillian skits involving Mickey Rooney as Satan.
(x) Eventually this Eden story finishes, dissolving back to A&E in the church. They wake up and Eve says: "I'm not quite sure I understand (it all). Maybe we better read the bible and find out what really happened."
With the storm over, everyone leaves the church. Eve discovers that like in her dream she is pregnant. As everyone exits, A&E hold hands, look back to the camera (us) and smile.