The Dynamic Frame: Camera Movement in Classical Hollywood

2.x12 The Merry Widow

Preparing to meet the wealthy Madame Sonia, Danilo begins to sing. Craning past one window and then another (with the help of some dissolves and a miniature model), the camera locates Sonia’s room and dollies laterally past four windows in a row, eventually revealing six gentlemen eavesdropping in the antechamber. At first, the sequence gestures toward romance, connecting our two lovers, as if by fate. But the closing image punctures the romantic mood by revealing that Danilo is just one ambitious suitor among many.

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