Dreams That Money Can Buy | |
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DVD cover
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Directed by | Hans Richter |
Produced by |
Kenneth Macpherson Hans Richter |
Written by |
Josh White Man Ray (uncredited:"Ruth Roses and Revolvers") Hans Rehfisch Hans Richter David Vern |
Starring |
Jack Bittner Libby Holman Josh White |
Music by |
Louis Applebaum ("Narcissus") Paul Bowles ("Desire" and "Ballet") John Cage ("Discs") David Diamond ("Circus") Darius Milhaud ("Ruth, Roses and Revolvers") Josh White ("The Girl With the Prefabricated Heart") |
Cinematography |
Werner Brandes Arnold S. Eagle Peter Glushanok MeyerRosenblum Herman Shulman Victor Vicas |
Release date
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Running time
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99 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $15,000 |
Dreams That Money Can Buy is a 1947 experimental feature color film written, produced, and directed by surrealist artist and dada film-theorist Hans Richter.
The film was produced by Kenneth Macpherson and Peggy Guggenheim.
Collaborators included Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Alexander Calder, Darius Milhaud and Fernand Léger. The film won the Award for the Best Original Contribution to the Progress of Cinematography at the 1947 Venice Film Festival.
Joe/Narcissus (Jack Bittner) is an ordinary man who has recently signed a complicated lease on a room. As he wonders how to pay the rent, he discovers that he can see the contents of his mind unfolding whilst looking into his eyes in the mirror. He realises that he can apply his gift to others ("If you can look inside yourself, you can look inside anyone!"), and sets up a business in his room, selling tailor-made dreams to a variety of frustrated and neurotic clients. Each of the seven surreal dream sequences in the diegesis is in fact the creation of a contemporary avant-garde and/or surrealist artist, as follows:
Song Lyrics John Latouche Sung by Libby Holman and Josh White, accompanied by Norma Cazanjian and Doris Okerson
Music By Darius Milhaud
Music By John Cage
Music By David Diamond
Music By Paul Bowles
Music By Louis Applebaum Dialogue by Richard Holback and Hans Richter
Joe's waiting room is full within minutes of his first day of operation, "the first installment on the 2 billion clients" according to the male narrator in voiceover, whose voice is the only one we hear in the non-dream sequences.