Four in the Afternoon (Short 1977)

Four in the Afternoon: Directed by James Broughton. With Anna Halprin, Welland Lathrop. Poems narrate four afternoon vignettes; each protagonist is older than the one in the previous sketch. As a girl skips rope in “Game Little Gladys,” she sings a jingle about who she might marry. In a park, ten men appear atop low pedestals. Is one her future? In “Gardener’s Son,” a teen wakes outdoors; thinking about love, he goes about his chores, passing by classical statues and slightly-older women. In “Princess Printemps,” a spring poem accompanies a somewhat addled princess as an equally silly suitor pursues her. In “The Aging Balletomane,” a man rocking on a porch looks about him, remembers his youth, and sees an apparition of a woman. She dances. He reaches for her. She disappears.

“This short film is from a collection of experimental films entitled u0026quot;Avant-Garde: Vol. 3:u0026quot; and is from Disc 1. Itu0026#39;s a collection of films that most folks today would probably care very little about, but for some reason I like seeing many of these unusual little art films. Perhaps you will also.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis film is from James Broughton. It appears to be a silent film with odd narration and music added to it later. It consists of different narrators reciting poems. Itu0026#39;s not really bad—but itu0026#39;s quite artsy and unusual and not the sort of thing the average viewer would jump to see today or back in 1951. Odd but with some merit for the right viewer…though I am not sure how many there are for this one.”