[RCL]

Are there films that are made up of scenes and sequences from other films throughout and that make good sense? Similar to poetry Centos, made up other poet's lines?

[John Riley]

I don't have a definitive answer but I do know R. W. Fassbinder was very much under the influence of Douglas Sirk when he made several of his lush melodramas. I doubt he did it through an entire movie but he worked at such a speed he often needed inspiration from wherever he could find it.

[RCL]

Thanks, John. I'll follow up on Fassbinder. I'm thinking of actual film strips edited together rather than imitated on fresh film. There are documentries that come close, and who can forget "What's Up, Tiger Lily?"

[Sarah-Jane Crowson]

I’m not a film buff but what sprang to mind was Cornell’s Rose Hobart

[Sarah-Jane Crowson]

Ooh, and after a quick recce how about Bruce Conners ‘A Movie’?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Movie

[RCL]

Sarah-Jane, Thanks for the Cornell "Rose Hobart" link with cuts from the same film. That sounds interesting and I'm glad to know about it. Ditto Bruce Conner's collage method. Much to absorb for a while.

[R. Nemo Hill]

Experimentalist Ken Jacobs worked masterfully with old film stock.
Tom Tom The Piper's Son is one I remember.
But I doubt you would think it "makes good sense".
His approach is more sensual: tactile/visual rather than cerebral/narrative.

I think I know what you mean by a film centos, and I can't think of any that preserve any sort of cohesive narrative like that. I guess documentaries do it all the time, but usually with a new voice over, like Ken Burns.

Nemo

[W T Clark]

Aren't all films a series of scenes and events from other films?

[Mark McDonnell]

The closest I can think of, in terms of narrative film rather than documentary, is the Steve Martin comedy Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. It's a film noir parody that incorporates extensive footage from lots of different old films into a cohesive(ish) narrative. It isn't entirely borrowed footage but it's a fairly substantial part of the running time.

[Brian Allgar]

Yes, I agree with Mark. I was searching my rusty memory for the title until I came to his comment. And if I remember it correctly, it was pretty funny.