This was a tough watch. A cacophony of grating noises and screams that terrorise the ears and a weird mirage of nonsensical images combined together for just over an hours viewing.
Director Harry Everett Smith was both an experimental filmmaker and an experimental artist, as well as being a mystic. Other than The Anthology of American Folk Music - a six part album collated from Smith’s own personal collection - Smith is known for his cutout animation and Heaven and Earth Magic is his most famous piece.
Supposedly it tells the story of a woman who loses a ‘very valuable watermelon’ and, because of this, is subjected to several wacky situations. It’s true, there is a watermelon. And that’s about all I could understand. Unfortunately, Smith’s animation may look pretty but any narrative thread is lost amidst the sheer confusion and overwhelming use of symbols.
Other than a cool animation style, one adopted later by the Monty Python team to greater success, there is nothing entertaining to be found here.
Score: 12/100