I’m astounded that more students don’t put their research papers on the internet to share with all. College was a big waste of my time. Did I retain as much information from college as I did in high school? I did, because I was a bit more interested in the subject matter. I possibly would’ve remembered who Dorothy Spencer was if I learned about her in high school!
*Fun fact on this research paper: I put that she was born in 1920 (not on purpose). The next sentence said she edited her first film in 1929. That would’ve made her first film she edited in Hollywood at 9 years old! However, this wasn’t caught by the instructor, because I’m sure I would’ve felt so dumb about that kind of mistake to this day!
The Research Paper on Stagecoach (1939)
“The thing women have got to learn is that nobody gives you power. You just take it.” These words from Roseanne Bar can apply to women across all careers. For the women who have taken quite possibly the most powerful position in a movie production, the editor, this quote couldn’t ring more true! Of course, when films started in the early 1900’s, men dominated the positions, but a few women pioneers worked their way in. As editor Elmo Williams put it in 1937, the patience women have naturally makes them fit for the part of editor since it demands plenty of it. He also claimed they have a knack for organization, great at keeping trims, and detail oriented. Around the birth of the talkies, a woman by the name of Dorothy Spencer arrived on the editing scene and became noticed for her hand in editing the movie Stagecoach in 1939.
On February 2nd, 1909, Dorothy Spencer was born in Covington, Kentucky and eventually made her way out to Hollywood to start working in film, editing her first film, Married in Hollywood, in 1929. Before getting into cutting and video editing, she worked in sound editing. During this time, she would visit cutters’ offices like Stan Frazen, who claims she was a “terrific lady” and said without her, his daughter wouldn’t have had the success in editing as she has (Burman).
Throughout her nearly 50 year editing career, she edited 74 major motion pictures. Most notable would be her work on the following features: Stagecoach (1939), Decision before Dawn (1951), Cleopatra (1963), and Earthquake (1974). Each of these received an Oscar nomination for Best Film Editing (in Stagecoach, she shared the nomination with fellow editor Otho Lovering, an editor she shared a lot of co-editing credit with in movies in the late 1930’s).
Spencer also was earned nominations for Best Edited Feature Film for her work in Cleopatra and Earthquake from the American Cinema Editors, USA. In 1989, ACE awarded her the Career Achievement Award (“Awards for Dorothy Spencer”). Cleopatra was an achievement for her in itself, even though it was such a blockbuster flop, because of the film’s large budget and the first movie to pay an actor, Elizabeth Taylor, one million dollars. Even though Dorothy Spencer has never won any awards, she is regarded as one of the best in her field.
Dorothy Spencer’s Edits (1920-1945)
Dorothy Spencer’s other works include Nix on Dames (1929), Mama (1931), Such Women are Dangerous (1934), Coming-Out Party (1931), The Lottery Lover (1935), Stand-In (1937), Trade Winds (1938), Foreign Correspondent (1940), To Be or Not to Be (1942), The Case Against Mrs. Ames (1936), Slightly Honorable (1939), She Was a Lady (1934), The Luckiest Girl in the World (1936), Vogues of 1938 (1937), Blockade (1938), Winter Carnival (1939), Eternally Yours (1939), The House Across the Bay (1940), Sundown (1941), Heaven Can Wait (1943), Happy land (1943), Lifeboat (1944), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), Down to the Sea in Ships (1949), A Royal Scandal (1945), Here Is Germany (1945), The Snake Pit (1948), Dragonwyck (1946), That Lady in Ermine (1948), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), My Darling Clementine (1946), Sweet and Low-Down (1944), I Was a Criminal (1945)
Dorothy Spencer Edits (1950-1979)
Fourteen Hours (1951), Lydia Bailey (1952), Under My Skin (1950), Three Came Home (1950), What Price Glory (1952), Tonight We Sing (1953), Man on a Tightrope (1953), Circus World (1964), Vicki (1953), Wild in the Country (1961), Night People (1954), North to Alaska (1960), Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954), From the Terrace (1960), Broken Lance (1954), Seven Thieves (1960), Black Widow (1954), A Private’s Affair (1959), Prince of Players (1955), The Journey (1959), Soldier of Fortune (1955), The Young Lions (1958), The Left Hand of God (1955), A Hatful of Rain (1957), The Rains of Ranchipur (1955), The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956), The Best Things in Life Are Free (1956), Von Ryan’s Express (1965), Lost Command (1966), A Guide for the Married Man (1967), Happy Birthday, Wanda Jane (1971), Valley of the Dolls (1967) Daddy’s Gone A-Hunting (1969), Limbo (1972), and The Concorde…Airport ’79 (1979). In these movies, she worked with established filmmakers such as Henry Hathaway, Mark Robson (most of her final films were with Robson), John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, Tay Garnette, and Edward Dmytryk.
After bouncing around studios for a number of years, she ultimately ended up at 20th Century Fox and earned 50 credits for most of the rest of her career. It is here that 20th Century Fox producer Darryl F. Zanuck knew the importance of editors. Kevin Lewis writes that he didn’t look always to the writers and directors, but the film editors there, such as Dorothy Spencer, J. Watson Webb, and Barbara McLean to take a film to its max potential.
About Stagecoach (1939)
Dorothy Spencer’s first big movie, Stagecoach, directed by John Ford, was a breakthrough for her. Total, the movie won five major awards (two of them Oscars) and received five other Oscar nominations. This movie is worth taking a look at for her and Lovering’s work in editing. One thing the film does is break the 180 degree rule, something that all Spencer, Ford, and Lovering were not afraid to break (Yahoo).
One thing Stagecoach does very well is its establishing shots. Every time there is a scene change, there’s always a shot showing the vicinity where the new scene takes place. They also cut to establishing shots throughout the travel sequence that begins about 17 minutes in to remind us of the distance being traveled, conveying the long, tension-filled journeys of the Old West. It also gives the feel of montage with information. At 38:25, there is an establishing shot while the stagecoach comes from back in the scenery to off screen with the transition being a crossfade and switching right as soon as the stagecoach exits the scene. The dissolves are definitely used a lot in this film, but used correctly since there are many changes in time and place.
The movie also follows a lot of Dmytryk’s rules outline in his book, On Film Editing. After 25 minutes in, there is a scene after they arrive in a new town. They go inside to discuss whether or not to continue without the protection of the Army. The scene cuts inside in the middle of the group walking into the building. This gives us time to process the change of scenery and new information where the characters spread out to. Numerous times throughout this scene, reaction shots are given to the dialogue. The female actresses, especially Mrs. Mallory before going into the building, give great reactions and are cut with exception.
Are Reactions Shots More Important to Dorothy Spencer?
Mr. Hatfield’s reaction to the doc’s ranting about serving under Abraham Lincoln in the Civil War was possibly the most impactful, though. It let us know that he possibly served with the South and is disturbed by the words of the doc, all without saying a word. This sequence ended though, with a fade-to-black instead of a dissolve. The next scene opened up to a medium 2-shot of the sheriff and Buck, inconsistent with the establishing shots through the first couple sequences.
The next scene featured most of the characters in the stagecoach reacting to Gatewood’s political ranting, save Ringo and Hatfield. The two ladies ere obviously annoyed by the rant. They wanted nothing to do with it, and the doc and whiskey salesman were more-or-less just playing around during it.
When they arrive to the second stop, there is a short dialogue scene between Mrs. Mallory and one of the locals. She is informed that her husband has possibly been injured pretty bad, and most of the scene is showing her reaction to the news. Even though her facial expressions are minutely changing for most of it, they convey much more emotion than words or the other actor could convey. The dialogue scenes with medium close up shots of the faces are reserved for when more dramatic, slower emotion where the dialogue is a bit more breathy, unlike many movies, especially of today, where this almost a cut for every sentence.
Stagecoach’s Cutting in Movement
The film does a lot of cutting in movement, another suggestion Dmytryk makes in his book. One person, though, who does not follow this consistently throughout the film, is the doc. When he steps into the bar at the beginning, and when he goes in to help Mrs. Mallory to deliver the baby 46 minutes in, he either starts or ends standing still. There is another scene where he walks off the screen for a second before the scene dissolves to him vomiting out alcohol. The cutting style with him is inconsistent with how the rest of the characters are treated in editing. In every shot of entrance/exit, from when Buck hops off the stagecoach in the beginning to the showdown between Ringo and the hoods at the end, no other character is needlessly cut from entrance/exit.
The only scene that had poor editing was when Ringo and Miss Dallas were talking outside in the night time about 53 minutes in. It had her going one way, and the camera angle change was rather confusing on how Ringo started walking what looked like away from where she went, then the camera did a 180 on what possibly could have been the action axis, but it just confuses the viewer. The last cut made it possible for the sheriff to tell Ringo to not stray too far away from the ranch. This scene is not necessary because he already showed Ringo trust in giving him a gun when they thought they were being attacked earlier in the evening.
Closing the Stagecoach Editing of Dorothy Spencer
When Stagecoach came into its action sequence, the film kept up with its fast and effective-as-they-could-be cuts. The only problem was the fact that it looked as though the Native Americans were not dwindling in numbers at all, after what seemingly most of them had been shot. Another possible mishap from the film is at 1:18:35, there was a moment when Miss Dallas appeared as though she was “waiting” to act when she stepped down with Mrs. Malloy’s baby, one thing Dmytryk did not condone.
Overall, it’s not hard to see why this movie was nominated for an Oscar for Best Editing or any of Spencer’s other works to be nominated, especially since this was so early on in her career. The action sequence faults are forgivable because it’s 1939. Technology wasn’t anywhere near in the state as it is today. The execution was still nonetheless on par with today’s films. According to Sharples, without the expertise of editors like Dorothy Spencer in the early days of film, film editing would’ve fallen way behind the progression of film. We must take time to appreciate the work, patience, and skill the early editors brought to the game. Without them, who knows how difficult movies would be to watch!
Works Cited
“Awards for Dorothy Spencer” Internet Movie Data Base. Amazon.com, Inc. m.d. Web. 27 Nov 2012.
Burman, Jeff, and Michael Kunkes. “The Great Society: Highlights from the Early Years of the Editor’s Guild.” Editor’s Guild. Editor’s Guild Magazine May-June 2007: Volume 28, Number 3. n.d. Web. 26 Nov 2012.
“Dorothy Spencer.” Internet Movie Data Base. Amazon.com, Inc. n.d. Web. 27 Nov 2012.
“Dorothy Spencer – Biography.” Movies.yahoo.com. Yahoo! Inc. n.d. Web. 27 Nov 2012.
Lewis, Kevin. “The Real Housewives of Post-War Suburbia.” Editor’s Guild. Editor’s Guild Magazine January-February 2012: Volume 1, Number 1. 2012. Web. 26 Nov 2012.
Sharples Jr., Win. “Prime Cut: The Work of the Film Editor.” Editor’s Guild. Editor’s Guild Magazine May-June 2007: Volume 28, Number 3. 2008. Web. 26 Nov 2012.
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