https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xr_msBoi6I

For the past week I have been thinking about Busby Berkeley and the “I Only Have Eyes for You” scene from Dames (1934). To me it is the ultimate in surreal Busby Berkeley experiences. Countless replicated visions of Ruby Keeler swarm the screen, the leading lady’s face copied over and over in a dizzying array of patterns. (And that shot of Keeler’s face that focuses in on her eyeball – talk about extreme close-ups!) The nature of the strange scene, as a dream within the framework of the musical sequence supposedly happening onstage, reaches a level of bizarreness eclipsed only by “Lullaby of Broadway” from Gold Diggers of 1935 (almost like a short film separate from the rest of the picture).

Considering both the readings for last week and for our upcoming class, I also find myself thinking about the “Eyesight to the Blind” scene in Ken Russell’s Tommy (1975). One could certainly make a case for Russell as an auteur. In this scene the image of an iconic movie star, Marilyn Monroe, is co-opted for the masks worn by acolytes of a cult. This group and their leader have turned the hypnotic power of a star’s face, persona and history of substance abuse into a religious experience that can heal all kinds of ailments – all intended to help the main character, who cannot see, hear or speak. (Is Marilyn’s face an Idea or an Event, as Barthes wrote about in his essay “The Face of Garbo”?) I must also point out that the first shot in the clip is the first time that we see Roger Daltrey in the film; it’s a close-up that announces, “Here he is! The star you want to see!”