Tuesday 7 June 2011

Bringing Up Baby

Howard Hawks - 1938
Of course it's wonderful. Hawks' tracking shots into scenes aren't quite so obvious, indeed flamboyant, as in 'Scarface', but all the parts are there. Perhaps there are a few more SRS sequences here than usual, always with thought put in. Also, for outside shots the takes are undoubtedly longer (with some wonderful lights).
Hawks plots are long scenes with lots of fun in them, and the plot often very quickly developing at the end. He sets up hundreds of hundreds of primings and paths, meaning every move is hugely overdetermined (though lovely touches; branches into Hepburn's fact, for example), allowing a complexity to charactes not obvious from simple plot or character trait.

No comments:

Post a Comment