The Dynamic Frame: Camera Movement in Classical Hollywood

3.x14 If I Had a Million

Director Ernst Lubitsch has taken the office motif from King Vidor’s The Crowd (see 1.11) and made it more despairing. Vidor’s camera seeks out the protagonist with single-minded determination; Lubitsch’s camera appears to pick Lambert out at random, first following one man, then following another man, and then turning its focus to Lambert, who appears no more special than anyone else. Only dumb luck can allow someone like Lambert to move from the bottom to the top.

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