Firelight (1964 film)

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Firelight
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Written bySteven Spielberg
Produced byArnold Spielberg
Leah Spielberg
StarringClark Lohr
Carolyn Owen
CinematographySteven Spielberg
Edited bySteven Spielberg (uncredited)
Music bySteven Spielberg (composer)
Arcadia High School Band (performer)
Production
company
American Artist Productions
Distributed by Phoenix Theatre
Release date
  • March 24, 1964 (1964-03-24)
Running time
135 minutes
CountryUnited States
Budget$500 [1]
Box office$501 [2]

Firelight is a science fiction film written and directed by American filmmaker Steven Spielberg at the age of 17. [3] [4] The film is Spielberg's first feature-length, at 135 minutes, and was filmed on weekends over the course of a year. Firelight was made on a budget of $500 (equivalent to $4,912in 2023) and was shown at his local cinema in Phoenix, Arizona. [4]

Contents

The film follows a mysterious alien encounter and invasion; Spielberg would return to the subject with Firelight as inspiration for his third major film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977. Only three minutes and forty seconds of footage from Firelight has been made public, and very little of it survives. Spielberg has called it "one of the five worst films ever made". [5]

Plot

Firelight follows a group of scientists—particularly Tony Karcher and UFO believer Howard Richards—as they investigate a series of colored lights in the sky and the subsequent disappearance of people, animals and objects from the fictional American town of Freeport, Arizona. [4] Among those abducted are a dog, a unit of soldiers and a young girl named Lisa, whose abduction induces a heart attack in her mother. The film has sub-plots involving marital discord between Karcher and his wife Debbie, and the obsessive quest of Richards to convince the CIA that alien life exists. The twist comes as the aliens, represented by three shadows, reveal their purpose: to transport Freeport to their home planet Altaris to create a human zoo.

Cast

Many of the cast for Firelight were from the Arcadia High School productions of Guys and Dolls and I Remember Mama . Spielberg's sister had a leading role.

Production and music

Spielberg composed the music for Firelight, his first original score, on his clarinet. Spielberg's mother, a former pianist, transposed the score to piano and then to sheet music. The Arcadia High School band then performed the score for the film.

The film was shot on weekends and evenings. Many scenes were shot at the Spielberg home and near the garage. Outside shots were filmed in scrub land near Spielberg's home and school.

Release and analysis

Firelight was premiered on March 24, 1964, at Spielberg's local cinema, the Phoenix Little Theatre, in Phoenix, Arizona. Spielberg's father had hired the venue for the evening for $400. [5] :37 Spielberg managed to sell (through the use of advertising by friends and family) 500 tickets at one dollar each. [6] "I counted the receipts that night", Spielberg recalled, "And we charged a dollar a ticket. Five hundred people came to the movie and I think somebody probably paid two dollars, because we made one dollar profit that night, and that was it." [7] [8]

Excerpts of Firelight show a distinct Spielberg visual style and his use of tracking shots. Firelight came to form a basis of Spielberg's later hit movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind .

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References

  1. Fox, Jesse David (21 March 2014). "Watch a Clip From Spielberg's Early Lost Film Firelight". Vulture. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  2. "Steven Spielberg's Micro-Budget 1st Feature Film: Firelight". Filmtrepreneur. 28 May 2020. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  3. Freer, Ian (2001). The Complete Spielberg. Virgin. pp. 5–8.
  4. 1 2 3 Bose, Swapnil (27 July 2022). "The heartwarming story behind Steven Spielberg's first cinematic success". Far Out Magazine. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  5. 1 2 Baxter, John (1997). Steven Spielberg: The Unauthorised Biography. HarperCollins.
  6. Morrow, Justin. "Check Out 'Firelight', a 17-Year-Old Steven Spielberg's Lost First Feature Film". No Film School. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  7. Inside the Actors Studio , with James Lipton interviewing Steven Spielberg.
  8. The profit of $1 would be equivalent to around $10 in 2024 when adjusted for inflation