Ballet Mécanique

Ballet Mécanique
Directed byFernand Léger
Dudley Murphy
Written byFernand Léger
StarringAlice Prin
CinematographyDudley Murphy
Man Ray
Music byGeorge Antheil
Release date
  • 24 September 1924 (1924-09-24) (Austria)
Running time
19 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguagesSilent film
French intertitles

Ballet Mécanique (1923–24) is a Dadaist, post-Cubist art film conceived, written, and co-directed by the artist Fernand Léger and the filmmaker Dudley Murphy (with cinematographic input from Man Ray). It has a musical score by the American composer George Antheil. The film premiered in a silent version on September 24, 1924 at the Internationale Ausstellung neuer Theatertechnik (International Exposition for New Theater Technique) in Vienna presented by Frederick Kiesler. It is considered to be a major work of early experimental filmmaking.