Escape Episode (1947)

• 74%
• 1947
• Kenneth Anger

'Escape Episode' was Anger's first film to be publicly screened, and was available to rent from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It was filmed under the working title of 'Demigods' in 1944 and using Anger's real name (Kenneth Anglemyer). He was just 17. The star was his classmate, Marilyn Granas, who had been a stand-in for Shirley Temple in the 1930s.Described by Anger as a "free rendering of the Andromeda myth" this silent film was a love story, a 'boy meets girl' seaside yarn. The girl is imprisoned in a castle by her clairvoyant aunt, and used as a stooge in fake seances. During secret rendezvous with her new friend, the girl plans to escape - which she accomplishes in the final reel.In 1946, Anger revisited the film, trimming it from 35 to 27 minutes. He also added sound effects, narration and music by Scriabin, the epic 'Poem of Ecstacy'.Although widely shown up to 1967, the film is now considered 'lost', although it is possible that a print exists in a forgotten film archive - perhaps even Anger's own, as the director has previously stated there are a few films of his that he "prefers not to show".