BEAST -- MANUSCRIPT and SCRIPT EXTRACTS - FILM EXTRACTS

EXCERPTS from MS: 'THE BEAST' (Unpublished Novel and Screenplay)

by Al Razutis

Al Razutis - American Samoa, Tutuila Island, 1977

VERSIONS REFERENCED:

First MS Draft and Screenplay completed 1971, Vancouver, Canada
1971 Screenplay and Film Production Shoots with Cast, Crew, Equipment and settings, Vancouver Canada
1977 Manuscript Completed, American Samoa
First Film Version and Screenplay completed 1977, Los Angeles, USA
Final Edited Film 'Excerpts from MS' completed 1981, Vancouver, Canada

No record of a full intact version of any of the above has been located.
Samples below from surviving records.

A fictional Q & A with the author to 'explain' things:

"How about a synopsis for this generation, Al?"

"It's a prose poem nightmare, rendered in different styles, and if you can believe different 'dialects' of English, to include auld English, for reasons I need not procure."

"It's full of rhyme and reason.
A shared nightmare of Jack and Jill,
brother and sister of child rhymes without reason, who got it on incestuously, yeah, like really,
and had themselves a Murphy,
who some interpret as representing Ireland of sorts, because I personally admired some of its writers."

"Murphy grew to midget size, was disdained by both his parents,
called him a beast, a miscreant,
and Jill even plotted to kill him."

Well, that's enough for now.

The story is constructed as the book will be, with a hill to climb, and then come falling down after.

YouTube video 4 min. clip: Excerpts from MS: The Beast

16mm FILM page: EXCERPT FROM MS: THE BEAST -- Film Archive description

'EXCERPT FROM MS: THE BEAST'

28 min. color sound, 1971-81 - Al Razutis prod./dir

Condensed to 95 sec. 2011 Excerpt Section 2 'The Beast' --- and 4 min. 2024 section 'Ten yeares later '
from 16mm film in SD and HD versions posted on YouTube:

'The mummer's Playhouse' 2024 SECTION #3 from MS - The Beast - 7 min. sound:

'...lost versions yet' 2024 SECTION #4 from MS - The Beast - 5 min. sound:

MS PAGE - ACT 2 - pg. 30
"Charlatan! Mazemaker! What serping sea? What flood?" PDF - 360K

MS PAGE - ACT 2 - SCENE 3 - pgs. 31 - 32
"Murphy's gone bad!" PDF - 2 mB

A FINAL EPILOGUE 3:

"Shall we take Murphy to the Gravenyard?" - PDF File (1.4 mB)

A complex experimental narrative based on an original screenplay by Al Razutis. The poetic language spoken by the characters Jack and Jill, a language loosely related to the forms of Finnegans Wake and Shakespeare features puns and turns of phrases amidst a bizarre Victorian setting.

"The poetic language follows a dream vision of interpersonal and familial catastrophe that is eternally recurring amongst these archtypal characters, and their dwarf offspring. The film makes extensive use of distorting lenses and optical printing, sound overlays, to restructure the narrative, a `dreamspeak' narrative of sorts ...myth making and myth mocking. The point of view of the written and spoken language is modelled after that of childhood: listening, registering, and attempting to comprehend the language of parents. The parents, in this case, are also my literary predecessors." (A.R.)

This film was originally funded by the Canadian Film Development Corporation (a precursor to Telefilm Canada), but a falling out between the director and executive producer (of Telefilm) resulted in the completion being delayed 10 years and completion funding arranged separately by the director (Razutis).

Cinematography by Tony Westman
Written, Directed, Produced, Edited by Al Razutis
Starring: Ken Ryan, Susan Driver, Rommel
Props, costumes by Kathy Razutis

'THE BEAST': Original Novel & Screenplay by Al Razutis - Excerpts

All remaining release prints are now stored at the Academy Archives in Hollywood, USA.

PROSE POEM MANUSCRIPT:

SELECTED MS PAGES (in pdf):

Use ADOBE ACROBAT READER to view and read PDF files with magnification in separate window;
all other links to HTML pages or JPEGs.

SAMPLE NOVEL PAGES:

EPILOGUE 1: "What be the matter Jack?"- PDF File (130K)

EPILOGUE 2: "Shall we take Murphy to the Gravenyard?" - with annotations - PDF File (1.4 mB)

STAGE PLAY SAMPLE PAGES:

COVER & CONTENTS Version 1 PDF File (700K) -- COVER & CONTENTS Version 2 - PDF File (700K)

ACT 1, SCENE 1, pg. 1 Opening scene - early version with annotations suggesting other versions - PDF File (350K)

ACT 1, SCENE 1, pg. 5 "bear driver boot Arcturus with your haunting dogs" - PDF File (350K)

ACT 1, SCENE 1, pgs. 4 - 5 - "Remember who thou hast aboard!...Your babbling dreams afflict our souls" - Early Version - PDF File (350K)

SAMPLE PAGES FROM FILM SCRIPT - TREATMENT:

ACT 2 SCENE 2 pg. 18 "Evol evol, toll toll...and dirtyverbs..." - PDF File (500K)

ACT 2 SCENE 2 pg. 19 "...saprophetically epiriddled..." - PDF File (500K)

ACT 2 SCENE 2 pg. 20 "Who knowe ane dizzy one from rose and thorn erect..." - PDF File ( 500K)

ACT 2 SCENE 2 pg. 21 'Wrathes sea, a River Oshun wept in green' - PDF File (400K)

Original Manuscript FILM TREATMENT - The Beast 1971 - pages 25-26 -- JPEG

YOUTUBE FILM CLIPS:

SECTION #2 Excerpts from MS: The Beast - 'Ten Yeares Later...' - 4 min. sound

SECTION #3 Excerpts from MS - The Beast - 'The mummer's Playhouse' - 7 min. sound:

SECTION #4 from MS - The Beast - 5 min. sound - '...lost versions yet'

MS PAGE - ACT 2 - pg. 30
"Charlatan! Mazemaker! What serping sea? What flood?" PDF - 360K

MS PAGE - ACT 2 - SCENE 3 - pgs. 31 - 32
"Murphy's gone bad!" PDF - 2 mB

A FINAL EPILOGUE 3:

"Shall we take Murphy to the Gravenyard?" - PDF File (1.4 mB)

16mm FILM PAGE: EXCERPT FROM MS: THE BEAST Film Archives descriptions

> UNDERGROUND > 'ILIUM: EXPRESS'

[VISUAL ALCHEMY HOME]

[FILMS AND VIDEOS] [3D VIDEO] [HOLOGRAPHY]

[WEST-COAST ARTISTS PROJECT] [WAVEFRONT MAGAZINE]

[HISTORY OF VISUAL ALCHEMY] [EXHIBITIONS - DISTRIBUTION]