Collection / Jungle Island by Jack Smith




USA, 1967, 20 minutes
Colour, Sound on seperate CD, 16mm

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Jack Smith’s 1967 program Horror and Fantasy at Midnight featured a number of individual titles – “film clips from the subterranean chambers of Dr. Madman!” – including Reefers of Technicolor Island/Jungle Island, Scrubwoman of Atlantis (both in “Livid Color!!”), Ratdroppings of Uranus, Marshgas of Flatulandia, The Flake of Soot, and Overstimulated. The latter aside, Reefers/Jungle Island is the only one of these found as a stand-alone film – it also received the most press. Jonas Mekas’s Village Voice review cited a movie that “starred a most beautiful marijuana plant, a gorgeous blooming white queen with her crown reaching towards the sky.” At some point, Smith combined this with footage of another queen – Mario Montez – seemingly shot on the beach in Florida. (J. Hoberman)