Citizen Dandy

Michael Klien uses the American Film Institute’s list of the greatest 100 movies from the first 100 years of American cinema (1896-1996) as the raw material for Citizen Dandy, which is an attempt at a new, seemingly random, narrative made by assembling segments from each of these 100 films. The strategy used to construct this narrative was to edit together segments in the order that they are ranked on the list. For exapmle, the opening segment comes from Citizen Kane, the top ranked film. The segment used includes the first edit that appears in the film, as well as the two that this first edit ties together. The second segment comes from Casablanca, the second film on the list, and includes the second edit that appears in the film, as well as the shots that this edit ties together. This strategy is followed all the way through until the 100th edit from the 100th film on the list, Yankee Doodle Dandy, is reached.

Two versions of this work were made. One version, three and a half minutes long, uses one second of film on either side of each edit. The second version, which will be screened at the AGW, uses longer clips to allow for complete line of dialogue, reaction shots, camera movements and smoother transitions between the clips. This version is nineteen minutes and fifty-two seconds in length.

Citizen Dandy is both an homage and critique of American cinema. Although the various segments have been assembled in a seemingly random pattern, coincidences can occur, narrative threads can be read and meanings can be interpreted.