Tuesday, April 29, 2008

THE Pittsburgh film history

In 1957, the Bicentennial committee of Pittsburgh commissioned a film that was intended to celebrate Pittsburgh’s first two hundred years. More specifically, it was meant to extol the success of the city’s first Renaissance, showing off clean air, clean rivers and effective flood control.

Cutting edge experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage (aka - James Stanley) was brought in and, mixing new 35mm footage with archival images as well as still photographs by the great Eugene Smith and master photo journalist Weegee (Arthur Fellig), the film had, arguably, the most talented contributors ever assembled to shoot a film in Pittsburgh. The cost: $150,000 or, in today’s currency, $1,037,444.56. With a big budget, powerhouse talent and beautifully restored city as backdrop, the film went… nowhere. Literally. It never saw the light of day. It was seen once, by members of the committee that commissioned it, and then shelved. Or rather, it was put into a vault and dead bolted. For 15 years the out-takes, camera negatives and print rolls were stored in the garage of a local foundation leader.

Why? No one knows for sure, but some have speculated that parts of the film were thought to be too “out there” for mainstream audiences. Other’s believed it was, even by 1950’s standards, too schmaltzy.

There are only two known 16mm prints in existence, and both suffer from severe color shift and audio degradation. The 35mm print rolls and all of the camera negative exists and is owned by Pittsburgh Filmmakers, a gift from Ted Hazlett and the project’s primary funder, The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Foundation. The original negative material is in perfect condition. In fact, 10 seconds of skyline was sold by Pittsburgh Filmmakers to Tom Hanks’ production company and appears in the film “Thing That You Do!”

And how does the film hold up today? Parts of it are laughable, some of it is predictable, but all of it is stunningly beautiful. And as a slice of Pittsburgh history, it is absolutely invaluable.