Kenneth Anger's Rabbit's Moon

I got through my MA thesis by viewing Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs daily. Whenever I settled down for a spate of scholarship, I’d plug my VHS tape in and start typing along to Tim Roth's howls ("I'm fuckin' dyin' here"). It was awesome (if a little disturbing). Anyway, I’ve lacked a similar soundtrack for my current project. I think I’ve found it.
Rabbit’s Moon, a film by Kenneth Anger, is gorgeously shot in blues and silvers and with a skipped-frame technique (I’m sure there’s a proper name for this, but I’m unfamiliar with it). Anger shot the film in a warehouse in Paris during 1950. According to the Anger's commentary on the DVD, three students of Marcel Marceau’s school of mime perform in the film; they enact traditional figures from the Commedia dell’Arte (Pierrot, Harlequin, and Columbine).

Anger re-edited the film in 1972 and again in 1979. The version that I find most captivating is that of 1979, and part of the reason is its soundtrack: Rabbit’s Moon features a kinda glam, kinda Beatles-esque, but supercool song titled “It Came in the Night.” A gentleman named Andy Arthurs wrote the song, and his Brit band “A Raincoat” released it as a single in 1975 (aside: Mr Arthurs is now a Professor at the Queensland University of Technology).
Rather than "ruin" Rabbit’s Moon with a synopsis, I’ll show you towards YouTube to view the 1979 version. Caveat: the visual quality isn’t the best, but you get a taste for this hypnotic film’s evocative, plaintive, lyric beauty.

NB: Superfilmsleuth Michael Cohen details his seven year search to identify “It Came in the Night” and its writer at Flickhead. Cohen's page also features an mp3 of “It Came in the Night” for download.

Rabbit’s Moon at IMDB