Moving Pictures, Film Installation, ZBC, Chicago, 2005

This is an excerpt of the essay that accompanied this dendrological survey of Billy Wilder's 1960 film "The Apartment":

“This 35mm film print of Billy Wilder’s 1960 film, “The Apartment”, reminds me of a cross-section of a tree. A film that’s been “plattered” (assembled to be projected as one object) like this begins at the core and moves outwards in rings until the end. The cellulose in this film was derived from plants. It has measurable qualities that make it unique, such as being black and white, mono and widescreen. It is nearly a mile long.”

Scroll down to read the essay acompanying Moving Pictures and the dendrological survey or to download either as a pdf.

A Dendrological survey of Billy Wilder’s 1960 film “The Apartment”.
To accompany the film installation “Moving Pictures”, Peter Miller, 2005

Dendrology is the study of plants whose support systems, trunks and stems, are composed primarily of wood fibers. A dendrologist can look at the cross- section of a tree and, based on the spacing of the growth rings, recognize historical weather patterns. Knowing these periods of weather reveals where a tree grew, when it began growing, and when it was felled. Dendrologists are sort of like tree anthropologists.

This 35mm film print of Billy Wilder’s 1960 film, “The Apartment”, reminds me of a cross-section of a tree. A film that has been “plattered” (assembled to be projected as one object) like this begins at the core and moves outwards in rings until the end. The cellulose in this film was derived from plants. It has measurable qualities that make it unique, such as being black and white, mono and widescreen. It is nearly a mile long.
I am able to show this film here in this manner because it is being obliterated. It has vinegar syndrome (take a whiff). Vinegar syndrome is a term used to describe a chemical reaction that takes place during the deterioration of cellulose triacetate film. The reaction is continuous and cannot be stopped or reversed. Worse yet, it is contagious; films with vinegar syndrome must be isolated or destroyed or else other nearby films can develop it.

A parallel could be drawn to Dutch elm disease, which has destroyed over 100 million American Elms in the northern United Sates since the 1930s. It is caused by the fungus Ophiostoma ulmi, which is carried by a beetle. It cannot be cured, only slowed and it’s potential to infect neighboring elms sometimes necessitates destroying the infected. Some arborists are replanting the Buisman Elm, which is resistant to the fungus, but lacks the arched crown that made the American Elm so majestic. Of the films that were made during the first fifty of the cinema’s 100 year history, over half have been irrevocably lost forever. American Elms grow to be over 100 feet tall.

pdf of essay accompanying Moving Pictures.

Dendrological Survey of The Apartment (1960) Directed by Billy Wilder.
To accompany the film installation “Moving Pictures”, Peter Miller, 2005

24 frames per second x 60 seconds x 125 minutes = 180,000 frames
180,000 frames divided by 40 frames in a foot = 4,500 feet
4,500 feet = 0.85 miles

16: 00 CC Baxter spends the night in the park because his Apartment is occupied

26:00 CC Baxter meet with his Boss, Mr. Sheldrake, who offers him a promotion and free tickets to a musical if he lets him use his Apartment. Baxter uses the tickets to invite Miss Kubelik, the elevator girl to the musical. She says she’ll meet up with him, but first she has to have a drink with an “old friend”.

36:00 It turns out Miss Kubelik is meeting Mr. Sheldrake and that they were recent lovers. He tells her he wants to divorce his wife to be with her and so she blows off her date with C.C. Baxter .

43:00 CC Baxter is promoted to his own office. When Sheldrake comes in to congratulate him, Baxter gives him a small mirror that his girl had left behind at their tryst.

48:00 drunk at the office Christmas party, Miss Olsen, Mr. Sheldrake’s secretary tells miss Kubelik that she had also had an affair with the boss and also fell for his line about divorcing his wife.

51:00 Miss Kubelik hands Mr. Baxter her mirror, inadvertently revealing to him that she’s the girl that Mr. Sheldrake’s been having trysts with at Baxter’s apartment.

66:00 Baxter comes home to find Miss Kubelik in his bed, where she overdosed on his sleeping pills after her last meeting with Mr. Sheldrake.

90:00 Miss Kubelik plays Gin Rummy with Baxter at his apartment.

100:00 Sheldrake fires his secretary, Miss Olsen, who calls his wife and schedules a lunch date where she tell his wife of his affairs.

105:00 Kubelik’s brother-in-law comes to look for her at work. Baxter’s colleagues, upset that they can’t use his apartment any longer, tip him off.

115:00 Baxter realizes he wants to marry Kubelik, goes to tell Sheldrake, but is told the same by him.

118:00 Baxter stands up to Sheldrake and quits his job.

123:00 Kubelik finds out that Baxter quit his job and refused to let Sheldrake use his apartment on her account. At midnight on New Years Eve, she leaves Sheldrake and runs to Baxter’s apartment.

125:00 They begin playing Gin Rummy again. He professed his love for her. She tells him to "shut up and deal”. The End.

pdf of dendrological survey of Billy Wilder's 1960 film "The Apartment".