As Robert Flaherty was making his first documentary with synchronous sound (MAN OF ARAN, released 1934), he discovered that he had never learned to cut smoothly between shots. He had become the most renowned maker of documentary films in the world without having acquired the most rudimentary skills of film editing. Why not? Indeed, how was it possible? Within this essay I address those questions, suggesting that the answers can tell us much about the distinctive nature, scope and limits of Flaherty's achievement and therewith much about filmmaking itself.
How does cinematographical lighting differ from photographical lighting? Josef Sternberg amplified the answer when lighting the face of Marlene Dietrich within the six movies that he made with her between 1929 and 1935. By registering in historical context what he did, we can learn much of how differently we see things by means of movies versus photographs.