[The flower thief]

Duration: 30

Year Published: 1960

Creator: [filmmaker, Ron Rice]

Format: 16mm

Color: B&W

Sound: sound

Credits: Rice, Ron.; Mead, Taylor.; Nord, Big Daddy.

Description: The more commonly known release version runs 75 minutes.; No title or credits appear on film. Title supplied from leader and can; credits supplied from:; Running time: 30:04.; No date on film; date supplied from: Visionary film / P. Adams Sitney.; PFA 1616-01-5499. Restricted: For PFA exhibition only.; PFA 1612-01-809. Restricted: Archival. Not for research or exhibition.; Pacific Film Archive collection; non-circulating. CBPF.; [Cast:] Taylor Mead, "Big Daddy" Nord.; Filmed in San Francisco.; [Reel 1] Taylor Mead portrays the flower thief, a man who wanders the North Beach area of San Francisco, observing the world around him and displaying kindness to a large teddy bear. Like a child, he stops by a playground and talks with the children there; he dances in the street; watches the destruction of a building, and then has coffee with an almost-naked woman he meets in an abandoned, rubble-strewn building. He finds a teddy bear, and carries it with him on his travels. He stops in a bar and listens to jazz with other Beatniks, then returns to the abandoned building and treats the teddy violently. Perhaps feeling remorse, the man puts the bear in a little wagon and pulls it up a hill to Coit Tower. There he offers the bear to the statue of Columbus, but Columbus does not respond. The man sits in the wagon with the teddy bear and rides the wagon down the hill. He returns to his abandoned warehouse, sitting morosely. Many men appear in the loft and come downstairs, wheeling a large circular object.; PFA 1616-01-5499. D0378; PFA 1612-01-809. D0224; This version was apparently edited by Francis Rigney, who says that it is the "definitive version".; PFA 1616-01-5499. COPY-SPECIFC DESCRIPTION: 2 reels of 2 (63 min.) : opt sd., b&w ; 16 mm. print. CONDITION NOTE: Last inspected: 1996 Jun 24; splices; scratches; Good condition; a few splices and scratches; film appears to be mostly a positive print with a variable density track and clear perf's; approximately 2/3 of the way into the first reel what appears to be a reversal section with black perfs and variable area track is cement spliced in; this section runs about 150'; the remainder of the print is positive with variable density track; beginning of second reel is marked: "Audio Film - Rice - Composite - Dupe Neg"; this is in white letters on black, implying that this reel (and most of the first) was printed from an internegative CONDITION NOTE: Last inspected: 2007/02/06; Good condition; Kodak b/w positive print cut with approx. 200 ft. b/w reversal print about 2/3 into R1; occasional perf damage; from composite dupe neg; typical linear gash between pix and track, emulsion side; 3 splices total; PFA 1612-01-809. COPY-SPECIFC DESCRIPTION: 1 reel of 2 (r1) (1084 ft.) (30 min.) : opt sd., b&w ; 16 mm. triacetate work print (?). CONDITION NOTE: Last inspected: 31 Oct 1992; splices; warped; scratches; Fair condition: all scenes are cement-spliced together; slightly warped as comes off reel; scratches; puncture marks around sprockets from 166 ft.-180 ft.; at 722 ft. 13 fr., are two pieces of white tape: one has the frame marked with an X and the words "print sync;" the other piece has written on it "725'" with an arrow pointing to the sync mark (inspector's footage count for this reel began with the first frame of picture) CONDITION NOTE: Last inspected: 2007/02/06; Kodak b/w edited composite positive print; cement splices; approx. 117 splices

Metadata Source:BERKELEY ART MUSEUM AND PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE