MovieChat Forums > Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) Discussion > Film cuts

Film cuts

posted 9 years ago by pshu4
2 replies | jump to latest

I'm not a film editing expert, so I'm not quite what to call them, but some of the cuts between films seemed very...amateurish.

I can't recall any other 1930s films with such poor cuts. In the first 25 minutes there are multiple instances where the cuts just seem really awkward. For example, the initial discussion of the stooge candidate seems to have multiple cuts when the 2 characters are talking. Then at the train station there is another odd cut.

Did anyone else notice these? I found them very distracting.

[–] svalinanikola 8 years ago

I didn't mind them.

[–] ebright99 8 years ago

I also noticed it. It is distracting. There are repeated instances of cutting from one medium two shot to another medium two shot of the same characters. That is considered sloppy editing. Even in 1939 editing was perfected to the point that something like that seldom was done in a major picture. I think it's the result of the scenes being shortened. It happens throughout the film. There are sudden cuts when it seems like characters haven't finished speaking yet. At 2 hours 9 minutes it was pretty long for its day, so my theory is they attempted to cut a few minutes by trimming lines in the final cut.