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 and, heaven, earth and/or magic:
“The married state, with and without the affection suitable to it, is the completest image of heaven and hell we are capable of receiving in this life.”
—Richard Steele (1672–1729)
“All under heaven are one family.”
—Chinese proverb.
“To say nothing is out here is incorrect; to say the desert is stingy with everything except space and light, stone and earth is closer to the truth.”
—William Least Heat Moon [William Trogdon] (b. 1939)
“The work of adult life is not easy. As in childhood, each step presents not only new tasks of development but requires a letting go of the techniques that worked before. With each passage some magic must be given up, some cherished illusion of safety and comfortably familiar sense of self must be cast off, to allow for the greater expansion of our distinctiveness.”
—Gail Sheehy (20th century)