Reel Talent: First Films by Legendary Directors

12 USC Student Films, for the George Lucas Completist and the Curious

Here is what's included:


Disc One
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1. The Oval Portrait (1934), directed by Richard L. Bare (18 minutes, 29 seconds)
Bare, who went on to direct episodes of "The Twilight Zone," "Green Acres," "Alias Smith and Jones" and "Petticoat Junction," here adapts an Edgar Allan Poe short story about an obsessed artist. Silent, with orchestral accompaniment.

2. 1:42.08 - A Man and His Car (1966), directed by George Lucas (Seven minutes, 20 seconds)
Lucas, of whom you may have heard, has three short films included. This one wordlessly shows a man testing out a race car.

3. Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB (1967), directed by George Lucas (15 minutes, eight seconds)
This future-shock short was a dry run for Lucas's feature debut.

4. Freiheit (1966), directed by George Lucas (Two minutes, 48 seconds)
This brief short stars Lucas's college roommate, future director Randal Kleiser, as a young man mysteriously gunned down in a field.

5. The Lift (1972), directed by Robert Zemeckis (Seven minutes, 21 seconds)
In this surrealistic short, an apartment elevator takes on a mind of its own.

6. A Field of Honor (1973), directed by Robert Zemeckis (14 minutes, 15 seconds)
Winner of a Student Academy Award, this absurdist comedy follows a recently discharged Vietnam Vet as he leaves a mental institution only to find himself overwhelmed by combat-crazed civilians.

7. Silent Night (year unknown), directed by James Foley, Jr. (21 minutes, one second)
Two mental hospital attendants spend Christmas Eve caring for a group of patients and arguing with each other. Foley went on to direct David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross... and nothing else nearly of that caliber.

8. Proof (1980), directed by Kevin Reynolds (23 minutes, 46 seconds)
This short led to Reynolds' 1984 feature debut, Fandango. Proof follows a group of buddies on a road trip, as one of the more timid souls is tricked into going skydiving.

9. Perfect Alibi (1989), directed by Steve Sommers (20 minutes, 17 seconds)
The arty story of a failed pickpocket trapped in a time loop (a la Groundhog Day) until he can successfully pull off a complicated burglary.


Disc Two
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10. Whatever It Takes (1988), directed by Jon Turteltaub (20 minutes, 16 seconds)
A quirkily ambitious mixture of romantic comedy, drama and musical, Whatever It Takes focuses on a couple who move to Los Angeles in order to make it in the music business.

11. Broken Record (year unknown), directed by Shawn Levy (28 minutes, 50 seconds)
Overlong comedy about two teenagers determined to get into the Guinness Book of World Records.

12. The Goodbye Place (1996), directed by Richard Kelly (Eight minutes, 47 seconds)
This spooky black-and-white short by Richard ("Donnie Darko") Kelly rounds out the set in a most unsettling way. An abused child is offered escape by a clutch of mysterious strangers who may or may not know where missing children truly disappear to.
August 16, 2007

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