Free Essays on Staging to Get Inspired & Learn by Example

George Cukor’s The Philadelphia Story (1940) is one of the most critically acclaimed comedies of the 1940s, receiving six Oscar nominations and winning two (Best Screenplay, Donald Ogden Stewart and Best Actor, James Stewart) (Oscars.org, 2014). The tale of a divorced couple (played by Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn) who find themselves reuniting in the face of the wife’s upcoming, highly-publicized second marriage, is a perfect example of the kind of quick-witted smoothness and laidback slapstick indicative of the best comedies of the Golden Age. Director George Cukor, in his handling of the theatrical, fast-paced staging and Continue reading...

WS of Fred climbing through, studying B-17 bomber cockpit while standing, sits down in gunner chair

WS of Fred sitting in gunnery chair, outside the B-17 wreck, looking out the window
Cut to MS of left wing, pan along other half-wrecked wings and lack of propellers
WS of front of bomber, pushing in slowly towards Fred in gunner chair to MU
CU of Fred looking down through window
MS of Fred’s back, pushing into his head as he looks out window
CU of Fred looking through frosted glass in contemplation, wakes up
MS of man outside gunnery bubble, framed by window, looking at screen
MS of Fred, low angle, getting out of chair
WS Continue reading...