DAVID LYNCH FILM SHORTS
TCM, 2:00 a.m. ET
The early film career of David Lynch, before he became a media phenomenon with Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks, included a disturbingly original 1977 film called Eraserhead, which impressed Mel Brooks so much that he backed Lynch’s first Hollywood feature, The Elephant Man. But long before that, Lynch was an art student at Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and dabbling in short films. His very first effort was way back in 1966, an animated short subject called Six Men Getting Sick (Six Times), which clocked in at under one minute. That’s the film that leads off tonight’s late-night collection of Lynch film shorts – most from his pre-Eraserhead days, as well as a series of 2002 DumbLand cartoons from his own website. In addition, there’s a special treat, a 55-second film made by Lynch in 1995 for Lumiere and Company, an anthology of short films made by various filmmakers saluting the French filmmaking pioneers and using recreations of the siblings’ original 19th-century camera equipment. That film, Premonition Following an Evil Deed, is scheduled for 3:15 a.m. ET, but don’t be late. By 3:16, it’ll be over. Other short films in this mini-mini-marathon include 1974’s The Amputee, two short films, printed on different film stocks as a test, starring Catherine Coulson, later known as The Log Lady from Twin Peaks, as a double amputee being cared for by Lynch himself. (Those versions are shown beginning at 2:45 a.m. ET.)