The Scene's The Thing!

Will Pfeiffer directs our attention to a potentially exciting resource--the Synoptique Style Gallery. The site's founders are asking film geeks to come together and build a massive library of cinematic virtuosity one upload at a time! Finally--a truly noble dream! I like what's there so far, but I'd like it even more if someone would contribute the "16 Reasons"/"I've Told Ev'ry Little Star" scene from Mulholland Drive to the mix! It must be a great scene, 'cause I've been thinking about it for a week! Now, you might think that so many zooming close-ups of people gazing longingly at each other in such a short period of time would be overkill, just as you might be tempted to declare that overwrought fifties bubblegum ballads make a mockery of romantic love, but, well, if you thought that, you would be wrong, that's all! In fact, the combination of these elements creates an artifact so real that you're more likely to doubt your own existence than the emotions on display!

Other scenes I'd like to add:

1. The tracking shot that follows Geroge Bailey from the train as he ponders the fact that he will never get out of Bedford Falls (referenced, believe it or not, in Amazing spider-Man #129!)

2. Miriam Hopkins and Merle Oberon seated in front of the fireplace in William Wyler's These Three--it's shot through a window, unbeknownst to the viewer, until the rain drops appear on the surface at exactly the right moment!


3. Bette Davis' freak-out delirium in Dieterle's Juarez--with Claude Rains as Napoleon III as Satan.


4. Barbara Stanwyck's (and the camera's) mad romp up and down the church aisles in Capra's Miracle Woman.


5. The camera's ascent from the duel in the barracks into the German postcard heavens in Powell & Pressburger's Life and Death of Colonel Blimp.

There are only a million other great scenes! Too bad I have to make tracks for school RIGHT NOW! Why don't you play along at home?

Article Author: David Fiore

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