On Film Editing

Introduction

Today few people will deny that “The Film,” as it is commonly called, is the most dynamic of all the arts, and none can argue with the statistics which show it to be, by long odds, the most popular art form in the world. However, many who try to analyze its power and appeal are brought up short by the collective nature of its creation. They can study, criticize, and debate the “art,” but they find it very difficult to define the “artist.”

One accepted judgment of today is that the film is created solely by the director—the “auteur”—and in a few instances—a very few—this may be true. Putting aside for a moment the claims of screenwriters, cinematographers, actors, and a number of other workers to at least some portion of the creative ...