[PREV - MYSTERIOUS_DOCTOR_SATAN] [TOP]
SATANS_PLACE
October 8, 2003
Additions: December 2, 2003
Rev: March 18, 2004
"The Mysterious Dr. Satan", Republic (1940)
Many things are incoherent
about Dr. Satan... The Copperhead seems to
have a masked secret
But I note that it has identity solely in order
a much stronger sense to make it eaisier to
of place than a modern swap in the stunt man.
action movie.
That is:
Part of this is the natural Dave Sharpe,
result of a lower budget: who needed no
they keep the camera back superpowers
and do less rapid cutting. to take flight.
But some of it is clearly
intentional: they introduce
outdoor settings with a
panning long shot, to
quickly fix in your mind
where everyone is in the
scene.
In comparison, modern action
movies seem to pay no attention
to this kind of coherence: flash
is everything, tight closeups,
quick jumps. People punch, shoot,
duck and run, but where they're E.g. the well-regarded naval
going often isn't very clear. battle flick "Master and
Commander" (directed by Peter
Weir) has a final battle --
a scene of boarding another
For a human being actually vessel -- that's almost
plunged into this kind of incomprehensible.
physical action, there's
always going to be a There are other
struggle to understand examples I could
what's happening and to get name... notably the
some control, and there's first Batman film,
always going to be a danger which used a costume
that it will all degenerate like a neck-brace,
into confusion. which Burton tried to
hide with jerky
Modern cinematography conveys close-focus.
that sense of confusion well,
the struggle for understanding
not at all.
If self-identification
is the goal, this is a
complete violation of it.
I'm coming to the conclusion that
You should be able to despite it's reputation, Hollywood
follow along in the doesn't have a clue about how to
hero's place, direct an action film.
participating even in
the low level tactical
decisions made in a Maybe it's all Hitchcock's
fist fight. fault. He had this theory
about never pulling back
Ideally, it should be before the close of a love
possible to second scene.
guess the tactics.
So now we've got
"What I would've Hollywood directors
done is taken that confusing violence
life-preserver and with love.
used it to trip the
guy with the gun If only they'd
so that I'd have I won't argue that listen to
time to throw the this isn't puerile Jackie Chan.
bomb overboard." on some level. But
if you're going to
do action fiction at
all you need to
decide what kind of
appeal you're going
for, and I'd argue
that this "strategy
and tactics" point
of view is one of
the *least* childish.
What else?
Ooh, look at the blood!
Heh, heh... Boom!
Die, villain!
Compare to mystery novels
(the early ones, as
opposed to the later Interesting that the
"detective" or "crime" incoherence of modern
novel genres): action movies doesn't
They made a show seem to noticeably
of "playing fair" with the disturb anyone.
readers, giving them a
chance to solve the That numb quality that
problem along with the descends after a few
detective. hours of budda-budda
boom-boom...
In this light, the
cheating done on Maybe that's what people
the Republic serial like about them?
cliffhangers seems
much more heinous: Cinematic anesthesia...
a betrayal of a
trust the audience
has placed in the
film-makers.
Cliff-hanger:
The pilot struggles at the controls.
The plane crashes into the mountain. The jump cut implies
that there's no time
In the next installment: to escape; the later
edit changes the timing,
The pilot struggles at the controls. and retroactively
He gives up and bails out of the plane. changes the events we
The plane crashes into the mountain. were shown.
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