Movie: An Optical Poem

  • HomePage

  • Overview

    A dance of shapes. A title card tells us this is an experiment in conveying the mental images of music in a visual form. Liszt's "Second Hungarian Rhapsody" is the music. The shapes, all two-dimensional, are circles primarily, with some squares and rectangles, and a few triangles. The shapes move rhythmically to the music: receding from view or moving across the screen. Red circles on a blue background; light blue squares; white rectangles. Then, a red background of many circles with a few in the foreground. Red gives way to blue then to white. Shapes reappear as Liszt's themes re-occur. Then, with a few staccato notes and images, it's over.

  • Release Date

    1938-03-05

  • Average

    6.643

  • Rating:

    3.3 starts
  • Tagline

  • Genres

  • Languages:

    No Language
  • Keywords

Recommendations Movies

Castro Street
60%

Castro Street(en)

1966-08-10

Inspired by a lesson from Erik Satie, a film in the form of a street: Castro Street, running by the Standard Oil Refinery in Richmond, California. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Pacific Film Archive in 2000.

2001: A Space Odyssey
81%

2001: A Space Odyssey(en)

1968-04-02

Humanity finds a mysterious object buried beneath the lunar surface and sets off to find its origins with the help of HAL 9000, the world's most advanced super computer.

Interstellar
85%

Interstellar(en)

2014-11-05

The adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.

Green Book
82%

Green Book(en)

2018-11-16

Tony Lip, a bouncer in 1962, is hired to drive pianist Don Shirley on a tour through the Deep South in the days when African Americans, forced to find alternate accommodations and services due to segregation laws below the Mason-Dixon Line, relied on a guide called The Negro Motorist Green Book.

BlacKkKlansman
75%

BlacKkKlansman(en)

2018-08-09

Colorado Springs, late 1970s. Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer, and Flip Zimmerman, his Jewish colleague, run an undercover operation to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan.

Murder on the Orient Express
67%

Murder on the Orient Express(en)

2017-11-03

Genius Belgian detective Hercule Poirot investigates the murder of an American tycoon aboard the Orient Express train.

Ready or Not
70%

Ready or Not(en)

2019-08-21

A young bride's wedding night turns into her worst nightmare when her ridiculously rich in-laws force her to play a gruesome game of hide-and-seek.

Get Out
76%

Get Out(en)

2017-02-24

Chris and his girlfriend Rose go upstate to visit her parents for the weekend. At first, Chris reads the family's overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter's interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he never could have imagined.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens
73%

Star Wars: The Force Awakens(en)

2015-12-15

Thirty years after defeating the Galactic Empire, Han Solo and his allies face a new threat from the evil Kylo Ren and his army of Stormtroopers.

Annihilation
64%

Annihilation(en)

2018-02-22

A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don't apply.

Saint Maud
66%

Saint Maud(en)

2020-10-09

Having recently found God, self-effacing young nurse Maud arrives at a plush home to care for Amanda, a hedonistic dancer left frail from a chronic illness. When a chance encounter with a former colleague throws up hints of a dark past, it becomes clear there is more to sweet Maud than meets the eye.

The Revenant
75%

The Revenant(en)

2015-12-25

In the 1820s, a frontiersman, Hugh Glass, sets out on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling.

Thor: Love and Thunder
64%

Thor: Love and Thunder(en)

2022-07-06

After his retirement is interrupted by Gorr the God Butcher, a galactic killer who seeks the extinction of the gods, Thor Odinson enlists the help of King Valkyrie, Korg, and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster, who now wields Mjolnir as the Mighty Thor. Together they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance and stop him before it’s too late.

The Godfather
87%

The Godfather(en)

1972-03-14

Spanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, Vito Corleone barely survives an attempt on his life, his youngest son, Michael steps in to take care of the would-be killers, launching a campaign of bloody revenge.

Avatar
76%

Avatar(en)

2009-12-15

In the 22nd century, a paraplegic Marine is dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission, but becomes torn between following orders and protecting an alien civilization.

Knives Out
78%

Knives Out(en)

2019-11-27

When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan's dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan's untimely death.

Marriage Story
77%

Marriage Story(en)

2019-09-28

A stage director and an actress struggle through a grueling, coast-to-coast divorce that pushes them to their personal extremes.

The Truman Show
81%

The Truman Show(en)

1998-06-04

Every second of every day, from the moment he was born, for the last thirty years, Truman Burbank has been the unwitting star of the longest running, most popular documentary-soap opera in history. The picture-perfect town of Seahaven that he calls home is actually a gigantic soundstage. Truman's friends and family - everyone he meets, in fact - are actors. He lives every moment under the unblinking gaze of thousands of hidden TV cameras.

Woman of the Hour
64%

Woman of the Hour(en)

2024-10-03

An aspiring actress crosses paths with a prolific serial killer in '70s LA when they're cast on an episode of "The Dating Game."

Me Before You
79%

Me Before You(en)

2016-06-01

A small town girl is caught between dead-end jobs. A high-profile, successful man becomes wheelchair bound following an accident. The man decides his life is not worth living until the girl is hired for six months to be his new caretaker. Worlds apart and trapped together by circumstance, the two get off to a rocky start. But the girl becomes determined to prove to the man that life is worth living and as they embark on a series of adventures together, each finds their world changing in ways neither of them could begin to imagine.

Similar Movies

Jack-Jack Attack
73%

Jack-Jack Attack(en)

2005-03-15

The Parrs' baby Jack-Jack is thought to be normal, not having any super-powers like his parents or siblings. But when an outsider is hired to watch him, Jack-Jack shows his true potential.

