Inauguration of The Pleasure Dome (1954)
Director: Kenneth Anger - Assistant Camera Operator: Robert Straede – Costumes by: Kenneth Anger - Film editor: Kenneth Anger - Music: Leos Janácek (1966); Eletric Light Orchestra (1978) – Painted Opening Titles: Paul Mathison - Production: Kenneth Anger - Country: Stati Uniti - Running Time: 39’
Cast: Samson De Brier (Lord Shiva / Osiris / Nero / The Great Beast); Marjorie Cameron (The Scarlet Woman / Lady Kali); Kathryn “Katy” Kadell (Isis); Renate Druks (Lilith); Anaïs Nin (Astarte); Paul Mathison (Pan); Curtis Harrington (Cesare / Slave / Sleep-walker); K. Anger (Hecate); Peter Loome (Ganymede)
The film:
"The film Inauguration of The Pleasure Dome was conceived in the occasion of a costume party organized by Renata Druks, a friend of Anaïs Nin. K. Anger joined the party and he thought to organize the same party at Samson DeBrier place, inviting magicians dressed up like mythological characters. […] The mythological figures come from the typical Kenneth Anger pantheon: together with the Great Beast and the Scarlet Woman, Astarte and Pan, there was also Cesar the Sleepwalker from Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari! [...] Starting from this film, K. Anger’s works start to assume the appearance of religious rituals."
[Robert A. Heller, Kenneth Anger in Paolo Bertetto (curated by), Il grande occhio della notte. Cinema d’Avanguardia Americano 1920-1990, Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Torino; Lindau, 1993, p. 84-85]
The Museo Nazionale del Cinema conserves the edition of the film with a soundtrack made by Leos Janácek (“Sacred Mushroom Edition”) and the one with the music composed by the Electric Light Orchestra in 1978, inserted in the anthology “Kenneth Anger’s Magick Lantern Cycle”.
The film restoration:
The preservation of the different version of Inauguration of The Pleasure Dome was realized by the Museo Nazionale del Cinema di Torino starting from a 16mm positive prints held by the Museum and acquired in 1992 by the director Kenneth Anger.
The preservation, aimed to print an internegative scene and sound with the successive synchronization of the image and sound, made possible the correction of the most evident signs of use of the original elements, the density of the image and, when necessary, of the color.
The work was conducted in 2010 by the laboratory Haghefilm Conservation B.V. Cineco in Amsterdam.
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