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Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Frank Capra

from HOLLYWOOD: THE ORAL HISTORY (2022)

"Film is a funny thing.  You can take

a series of five scenes, and there are

perhaps 25 ways you can put them

together.  But there's probably only one

way that makes any sense, and you've

got to find that one way.  It's almost

like music.  If you put the notes of

a piece of music together, you get

something wonderful, but if you take

those same notes and alter them a little

bit, you get dreck.  It's the same way

with scenes.  You get a chance to

compose in the cutting room.  A film

is made both on the set and in the

cutting room.  But if I didn't want

a shot I made on the set in the film,

I wouldn't have let that shot get into

the cutting room.  You can improve a film

in the cutting room, but you can't find

a great, great film on the table, because

you're only working with what you

brought in.  Never bring in anything

someone else could use to ruin your

picture!

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