The Films of Samuel Fuller by Lisa Dombrowski

Author:Lisa Dombrowski
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
Published: 2015-05-10T04:00:00+00:00

Frame enlargements of the tag-team attack by Charlie (Glenn Corbett, left) and Joe (James Shigeta, right) on Shinto (George Okamura, dorsal in both frames) during the pool hall scene of The Crimson Kimono. Fuller maximizes the intensity of the sequence by juxtaposing the direction of movement from shot to shot: Charlie strikes from the left and Joe strikes from the right.

Graphic conflict produced from shot to shot further intensifies the climax of the fight. The last segment begins with a close-up of Charlie in the mid-ground left facing the camera and Shinto in the foreground right facing Charlie. Charlie throws a punch that sails from left to right into Shinto’s jaw; a reverse angle then depicts a close-up of Joe backhanding Shinto from right to left in the frame. The two shots repeat again at even shorter lengths. The alternating screen direction of the blows and accelerated cutting rate intensifies the attack on Shinto and endows it with a percussive power. This final repeating pair is followed by a shot that joins the separate attacks into the same frame: Shinto wobbles in profile in the mid-ground of a medium close-up, while Charlie delivers another right hook from the background and Joe’s arms appear from the extreme right foreground with a double karate chop to both sides of Shinto’s head. Movement in depth combines with the established pattern of the partners’ alternating mirror attacks to punctuate Shinto’s collapse.

The Korean giant finally goes down, but the battle is not yet over; the final phase of the fight accelerates the pacing of the movement, graphic conflicts, and synchronized sound effects developed throughout the scene to create a final crescendo of kinetic action. As if the camera is shooting from the optical point of view of Shinto, a medium close-up of Joe planting his hands and beginning to kick cuts to a reverse angle of Charlie completing the action and stomping both feet directly at the camera. The continuation of the figure movement across the shot–reverse shot pattern emphasizes the unity of Joe and Charlie’s physical effort, a strategy expressed in the editing throughout the scene, while also heightening the visceral nature of the attack aimed at the viewer. The soundtrack continues in a self-conscious manner, with a plucking harp accenting Joe’s approach, while horns and a cymbal mark Charlie’s final deliverance of the blow. With Shinto out of sight and the direction of the kicks aimed squarely at the camera, the viewer becomes the target of the detectives’ combined blows and the recipient of a particularly shocking jolt. In the final shot of the scene, Shinto falls to the floor between the two detectives, releasing the tension accumulated from ever closer, louder, and faster stylistic cues. Repetition, patterns of action-reaction, rhythmic editing, music, contrasting screen direction, and attacks aimed at the camera all combine to produce a scene with unusual kinetic strength. Designed less for clarity than for maximum visceral impact, the poolroom sequence completely upends the flirtatious mood of the previous scene,

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