The Curtis Harrington Short Film Collection (Blu-ray)

Curtis Harrington is widely regarded as one of the most important avant-garde directors of the 1940s, as well as an early influential figure in what would come to be known as New Queer Cinema. This publication is a joint effort between Flicker Alley and Drag City featuring restorations carried out by the Academy Film Archive, comprised of six short films by the late experimental filmmaker as well as bonus interview footage and rarely-seen early works.


Fragment of Seeking (1946, 16 mins.)
Harrington plays a young man desperately seeking out the fleeting image of a female companion, and though he never quite catches her, he discovers much more through the surreal explorations of his own sexuality.

Picnic (1948, 22 mins.)
Beginning in the reality of American middle-class life, Picnic portrays the idealistic dream-quest of the protagonist, from which he is finally cast off. Harrington himself described the film thus: a satirical comment on middle-class life frames a dream-like continuity in which the protagonist pursues an illusory object of desire.

On the Edge (1949, 6 mins.)
In this fragile yet frightening poetic fantasy set against a dark industrial landscape, Harrington casts his own mother and father in the lead roles.

The Assignation (1953, 8 mins.)
Long considered lost, this was Harrington's first color film, shot in Venice, Italy, and follows a masked figure through the labyrinthine canals of the city.

The Wormwood Star (1955, 10 mins)
A film study of the artwork of famed painter, occultist and Alistair Crowley-enthusiast Majorie Cameron.

Usher (2002, 38 mins.)
Harrington's final film before his death in 2007, Usher is a remake of a short he made in high school based on the classic Edgar Allan Poe story The Fall of the House of Usher. He once again expresses his interest in the occult by casting known members of the Church of Satan, Nikolas and Zeena Schreck.