Western Union

Fritz Lang - 1941
Lang cuts around, that is in and out, from his action. The old Lang dictum; one take, one action, is in fact not that far away from applying (in this he gets off a horse, in this he reaches for some water etc). The camera often starts a scene furhter out, but then can make quicker movements in (a movement we have seen before in Franju (again connected with Lang) and Chaplin) that are smooth but flexible. There are pans around, with Lang using a lot of surprise pans; finding something in the screen space we had not anticipated (nearly always a person). That shadow near the opening, running across the ground, is noirish, as is this entire film; never have I seen comwboys in so many shadows, often long. It is shot in a colour which is much darker (and more saturated; the sky is actually blue, this is the lushest west I can remember) than classical (for me, that means Fordian) westerns.
The actual compositions are, as always with Lang, about the highest point of cinematic artistry on that front. Whatever 'dynamic' means, presumably tight, Lang is that. He uses high heads, often putting them right (even a little cut off) at the very top, or at the top sides, really using the entire frame. He has some wonderful scenes of eyelines diagonally up and down the frame, using different vertical levels.
Lang doesn't use short scenes, but everything is quick. Dialogue is short, actions are over soon. It is like a series of very short scenes that happen to all be taking place in the same space and time. When extension of a scene or shot occurs, it takes on great power. The scenes are in continual movement.
Although I am aware this may be largely reading-in, from what I already know of Lang, it seems there is a dirty cynicism here, a toughness, even a pessimism (but never fatalism for Lang). The world is nasty, double-crossing, people aren't who they say they are. Pain is dwelt upon, notably in the remarkable scene where Randolph Scott deliberately burns his hands; the close up, kept long, on the face is sensational and brutal.
Also note the scene where the Indians are electrocuted. Even our 'heroes' are cynical, nasty, nihilistic, destructive; taking way too much pleasure in the execution. Here we see civilization is insanity (compared to the rather sweet Indians). The sexual motifs of the horse (the courtly love interest is pretty much forgotten in the fog of violence, also), of violence breaking through.
We have an exploration of the telegram, civilization breaking through, with wonderful economy of mis-en-scene in how the telegram builds tension as we wwait for the decodings, and it allows innuendo. This mixture of brutality and comedy, a kind of weirdness, is striking; death and the adventures of the cook, and the half-shaven, cream everywhere, last shootout. A remarkable Western.