The Life and Death of 9413: a Hollywood Extra
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"Directed by Robert Florey, with future Citizen Kane DP Gregg Toland handling the photography, this tale of the Hollywood Extra is a classic short from the era when the European avant-garde crashed onto American shores. Presented in a crisp transfer from our friends at Flicker Alley!"
— MUBI's take
The Life and Death of 9413: a Hollywood Extra
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This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 1997.
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The Life and Death of 9413: a Hollywood Extra is a 1928 American silent experimental short film co-written and co-directed by Robert Florey and Slavko Vorkapić. Considered a landmark of American avant-garde cinema, it tells the story of a man (played by Jules Raucourt) who comes to Hollywood with dreams of becoming a star; he fails and becomes dehumanized, with studio executives reducing him to the role of an extra and writing the number "9413" on his forehead.
The film has abrupt cuts, rapid camera movement, extensive superimposition, dim lighting, and twisted shapes and forms at disorienting angles. Filmed on a budget of only $97 ($1,721 in today's dollars), it includes a combination of close-ups of live actors and long shots of miniature sets constructed from cardboard, paper cubes, tin cans, cigar boxes, and toy trains. With no access to Hollywood studios or equipment, most of the film was made in the filmmakers' homes (their walls painted black to provide a background).
Why It Rocks
- In 1921, Robert Florey had the idea for a short picture based on the impressions of an "everyman" actor with futile dreams of becoming a star, then several years later -- attending a performance of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" -- Florey was inspired to write a "continuity in musical rhythm of the adventures of [his] extra in Hollywood, the movements and attitudes of which appeared to synchronize themselves with Gershwin's notes." With the short only having a $97 budget that was coming out of Florey's pocket, the script had to be worked out in precise detail, shot by shot, determining the precise footage needed.
- Influenced by German expressionism and Russian theorists, Vorkapich developed a strikingly original approach to editing, one that piled images on top of each other in forms that were geometric as well as linear. Vorkapich used jump cuts, shock cuts, and symbolic images to form miniature narratives inside larger films. Vorkapich's work is the most exciting element in "A Hollywood Extra", even though he was years away from perfecting his technique.
- "A Hollywood Extra" not only has a surreal story, but is rendered in an expressionist manner. Shapes, angles, and disorientation are its visual hallmarks, with three basic types of compositions: miniatures, closeups with live actors, and newsreel-type scenes of Hollywood and the studios.
- The faces of the three performers are often kept partially in shadow, blocking off part of their features and depriving them of wholeness.
- A casting director is mocked with an extreme close-up revealing only his mouth stuffed with a cigar, one hand holding a phone and the other shaking a pointed finger.
- The acting is in an overwrought, tormented vein that compliments the expressionistic visuals.
- Miniature sets were constructed by Slavko Vorkapich out of paper cubes, cigar boxes, tin cans, children's toys, and other odds and ends. They represent buildings and geometrical designs, and are characterized by distortion and superimposition, quivering and reflecting light in a myriad of directions according to the mood.
- In contrast to the artificial scenes of the city are newsreel-type shots of the streets and local sights of Hollywood. Filmmaking is symbolized by scenes of previews, spotlights crisscrossing the night sky, and moving cameras, reels, and dangling celluloid strips. While authentic in content, these scenes are often shot from a wildly moving or tilted camera, and edited into rapid juxtapositions.
- On top of being one of America's first avant-grade films, the film also works as a satire on the Hollywood film industry. The film tells the story of Mr. Jones (who's given the number 9413 on his forehead, forcing him into an extra), who dreams of the acclaim and opulence of stardom, only to become a mere ‘cog’ in the (Hollywood) machine, and eventually end up destitute after numerous failed attempts to make it big: an all too familiar story to the public by the end of the 1920s and an embarrassing one to the studios.
- The image of the steps (ladder) to the pinnacle of ‘success’ (a sign and symbol that is immediately recognizable)–and 9413's fruitless attempts to reach the top–reveals all an audience needs to know in order to comprehend his frustrations and despair.
- Other signs of ‘success’ include: a bright star which flashes suddenly in an obviously man-made sky;’ dollar signs and dollar bills; a barbershop pole; shots of applause and nods of approval; a shoe shine; shots of nightclubs and higher-priced restaurants; a sign that reads “casting today”–while signs and images of failure include a board/menu of cheap, cafeteria food; rent and utility bills being shoved under a door; the word ‘no’ emphasized by lighting on the aforementioned sign that–once extended–reads “no casting today”.
- The film also hints specifically at the exploitation of women within the industry. A female extra (known simply as number 13) does not have to wear the masks which signify the portrayal of characters and the ability to act, she is required merely to be pliantly obedient, to follow the demands of her prospective employer and to be an object for the male gaze. However, this latent critique is rather displaced by the emphasis on the fortune of extra No. 13 and the ease by which, in her compliance, she achieves stardom, in the contrast to the vain struggle of 9413.
- Extra No. 15, serves as a caricature of a Hollywood celebrity, with his ability to play different roles being represented by stately plastic masks.
- In spite of the short's extremely low-budget and lack of standard Hollywood equipment, Florey proves that you can accomplish a lot with few resources. Some of the "sets" consist of nothing more than a table, an old candlestick telephone, two chairs, and a cigar. Hollywood is sometimes depicted by silhouetted Erector Set models. Not only are some of the shots handheld, but the lighting as well.
The Only Bad Quality
- With the short having an extremely low-budget, this can really be seen and felt in parts of the short. For all the talent behind it, the short's a surprisingly crude and disjointed effort.