Editing in Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat

Alfred Hitchcock once said "Drama is life with the dull bits cut out" (brainyquote.com). This is basically the essence of his idea that films are not real life because real life is quintessentially boring. This quote also shows the essence of the principals of soviet montage; in which Hitchcock used some of its techniques. The theoretical premise of soviet montage was heavy editing, which applies itself to Hitchcock's assertions that all films should have the boring everyday situations in life cut out. Hitchcock learned a great deal from soviet montage theorists and utilized some of their basic techniques in his film Lifeboat (1944). This montage style is extremely useful in this film because of the circumstances of its setting and some of its individual scenes are edited in this style in order to retrieve certain audience reactions. And the overall style of these montage techniques suited Lifeboat in a way that serves its effectiveness in front of this audience.

Soviet montage was a technique that was used by Russian film directors in order to express their love for Marxist views. It involves heavy editing, increased long shots, and the juxtaposition of images, some random, to get across their point. V.I. Pudovkin was the creator of this type of cinema during the 1920s. Some of his experiments included inter-cutting close-ups of a man or woman with passive faces of no emotion with shots of a dog, a plate of food, a child, or a coffin (answers.com). In this style, actors are used as raw material just like the other inanimate objects, which explains montage directors' use of nonprofessional actors (Giannetti, 165). One of the most active users of soviet montage during this period in time was the director Sergei Eisenstein. He believed that the essence of existence was constant change and anything that appeared to be unified or stationary in nature was only temporary. However, he disagreed with Pudovkin in the nature of his editing. Instead of a first shot A and a second shot B resulting in an audience reaction and knowledge of AB, the result is a completely new idea known as C (Giannetti, 167).

This can also be shown as first a thesis, then an opposite antithesis, results in an outcome of synthesis. The transitions between these shots should not be smooth, but harsh and sometimes violent. This technique was used to jolt the viewer and sever the linkages that this viewer would make if these transitions were smooth (Giannetti, 167). The Eisenstein film that most closely adheres to these montage theories is Strike (1924), because of its images that are somewhat like a visual poem that also tells a story of a factory and its workers who are unhappy with harsh working conditions; this of course is used to show that Marxist ideals would provide citizens with a better overall quality of life. Eisenstein's montage style was not accepted as art in Hollywood because of its heavy editing but there was praise in with some intellectuals in Europe. Some of his later works included more of a smooth narrative storyline but he never actually received the worldwide praise during his most productive years. However, the soviet theories of montage editing have influenced directors for generations because of their visual power and challenging demeanor.

The idea of the film Lifeboat was partially an experiment for Hitchcock because of the obvious challenges that the setting of the film creates. He had to devise a style that would hold an audiences attention and have a compelling story for ninety minutes. The answer was to look toward soviet montage. The montage style of heavy editing and varied length of cuts was perfect for a film that had its only setting as a small boat without the luxury of a great deal of space.

Most of the time during the film, the characters are placed in different positions throughout the boat within various groups with the other characters. These groups ranged from two to sometimes all but one isolated character such as Willy, the German captain, played by Walter Slezak. The groups also serve as a divider between certain characters who maybe have not had the best relationship during their stay on the lifeboat. Since the lifeboat is rather longer than the frame of a shot, very rarely if at all does Hitchcock show the entire cast at the same time on the boat. This serves the idea of soviet montage because instead of panning the camera to show reactions or dialog of certain characters, Hitchcock cuts to them, which results in a faster overall pace for that particular scene. During scenes of thrilling action such as the end, or tense emotional dialog, the cuts become much more frequent as becomes the scenes' pace. However, following these tense moments there are considerably slower scenes, usually more dialog heavy, that allow the audience to calm down and be even more attentive for the remaining scenes.