The Nutcracker
88%

The Nutcracker(en)

1977-12-16

The Nutcracker is Mikhail Baryshnikov's breathtaking and critcally acclaimed Emmy nominated production. The thisspectacular performance is danced by the magnificent team of Baryshnikov, one of the greatest classical dancers of the century, and Gelsey Kirkland, both chowcased at the peak of the their careers, with members of the American Ballet Theatre.

Bach: A Passionate Life
70%

Bach: A Passionate Life(en)

2013-03-30

John Eliot Gardiner goes in search of Bach the man and the musician. The famous portrait of Bach portrays a grumpy 62-year-old man in a wig and formal coat, yet his greatest works were composed 20 years earlier in an almost unrivalled blaze of creativity. We reveal a complex and passionate artist; a warm and convivial family man at the same time a rebellious spirit struggling with the hierarchies of state and church who wrote timeless music that is today known world-wide. Gardiner undertakes a 'Bach Tour' of Germany, and sifts the relatively few clues we have - some newly-found. Most of all, he uses the music to reveal the real Bach.

Tosca by Giacomo Puccini
80%

Tosca by Giacomo Puccini(fr)

2019-07-04

As part of the 2019 Aix-en-Provence Opera Festival, filmmaker Christophe Honoré delivers an innovative staging of Giacomo Puccini's famous drama. His cleverly staged "opera within the opera" is a melancholy homage to the fascinating figure of the diva, who thrives on art and love and upsets the laws of time and death.

Edward Elgar - The Dream of Gerontius
80%

Edward Elgar - The Dream of Gerontius(en)

2019-05-20

Newman's poem tells the story of a soul's journey through death, and provides a meditation on the unseen world of Roman Catholic theology. Gerontius (a name derived from the Greek word geron, "old man") is a devout Everyman. Elgar's setting uses most of the text of the first part of the poem, which takes place on Earth, but omits many of the more meditative sections of the much longer, otherworldly second part, tightening the narrative flow.

Not Mozart: Letters, Riddles and Writs
70%

Not Mozart: Letters, Riddles and Writs(en)

1991-01-01

Letters, Riddles and Writs is a one act opera for television by Michael Nyman broadcast in 1991.

Carmen Torero z „Carmen-Suity”
63%

Carmen Torero z „Carmen-Suity”(pl)

1996-07-02

Utterly astounding, iridescent sand animation from Aleksandra Korejwo based around Bizet's Carmen.

Four Minutes
68%

Four Minutes(de)

2006-06-23

Jenny is young. Her life is over. She killed someone. And she would do it again. When an 80-year-old piano teacher discovers the girl’s secret, her brutality and her dreams, she decides to transform her pupil into the musical wunderkind she once was.

Swan Lake - Filmed for IMAX
0%

Swan Lake - Filmed for IMAX(fr)

2024-11-08

During his birthday’s celebration, Prince Siegfried must choose a bride. Trying to escape reality, he dreams of a perfect love. His tutor tries to bring him down to Earth and reminds him of his duties. On a dreamlike getaway, the prince meets Odette, a princess who has been transformed into a swan by the powerful sorcerer Rothbart. Only true love can break the spell. Captivated, Siegfried promises Odette to save her and invites her to his party. To trap the prince, the sorcerer sends his daughter Odile, disguised as Odette, to seduce him.

The Beat That My Heart Skipped
69%

The Beat That My Heart Skipped(fr)

2005-03-16

A ruthless real estate agent discovers a passion for piano and auditions with help from a young virtuoso, but the pressures of his corrupt career threaten to derail his musical aspirations.

Peter Grimes
0%

Peter Grimes(en)

2023-06-19

What Difference Does It Make?
51%

What Difference Does It Make?(en)

2014-02-17

A documentary that explores the challenges that a life in music can bring.

London Symphony Orchestra: The Young Debussy
0%

London Symphony Orchestra: The Young Debussy(en)

2019-05-03

The evocative music of Claude Debussy has been described as the foundation of modern music. But how did the composer come to develop his unique style? On this video, maestro Francois-Xavier Roth and the London Symphony Orchestra present the UK premiere of a previously lost work by the young Debussy, alongside some of his earliest inspirations. Debussy's newly discovered Premiére Suite gives a rare insight into the mind of a young composer on the cusp of innovation. It's a work filled with Romantic and Eastern influences and glimpses of the unexpected harmonies that came to define Debussy's work. Paired alongside the composer's role models - from Wagner's powerful intertwining motifs, the abundant Spanish influences in Lalo's rarely-heard Cello Concerto performed here by Edgar Moreau, and Massenet's majestic Le Cid - Francois-Xavier Roth gives a fresh perspective on the much-loved composer.

House of Ricordi
62%

House of Ricordi(it)

1954-12-01

The film covers a hundred years in the lives of the Ricordi family, the Milan publishing house of the title, and the various composers and other historic personalities, whose careers intersected with the growth of the Ricordi house. It beautifully draws the parallel between the great music of the composers, the historic and social upheavals of their times, as well as the "smaller stories" of the successive generations of Ricordi.

The Life and Loves of Beethoven
69%

The Life and Loves of Beethoven(fr)

1937-01-15

Lyrical biography of the classical composer, depicted as a romantic hero, an accursed artist.

Beethoven: Symphony 9 by Riccardo Muti
90%

Beethoven: Symphony 9 by Riccardo Muti(en)

2014-09-18

Experience what Zell Music Director Riccardo Muti calls “the work of a divine architect” in this special encore presentation of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Recorded live September 18, 2014, at Orchestra Hall during one of the opening programs of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 2014/15 season, this performance features Muti leading the Orchestra and Chorus and distinguished soloists in one of history’s most powerful and inspiring artistic works. A masterpiece whose staggering influence can be seen across classical music, it concludes with the famous Ode to Joy, which calls for understanding, peace and universal goodwill. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is grateful to an anonymous donor for generously underwriting the recording of this concert in 2014.