Movie Review: Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing

Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing 

A.C.E., British Broadcasting Corporation, NHK Enterprises, TCEP Inc., USA, Japan, UK, 2004. 

The second documentary of the Bullitt Special Edition DVD is a documentary about the secrets of movie editing.

Cutting is very important for the rhythm of the film and effective building of emotional responses. The first films were made using single scene, basically filming until the film ran out. If that would have been all there is for movie making the art of cinema would have become a short-lived gimmick. Edwin S. Porter invented a method for making the films more interesting by combining several scenes to tell stories. Other big steps forward were the techniques used by D.W. Griffith and Sergei Eisenstein. 

There are fun stories about film editing and contrasting opinions of film editors and directors. "Terminator 2"would like very jerky if every 24th frame was removed. "Jaws" animatronic shark did not work as expected but thanks to Verna Fields' editing it looked realistic despite Spielberg's wish to show more of the shark. Also Steven Seagal was difficult to work with in "Under Siege 2" as he walked into the cutting room and began bossing about how the film should be cut. 

The history of editing techniques is interesting stuff. There are good examples from movie genres (action, drama, horror and erotic thrillers). Not only that but the interviews of the directors and the editors give also trivia about making classic movies such as "Apocalypse Now" and "Easy Rider." Walter Murch editing "Cold Mountain" is used as a case study of how editors work.

Walter Murch editing "Cold Mountain"

Highly interesting and informative documentary about movie making and evolution of film techniques.

Rating: Very good

Interviewees: Kathy Bates, Zach Staenberg, Jodie Foster, Michael Tronick, Anthony Minghella, Sean Penn, Walter Murch, Martin Scorsese, Rob Cohen, Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Antony Gibbs, Mark Goldblatt, Sally Menke, Craig McKay, Richard Marks, Ridley Scott, Alexander Payne, Kevin Tent, Howard E. Smith, Conrad Buff IV , Dylan Tichenor, Wes Craven, Carol Littleton, Tom Rolf, Pietro Scalia, Tina Hirsch, Frank J. Urioste, Peter Honess, George Lucas, Chris Columbus, Paul Verhoeven, Jan de Bont, Alan Heim, Joe Dante, Lynzee Klingman, Jay Cassidy, Thelma Schoonmaker, Michael Kahn, Paul Hirsch, Dede Allen, Anne V. Coates, Richard Chew, Donn Cambern, Lawrence Kasdan, Joe Hutshing, Chris Lebenzon, Jerry Bruckheimer, Alisa Vilena, Marya Kazakova, Anatol Rezmeritza, Ilia Volok, Verna Fields, Robert Zemeckis, Will Smith 

Director: Wendy Apple