This movie was released in 1974.

[Edited 4/17/12 11:05am]

Never heard of this movie WOW, this is def worth tracking down.

Harlepolis said:

Never heard of this movie WOW, this is def worth tracking down.

Well, most people haven't heard of Sun Ra. This movie has been on DVD, but don't know if it's still in print. You can try www.moviesunlimited.com. If they don't have a film, then it's probably not available or maybe only overseas (which is usually a different region code). M.U. only sell new copies, not used.

[Edited 1/5/11 8:11am]

MickyDolenz said:

Harlepolis said:

Never heard of this movie WOW, this is def worth tracking down.

Well, most people haven't heard of Sun Ra. This movie has been on DVD, but don't know if it's still in print. You can try www.moviesunlimited.com. If they don't have a film, then it's probably not available or maybe only overseas (which is usually a different region code).

I'm familiar with Sun Ra's music, I just wasn't aware that he made a feature film.

I saved the film in my wish list(Amazon).

Harlepolis said:

MickyDolenz said:

Well, most people haven't heard of Sun Ra. This movie has been on DVD, but don't know if it's still in print. You can try www.moviesunlimited.com. If they don't have a film, then it's probably not available or maybe only overseas (which is usually a different region code).

I'm familiar with Sun Ra's music, I just wasn't aware that he made a feature film.

I saved the film in my wish list(Amazon).

There was also a sort of movie made in the late 50's or early 60's with Sun Ra, but I can't think of the name of it right now. It's like these people (in an acting format) debating what jazz is, but with footage of the Arkestra spliced in. They were still doing more or less straight jazz then and wearing suits. Then there is a short film called The Magic Sun. I guess you can say it's just a long music video filmed in high contrast, sort of artsy psychedelia.

MickyDolenz said:

Harlepolis said:

I'm familiar with Sun Ra's music, I just wasn't aware that he made a feature film.

I saved the film in my wish list(Amazon).

There was also a sort of movie made in the late 50's or early 60's with Sun Ra, but I can't think of the name of it right now. It's like these people (in an acting format) debating what jazz is, but with footage of the Arkestra spliced in. They were still doing more or less straight jazz then and wearing suits.

I think you're talking about this film. Which is the only Sun Ra documentary film I'm familiar with....

Thanks to reader Jake for alerting me to this. A film I completely overlooked (and really shouldn’t have) that was also one of the 25 films to be inducted for preservation in the 2010 National Film Registry of the Library of Congress (yesterday I announced that Spike Lee’s Malcolm X was on the short list).

The experimental film is titled The Cry Of Jazz – a fascinating 34-minute critical analysis of Jazz music, directed by Ed Bland (an African American) – his only film. He went on to a career as a composer, arranger, and producer for the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, and on films like A Raisin In The Sun, Ganja And Hess, andThe Cool World.

Shot on 16mm black-and-white, on no budget, with a volunteer cast and crew, the film is essentially a thesis on the structural correlation between black life in America and jazz music. Indeed, Bland wrote a book on the matter, titled, The Fruits of the Death of Jazz, and the characters in the film serve as mouthpieces for his declarations, which must have been startling at the time the film was made, in 1959.

In watching the film, I immediately thought of another film that would have been just as alarming in its day – John Cassavetes’ Shadows (also made in 1959 by the way). Both films at the forefront of the then American cinema avant-garde; although Bland’s film doesn’t seem to have enjoyed the same kind of repertory status as Cassavetes’ seminal work.

At the center of The Cry Of Jazz is a debate between black intellectuals and white jazz fans in some unknown living space, on the history of jazz as the story of the “fantastic ingenuity of the Negro in America.”

Music is provided by Sun Ra and his Arkestra, who are seen and heard performing in their prime.

The Cry Of Jazz (1959)

[Edited 4/17/12 11:11am]

I was listening to this OST today.

when i first saw this film, i was so amazed. one of the greatest moments in cinematic history!

MJJstudent said:

when i first saw this film, i was so amazed. one of the greatest moments in cinematic history!

I wonder how the movie got financed and the audience it was promoted to, since Sun Ra has always been an underground act for the most part.

MickyDolenz said:

MJJstudent said:

when i first saw this film, i was so amazed. one of the greatest moments in cinematic history!

I wonder how the movie got financed and the audience it was promoted to, since Sun Ra has always been an underground act for the most part.

i wonder as well... it seems like it was self-funded for the most part, since he had his label and stuff. those limited edition silkscreens with his artwork on them were at LEAST $200 back in the 90s. i wonder how much they are now.

MJJstudent said:

MickyDolenz said:

I wonder how the movie got financed and the audience it was promoted to, since Sun Ra has always been an underground act for the most part.

i wonder as well... it seems like it was self-funded for the most part, since he had his label and stuff. those limited edition silkscreens with his artwork on them were at LEAST $200 back in the 90s. i wonder how much they are now.

Probably, since I doubt a major Hollywood studio would pay for it, given the Sun Ra messages in the film. I do think a little Blaxploitation was added to the story to make it a little commercial, particularly with the devil like character as sort of a pimp.

MickyDolenz said:

MJJstudent said:

i wonder as well... it seems like it was self-funded for the most part, since he had his label and stuff. those limited edition silkscreens with his artwork on them were at LEAST $200 back in the 90s. i wonder how much they are now.

Probably, since I doubt a major Hollywood studio would pay for it, given the Sun Ra messages in the film. I do think a little Blaxploitation was added to the story to make it a little commercial, particularly with the devil like character as sort of a pimp.

when it opens with 'north american star system presents'... yeah, i would think that was self-funded. also, the sets were so local that it probably didn't requite much money. all the outside scenes were used in sun ra's backyard, perhaps? someone watching this without knowing what it was about may think of it as some third-rate b movie. but the movie is AWESOME! i wanna watch it again!

MJJstudent said:

MickyDolenz said:

Probably, since I doubt a major Hollywood studio would pay for it, given the Sun Ra messages in the film. I do think a little Blaxploitation was added to the story to make it a little commercial, particularly with the devil like character as sort of a pimp.

when it opens with 'north american star system presents'... yeah, i would think that was self-funded. also, the sets were so local that it probably didn't requite much money. all the outside scenes were used in sun ra's backyard, perhaps? someone watching this without knowing what it was about may think of it as some third-rate b movie. but the movie is AWESOME! i wanna watch it again!

I haven't watched it lately, but I think one scene looked like it was in the desert or a dry area.

MickyDolenz said:

MJJstudent said:

when it opens with 'north american star system presents'... yeah, i would think that was self-funded. also, the sets were so local that it probably didn't requite much money. all the outside scenes were used in sun ra's backyard, perhaps? someone watching this without knowing what it was about may think of it as some third-rate b movie. but the movie is AWESOME! i wanna watch it again!

I haven't watched it lately, but I think one scene looked like it was in the desert or a dry area.

i haven't watched in a while either, so...

Of my favorite movies of all time. A must see for anyone who knows Sun Ra.

vanity2 said:

Of my favorite movies of all time. A must see for anyone who knows Sun Ra.

The Magic Sun video is interestingly filmed also.