Marilyn Times Five

Marilyn Times Five is a 1973 experimental film by American filmmaker Bruce Conner. The film is considered an example of the pop art movement, made famous by Andy Warhol and other artists.

Plot

As in his some of his other films, Connor used found footage to compose the film. For "Marilyn Times Five" the footage comes from Apple Knockers and Coke, a famous porno loop from the late '40s featuring Monroe look-alike Arline Hunter. The quality of the film is grainy, obscuring the images of Hunter as she poses topless, leading many viewers to confuse her with the real Marilyn Monroe. Monroe's song, " I'm Through With Love" from her film "Some Like It Hot" (1959) accompanies the footage. The song is repeated a total of five times, hence the film's title, "Marilyn Times Five".

Connor loops and repeats the footage of Hunter in terms of poses and movements which, when combined with the repetitiveness of the song creates an unnerving effect. At times, Connor simply shows a black screen. Conner's intent, he has said, "was to take some parts of the found footage and rearrange them to see if the quintessential "Marilyn" could emerge". The film is "experimental" in both the scientific and artistic sense, and is considered an avant-garde film.

The film's status as part of the avant-garde underground is also in part because of how Connor chose to emphasize the film's production elements. Cuts and edits in the film stock are made obvious with the inclusion of black frames.

References

• Chuck Kleinhans article Wanda and Marilyn Times Five Seeing through cinema verite. Retrieved 25 June 2006

External links

• Marilyn Times Five at the Internet Movie Database