Stan Brakhage, The Wonder Ring, 1955

(source: Criterion Collection)
no copyright infringement intended

A short film by Stan Brakhage in which New York City's Third Avenue elevated train is filmed before its destruction (Simba63)

Stan Brakhage was paid $200 to document the 3rd Ave. El (train) in New York City. That footage became this film (imdb)

No special effects are used. The "superimpositions" are captured reflections and the prismatic effects are due to the hand-rolled glass in the windows of the train (imdb)

At times, Brakhage's works almost seem like the cinematic equivalent of the stream of consciousness writing style that is often associated with some of the greatest, yet most challenging, works of literature. Both styles are somewhat fast and disorienting, but they're also beautiful and interesting-a true look at the human mind and what surrounds it (framptonhollis)

Stan Brakhage, The Wonder Ring, 1955
(video by Criterion Collection)

Seemingly the first movie made by Brakhage in Manhattan; discovering the city, by the intermede of  the L train windows mirroring one another; wandering through these reflections, to understand the city and get its magic; getting a kaleidoskop of fragments of images, moving quickly; is it a magic ring? or rather a neorealist web? the magic shows often its age; well, that's NY; carrying all kind of outdated stuff, still vibrating; it's true that in this movie the vibration is only presumed; what you see it's the outdated stuff.



(By Brakhage)

(New York, New York)