Born in Edinburgh in 1934 under the 'camera obscura' , Donald Cammell started out as a prodigiously gifted painter.  He abandoned his talent for the canvas, believing film was the medium for his artistic impressions.  As a screenwriter and director his "...talents were as dazzling and provocative as they were under used and unknown."  His body of work, although limited to only four feature films and one short film, is cinematically distinct and creatively important.  Countless filmmakers have tried to mimic the style of PERFORMANCE, Donald's intellectually and visually complex signature piece. 

The films of Donald Cammell       

 
PERFORMANCE - GOODTIMES ENTERPRISES for WARNER BROS. 1968/1970  UK

"PERFORMANCE is one of the most extraordinary British films, and arguably the greatest"
                                                                                      BFI Film Classics/book series

Producer: Sanford Lieberson
Associate Producer: David Cammell                      
Directors: Donald Cammell/Nicolas Roeg
Screenplay: Donald Cammell
Director of Photography: Nicolas Roeg
Music: Jack Nitzsche
Editors:  Anthony Gibbs, Brian Smedley-Aston, & Frank Mazzola (uncredited)

Cast: Mick Jagger, James Fox, Anita Pallenberg

THE ARGUMENT  -  1971/1999  USA 35mm Cinemascope/short

"THE ARGUMENT is a surreal gem that is also a fine illustration of the late director's  powerful, idiosyncratic work...Abandoned, once lost, now found, Donald  Cammell's THE ARGUMENT, like the Phoenix, has been reborn."
                                                                Sam and Becky Umland/Video Watchdog Fall 2000
Producer: Frank Mazzola
Executive Producer: Anthony Mazzola
Director: Donald Cammell
Screenplay: Donald Cammell
Director of Photography: Vilmos Zsigmond
Music: Bruce Langhorne
Editor: Frank Mazzola

Cast: Myriam Gibril, Kendrew Lascelles, Frank Mazzola

 
DEMON SEED - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc  1977  USA

"DEMON SEED is one of the most fantastic (in all senses of the world) science-fiction movies since 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY"
                                                                                                         The Hollywood Reporter

Producer: Herb Jaffe 
Director: Donald Cammell
Screenplay: Robert Jaffe, Roger O. Hirson based on a novel by Dean R. Koontz
Director of Photography: Bill Butler
Music: Jerry Fielding
Editor: Frank Mazzola

Cast: Julie Christie, Fritz Weaver, Gerrit Graham

WHITE OF THE EYE - Cannon  1987  USA

"There may have been many films with stories like this, but WHITE OF THE EYE is the missing link that has served as a model for its successors."
                                                                                                                          Viennale 1999

Producer: Cassian Elwes, Brad Wyman, Elliot Kastner, Sue-Baden Powell
Director: Donald Cammell
Screenplay: Donald Cammell, China Kong
Director of Photograaphy: Larry McConkey
Music: Rick Fenn, Nick Mason (as Pink Floyd)
Editor: Terry Rawlings, Michael C. Wright

Cast: David Keith, Cathy Moriarty
                                                                             

DONALD CAMMELL'S WILD SIDE - The Director's Cut - Tartan Films  1999  USA

"I cannot think of two such radically different films being produced from the same raw footage...Nu Image's film is an intriguing mess, a flawed minor movie, whereas the new version is an effective companion piece to PERFORMANCE"
                                                                                  Brian Pendreigh/The Guardian Jan.2000

"Perhaps the most remarkable event of the festival (Edinburgh Int. Film Festival/1999) has been WILD SIDE...presented in a radically new director's cut...Under Mazzola's microsurgery it emerges as classic cinema, an entirely different film, richer and more complex..."
                                                                                 Peter Bradshaw/The Guardian  Aug.1999

Producer of The Director's Cut: Hamish McAlpine, Nick Jones, Frank Mazzola
Director: Donald Cammell
Screenplay: Donald Cammell, China Kong
Director of Photography: Saed Mutarevic
Music: Ryuichi Sakamoto
Editor: Frank Mazzola

Cast: Christopher Walken, Joan Chen, Steven Bauer
         Anne Heche as 'Alex',  Allen Garfield,  Adam Novack

Documentaries on Donald Cammell

DONALD CAMMELL - THE ULTIMATE PERFORMANCE   1998 UK 
Producers/Directors: Kevin Macdonald, Chris Rodley

Books on Donald Cammell

PERFORMANCE - BFI FILM CLASSICS
by Colin MacCabe 


Purchase now through Amazon.com

MICK BROWN ON PERFORMANCE - Bloomsbury Movie Guide 
by Mick Brown


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DONALD CAMMELL'S WILD SIDE and THE ARGUMENT
First edition printing of the screenplays WILD SIDE and THE ARGUMENT, with forward and script notes about the restoration of the director's cut by Frank Mazzola.
ScreenPress Books