Anatomy of Film BERNARD F. DICK Third Edition a St. Martin's Press New YorkFilm, Cinema, or Movie Understanding the Medium sions widely onderstod term it means the invented, the image inate, the fancifal—the opposite of fac. Theres also bis i= IMI ion, 2s well a bitorcal drama terms for works ofthe imagination ‘that draw on history for narrative or dramati purposes (Gore Vida nlm Shakespeare’ Flow V). Thus, 3 novel ora play ean sil be co sidered Scion, even though iis derived frm fet. “There ae other forms of Biton as well—gothie, romantic, pica esque, detective, steatiof-consiovsness, © name a few. Fin hen, {San umbrell tenm-—one with many differen spokes il is another word tht means differeat ching in diferent con- text rl ln film stock fil, fi, We were ll exposed wo some kind tf film before we saw our fist example of classic moviemaking Te may fave Been something we saw on television: a eatoon, a Three Stoogesshort a Lane rerun. Or pchape fe wa an edcational lin we sn school oa chest lft intended tbe shown a mone theres) “er asked to define fl, many of vs would estate, Bats would profesional filmmakers. Animators, documentary lunar, and exper= Inset linmater peeve themselves ar working inthe sme med flim. The fins they produce, however, difer cota a lok, subject, ‘mater, and spe fom shore of talaseam Hollywod. To the general publi, ln means “mde” ere sesepeble em nd on ache ote American rte Pasline Kael at alway championed ‘nforaately, mesg popular entre rather than ar, wile ina soggets a ther than popular cule Toil exon, hgh t ‘Fa French words dered from the Greek ites (eo more; choy whether essen ome me ing aon a fo weet {own a “moring picres”—appropatey named bese the pisars e= sBymvadThev rg Fete sow he vor mes rail foe of tegen example of ln st ve produce any of which ar isused in ths ext) ae, nd aay lb, moves. Alough Kael finds sone pretensions, eis commonly med to cteorze Hts according to Kind (entenporary cinema, world cna) od gas (Amencan cinta, French cinema, Third Werid cine, andthe Me). Maney then jr synonym forthe marae Hun and implies nothing aboot asic worth ‘Since we are dealing ony with the nase, say «Gti tion ein onder However, good dsfinion is aio a dexaipon. In t= tempting to dfn fil the American lay, screener, and x Jn Howard Laon offered this deseipon “fn fn advise ‘onli embodies te-sace eatondhp proces frm premise, fhroagh a progremion, toa climax or uitmate te ofthe action Note that Lawson has ot dsb fn x acy he hs desided neo its pur ‘slr forms: the nartve film, or what is commonly ald» movie Eee ceeeemnacteeartan felons fisrmansin eee dcene ‘ite lon had no spoke gui ye fe ome ind fund iiaSopl meinen ateratene Hiimiecneninmine bas “afl, the images dhennseves can tll part ofthe tory, indepen dently of anguage. Some of the most unforgetable momen in fil are wordless. We should not go 9 far as Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) Inilly Wilder’ Siner Bndewerd (1950), who made ony silent lms and ‘sw no need for spoken dialogue. “We had fice chen! she exclaims. On the other hand, the coming of sound ushered in the golden age of the ‘American film Graghly 1930 to the end ofthe 1950), daring which avast ‘humber of close ils appeared that were the result of outstanding Screenplays. Orson Welles Ctzen Kane (1941) would never have been the Inasterpicc its without the script that Herman J. Mankiewicz and Welles treated, Even contemporaty flakes suchas Woody Allen and Joel and Ethan Coen cealize te parsmoune importance ofthe sip. Sil there are moments when words are unnecesary because the vsuals ae doing the iarrating: the burning sled in Citizen Kane chat reveals the meaning of “Rasebud a man, dened to be Toner, sanding inthe doorway of Ihowse chat everyone enters but himself John Fords The Strser, 1956) fn sstronaot clearing the window of his spaceship tthe same ime that his ‘hifi ooking out ofthe window of thei home 5o that seems asi they Tee cach other —if only in thei imagination (Apolo 13, 1995). The great ‘lmmakers always knew tat the diffrence between theater and flat was the eiference between a play anda Screenpley, the ater is precisely what the tm implies a play designed forthe crea, wher images can cry a8 och weght 35 words "Joseph L, Mankiewir’s All lvue Boe (1950) and Alfred Hitchcock’ ‘Poco 1960 ilstate the way images advance o enhance the action with= tut the use of dialogue, Al Abo Bes the story ofan aspiring actress, Eve Flarington (Anne Baste), who deceives the Broadway star Margo ‘Channing (Bette Davis) into befending her. After she betrays Margo and ‘becomes star herself, Eve becomes the victim of similar scheme: Phoebe, a stursrucketadnt, will do to Bve what Bve did to Margo. As Phoebe stands in font ofa tsee-way mirror bowing to an imaginary au ience a f she were accepting an avard, er image is mulled wna the ‘een is filled with what teers tobe an infinity of Phoebe. The fn se- ‘quence i enizely without dialogue. None is needed; the visuals them= Selves make the point. As long as there are stars, there will be the Starstruck, some of whom wil top at nothing to achive fame. "Poel wil alvaya be remembered forthe shower murder of Marion ‘Crane Janet Leigh) The episode is completely wordless. There is sound, ‘of courses msi that realy shrieks, sf nticpating the audience’ reac= ‘Son. As Macion prepares for a shower in her room at the Bates Motel, ‘Norman Bates (Ahony Perkins) in the adjacene parlor, where heres peephole, covered by a picture of Susanna andthe Piers. Removing the