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One of Jeff Keen's most screened films - subsequently considered one part of
the 'Jeff Keen Trilogy' - Marvo Movie emerged from a pre-existing structure:
Keen started with two 100ft lengths of 16mm film (just under three minutes
each), given to him by a friend. He intended to use these to make a
two-screen piece (Marvo Movie 1 and Marvo Movie 2), but in the end found the
lengths were too short and instead spliced the parts together.
The film features Keen, his wife, Jackie, and some friends dressed in a
variety of costumes in Keen's flat and the surrounding Brighton area.
These sequences are edited around and superimposed over cuttings from newspapers
and comics and various moving toys. The details of the superimpositions
were created by chance; Keen ran the film through the camera, rewound it and
shot more material, not always knowing what would lie where and what new
juxtaposition would occur. (One example of planning does seem to occur
when Jackie Keen, dressed as Cat Woman, neatly superimposes over herself almost
exactly.) These juxtapositions are very striking - we get Marilyn Monroe
appearing over dark images of the English countryside, for one - demonstrating
chance's potential positive effect. Keen inherited this approach from the
Dadaists, who used it to escape reason and conscious control. Herein lies the
key to Keen's art historical background - surrealism and Dada rather than the
pop art with which he is more commonly associated. It also helps
contextualise Ken Russell's comment about Marvo Movie: "It went right over my
head and seemed a little threatening, but I'm all for it." The film does
not necessarily hold onto any concrete rationale.
The soundtrack was recorded in two parts. Jeff Keen recorded one using
his own speech, but then realised he required something different for the other
and had the concrete poet and founder of the London Filmmaker's Co-op, Bob
Cobbing, deliver some whispered abstract vocals. The recording session was
undertaken in a single afternoon so the film could be completed in time for a
screening in Liverpool.
William Fowler *This film is included in the BFI DVD and Blu-ray compilations GAZWRX: The Films of Jeff Keen.
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Complete film (4:24)
