Bill and Tony (1972) Online

'Bill And Tony',from 1972 was another of the experimental shorts that Anthony Balch made with William S.Burroughs. This one is a sparse short where both Burroughs & Balch are addressing the camera directly, using the same exact dialog,transposing lines from one to the other. The film is shot against a black background, with Burrroughs & Balch dressed in black, giving the illusion that their heads are floating in void space. From what I read about this film, it was originally shot in Super 70mm (imagine what that must have looked like on a wide screen). Alas,the only way of seeing this little gem is on one of a handful of VHS video cassettes (legit & bootlegged),as I have not heard if it's available on DVD as of yet. Perhaps one of these days,Genesis P-Orridge (Psychic TV)will re-issue his video collection, 'Thee Films' on DVD (if it isn't already available outside of the PAL colour line system). ELEVENTH HOUR ADDITION: I just found out that 'Thee Films', originally released by Genesis P-Orridge, on T.O.P.Y. video has,in fact been re released on DVD. The only fly in the proverbial ointment is that it's only available in the U.K.,in the PAL colour line system that isn't encoded for use on American format. There are,however services that can transfer PAL to American standard,or some home computers will play European DVD's (I just thought I would let everyone know)

William Burroughs and Antony Balch are seated next to each other, looking directly at the camera. Their dialogue goes something like, "I'm Tony, who are you? I'm Bill. Where are you Tony? I'm in London, where are you? I'm in a 1920s movie, Tony." First Bill speaks Tony's lines, then later the entire dialogue is repeated with the correct people speaking the lines. It is repeated again later with Bill's dialogue playing while Tony's lips move and vice versa. There are other permutations as well.

In between these scenes are shots of Burroughs and Balch sitting alone staring at the camera. They are dressed so that their heads seem to be floating in black space. Burroughs recites what might be some sort of Scientology ritual (he flirted with it for a time) about getting a "pre-clear" to imagine himself out of his head using pushing and pulling bars (?). Balch quotes some dialogue from the movie Freaks (a film which he was successful in finally getting past the British censors for distribution in the UK). Later, Burroughs appears again, but Balch speaks his lines about preclears. Likewise, when Balch reappears alone, Burroughs quotes from Freaks.

William S. Burroughs and Antony Balch face the camera. They introduce themselves. Burroughs recites some dialogue about Scientology. Balch recites a long quote from "Freaks". They repeat and switch each others dialogue several times, occasionally dubbing each others voices over the other's face. One of the best films they collaborated on.