Charles Ludlam

After many flops, theatrical producer decides to stage a former hit, "O Mistério de Irma Vap". But he is going to face many problems to find the right actors and get the necessary permissions.

The black-and-white, silent short, Museum of Wax (1981-1987), is the more classically structured of Ludlam’s recovered films. Fluently adopting a silent-era cinematic language, the vaudevillian narrative follows an escaped prisoner (Ludlam) who seeks refuge in a Coney Island wax museum. The set-up is a clever ploy to involve the rows of wax puppets (and boxes of celebrity heads) in a whimsical deracination of gender conventions.

Film recounts the madcap tale of sweet Dolores who, after being tortured by her sadistic mother, is thrown into the harsh city environs, innocent and alone. Chased by villains, abducted into white slavery, and ravaged by monstrous beasts, Dolores spirals deep into the underworld unable to find redemption.

“A witty send-up and a wise abstraction of the melodrama, combining elements of romantic mythology – songs, images, words and movements – to ask the question: where does myth end and life begin? Bill Rice ‘stars’ as a frustrated professor of romantic literature who reaches the end of his rope and resolves to be reunited with his deceased true love. When his attempt to hang himself fails, he finds renewed hope in the form of a nurse at his doctor’s office; newly married and still in love, she is nevertheless intrigued by his morbid romanticism. The action takes place on gigantic, expressionistic sets painted by artists Amy Sillman and Pamela Wilson; movements are exaggerated by being reduced to a minimum, and the dialogue, written by James Neu, calls up the romantic phraseology of the ages – from literature to TV – strung together into a musical refrain and set to Evan Lurie’s score.” –PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE

In this film, outspokenly homosexual filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim has documented his encounters with friends in the New York "underground" arts movement, the better-known of whom are William Burroughs (who says nothing for the camera), Andy Warhol (seen in the distance) and Fernando Arrabal (who is interviewed in Spanish). The emigrants named in the title are notable Germans who left the country before World War II, such as Greta Keller and Grete Mosheim. Reviewers at the time of the film's release considered it to have been a sort of paid vacation for the filmmaker rather than a serious effort. (Clarke Fountain, Rovi)

An erotic poem set in the fantasies of a young male prostitute.

The film — a mix of music, colors, abstract scenes and little dialogue — is based loosely on the life and death of Mexican-American actress Lupe Velez. The music, far more than mere background, borders on serving as the film’s narrative and ranges from classical to contemporary pop music.