Jixby Phillips
I was waiting for it to get interesting. It never did. It's lines, man. They appear and disappear and stuff. Big deal. There was already a lot of innovation in the film and animation world at this point in history. I don't get what's impressive about these particular lines. Maybe there's some sort of context missing here. But Jeez Louise... I was waiting for this thing to start and then just wanted it to end. Speaking of lines, did you know that IMDb requires a minimum of ten lines in a review? If the text dialog box I'm typing into is any indication, then I have three more to go after the break, which actually happened between the words "after" and "the" just now. Of course, by the time this review goes to press it'll be formatted differently. Of course, your browser's text setting will definitely come into play here.
MartinHafer
While this film practically defies description and is practically impossible to review, I decided to take this on simply because the opening made me laugh. There is a blurb that appears on the screen and indicates that this film by Viking Eggeling is simply a work of genius!! The summary above is taken from this self-congratulatory praise!! Never have a seen a film so quick to pat itself on the back!!The entire silent film consists of art deco-style black & white shapes appearing and moving about--all with diagonals or with diagonals superimposed on it. Set to music this might have been mesmerizing, but as a silent it lacks a lot. I won't give it a score but would beg to differ that it is the best abstract yet conceived (at least by 1924)--something better must surely exist--something worth seeing to the average Joe.
mrdonleone
Diagonale Symphonie, what to expect? some strange movie, and indeed, it turned out to be a very strange light effects movie, where you keep wondering what you are looking at. is it a piano? is it a glass? is it a chicken? is it a wig? it's really hard to say, because the little differences with each picture of light you get to see, really change the global frame you get to see. is it the sun? is it a knife? actually, it's not quite that funny, because as a viewer, I want to know what I'm looking at. maybe the title means something... yes, it could be instruments. that would explain a lot. instruments, shown by light, maybe it means standing in the spotlights, to be famous, perhaps this movie is about being famous.
Polaris_DiB
This animation could arguably be held as a consummate creation of modern art expression. Viking Eggeling's short was created as an experiment in design, time, and rhythm, not too far removed from Hans Ricther's Rhythmus 21, but several times better and more interesting. What particularly appeals about this film is that, despite the fact that the forms and shapes are entirely abstract, this film is still rather fascinating to watch. It sort of pre-dates trance cinema in that sense, and could possibly considered a forerunner of such things as even Maya Deren's work in the 50s.--PolarisDiB
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