Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome

Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome is a 38-minute short film by Kenneth Anger, filmed in 1954. Anger created two other versions of this film in 1966 and the late 1970s. According to Anger, the film takes the name "pleasure dome" from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's atmospheric poem "Kubla Khan". Anger was inspired to make the film after attending a Halloween party called "Come as your Madness". The film has gained cult film status.

Early prints of the film had sequences that were meant to be projected on three different screens. Anger subsequently re-edited the film to layer the images. The film—primarily the 2nd and 3rd revisions—was often shown in American universities and art galleries during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

The original edition soundtrack is a complete performance of Glagolitic Mass by the Czech composer Leoš Janáček (1854–1928). In 1966, a re-edited version known as The Sacred Mushroom Edition was made available. In the late 1970s, a third revision was made, which was The Sacred Mushroom Edition re-edited to fit the Electric Light Orchestra album Eldorado, omitting only "Illusions in G Major," a blues-rock tune which Anger felt did not fit the mood of the film.

The differences in the visuals of the 1954 original and the two revisions are minor. An early version, just shown once on German television in the early 1980s and hold until today by the NDR (Germany) includes an additional 3 minutes at the beginning, including a reading of the poem "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

The film reflects Anger's deep interest in Thelema, the philosophy of Aleister Crowley and his followers, as indicated by Cameron's role as "The Scarlet Woman" (an honorific Crowley bestowed on certain of his important magical partners).

The film uses some footage of the Hell sequence from the 1911 Italian silent film L'Inferno. Near the end, scenes from Anger's earlier film Puce Moment are interpolated into the layered images and faces.

Cast

Samson De Brier as Shiva, Osiris, Nero, Alessandro Cagliostro, and Aleister Crowley (credited as "The Great Beast 666")

Marjorie Cameron as The Scarlet Woman and Kali

Joan Whitney as Aphrodite

Katy Kadell as Isis

Renate Druks as Lilith

Anaïs Nin as Astarte

Curtis Harrington as Cesare the sleepwalker

Kenneth Anger as Hecate

Paul Mathison as Pan

Peter Loome as Ganymede