When the editing is heavy, Hitchcock often cuts to other characters' reactions during one characters dialog and then back to the speaker to end his/her lines. This installs varying cuts in order to keep the editing fresh and to not repeat himself. Another strategy of varying cuts that Hitchcock used is changing the proximity of the camera to the actor. He used full shots, close-ups, and medium shots all cut in the same scene. This was present in addition to varying the angle of the camera, whether it was low or high, in relation to the actor. Also, the entire lifeboat is never shown; this is because Hitchcock has to deceive the audience on exactly how small the space is that these people have to live in. He is not interested in showing the real life troubles of these people. He is interested in conveying the drama that can entertain the viewer.

As the film opens, we see the stern of the original large ship slowly sink into the water. This is executed with one continuous shot which then slowly dollies to the right while showing several pieces of luggage. This sequence is perhaps the most slowly paced in the entire film; and it serves the viewer to immerse themselves in the world of the ocean and the characters' dire present situation. The editing clearly begins to increase as we first see Constance alone in the lifeboat and then the others arrive one by one.

The German character Willy, played by Walter Slezak, is the one character that Hitchcock chose to frame by using many low camera angles and extreme close-ups. This, of course, is to show the audience that Willy is the villain of the film and it serves to exaggerate his evil that will eventually be known in full to the viewer as the story progresses. This style is similar to how Eisenstein frames the factory owners in his film Strike. He sees these characters as people who have less than honorable intensions and uses many close-ups when they are on screen.

One of the sequences that include many instances of symbolism is when Gus is having his leg amputated. During the sequence there is a very noticeable swell in the ocean, which definitely adds more than a touch of suspense. And as the ocean becomes heavier, the editing becomes quicker. The cuts rotate between the characters performing surgery, Stanley trying desperately trying to keep the lifeboat steady, and the waves that are increasingly spilling over onto the deck. The sequence comes to a close when Gus' then unneeded shoe is thrown on the opposite side of the boat right in front of the camera. This boot shows much more than any gruesome scene that actually portrayed his leg being cut off would because it is implanted into the viewer's mind for the rest of the film. Hitchcock knows better than anyone that it is what the viewer is unable to see that makes the most lasting impression. This is symbolism at its best that was always present in soviet montage. Pudovkin's inter-cutting of images with various unrelated images also served to associate viewer's mind with a specific event in the film. At the end of the sequence and after the camera fades out, the editing significantly lessens. A certain calmness comes over the characters as they play cards and the camera becomes much more stationary, at least until the next event arises.

The major ending sequence that involves the gunfight between two large ships is also an example of a heavily edited sequence. The inter-cutting between the ships, explosions, various character reactions in close-up, and the entire group's physical reactions of actually hiding under the benches of the lifeboat; all of this results in a degree of high intensity for the viewer. These images grouped together provide the audience with a general feeling of chaos, which is entirely appropriate with the event. The editing results in a much faster pace than the previous scene, and with very emotional reactions from the major characters, a very intense climax to the story is played out in a relatively short period of time.

Alfred Hitchcock was completely aware of the montage heavily edited style that he was using for this film because it was created as a sort of test for his filmmaking skills. There is no question on whether he succeeded or not because the time basically flies by without realizing how long it has been. The time lapse in the film is brought on by using techniques that are not thrown in front of the viewer; growing of the male characters facial hair and fading out and in again after memorable scenes. Hitchcock used almost excessive storyboarding for the film, which allowed him to be in complete control of the conditions. This also explains why much of the film was produced in the studio and not on location. Hitchcock learned a great deal about the soviet montage techniques during the filming of Lifeboat, but he also adds a modern moving camera style to its basic techniques that complements each other very well.

Works Cited

Giannetti, Louis. Understanding Movies. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2005. (Giannetti)

Brainy Quote. BrainyMedia.com. December 8, 2006. (brainyquote.com)

Lifeboat. Alfred Hitchcock, Jo Swerling. Film. Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, 1944.

"Vsevolod Pudovkin". Answers.com. 2006. Answers Corporation. December 8, 2006. (answers.com)

"Sergei Eisenstein". Arts and Culture. December 8, 2006.