Running Head: LADY FILM CUTTERS: THE PIONEERS OF FILM EDITING
Lady Film Cutters: The Pioneers of Film Editing
Claire Pfeiffer
Virginia Commonwealth University
LADY FILM CUTTERS: THE PIONEERS OF FILM EDITING
Lady Film Cutters: The Pioneers of Film Editing
Introduction
Film editors are the best-kept secret of the movies. Editors literally manipulate
time and space to create the illusion of cinema. Initially, the majority of film cutters were
women. However, following the rise of talkies1, editing evolved into a creative profession
instead of a secretarial duty, and as men flocked to the field, women were pushed out.
Currently, the vast majority of Hollywood’s editors are men. Still, women played a large
roll in establishing the principles of film editing. Margaret Booth, Dede Allen, Sally
Menke and Thelma Schoonmaker are a few of the most influential editors of all time.
Women also have innate gender traits, such as empathy and nurture that make them more
suited for editing film. Despite the fact that women left a large impact on the craft of film
editing and are naturally better at editing film, men now dominate Hollywood’s editing
rooms because major Hollywood studios refuse to hire women. Lady film cutters are the
pioneers of the craft of film editing and the lack of female film editors today has caused a
stand still in creative innovation in Hollywood film editing.
History of Film Editing and Sound
Before the invention of talkies, the majority of film editors were women. Film
editing was seen as a secretarial job and often compared to knitting, sewing or
dressmaking. In, The Cutting Edge (2004), Walter Murch2 states, “It was something like
tapestry, sewing that you took these pieces of fabric, which is what films are, and you put
them together." The first editors were called “cutters” because they literally cut the film
1
Sound-synced films
2
Walter Murch edited Apocalypse Now and The Godfather: Part I & 2
LADY FILM CUTTERS: THE PIONEERS OF FILM EDITING
by hand. Cutters looked at the film by holding it up to the light, then they literally cut and
pasted the film together and checked their work by running it through a projector. These
cutters were considered hands for hire rather than creative contributors and, most of the
time, they didn’t even receive screen credit (Hatch, 2013).
Sound was introduced to movies in the 1930s and it drastically changed
filmmaking. Sound was more complicated and was seen as a “manly” profession similar
to engineering. According to Murch, “Sound was somehow a ‘man’ thing – it was
electric” (2002). As men flocked to editing, women disappeared. A Los Angeles Times
Article (1940) declared “lady film cutters a vanishing profession” and places the blame
on male editors – the articles states, “women cutters are resented by their male
coworkers. At any rate, you aren’t likely to see their ranks increase as time goes on”
(C3). The article also claims that cause of vanishing lady film cutters is because it takes
7 years of school to become an editor and insinuates that women don’t have time for a
lengthy education because they are expected to wed and bear children.
It was after the introduction of sound that producer, Irving Thalberg, started
calling cutters, “film editors” (Hatch, 2013). Early cutters were considered hands for hire
rather than creative partners in the filmmaking process, however, due to the digital
revolution, editors are now key creative collaborators in the filmmaking process. Editors
manipulate time and space – they can slow or speed up time and the timing of a cut can
emotionally impact the audience. Editors are experts at invisibility and often compared to
magicians. The Hollywood style of editing relies on the “invisible cut” which is a cut that
always makes action appear continuous and fluid. Unfortunately, the invisible style of
editing causes editors to go unnoticed and become underappreciated and many novice
LADY FILM CUTTERS: THE PIONEERS OF FILM EDITING
film cutters and editors never received the screen credits they deserved. (The Cutting
Edge, 2004).
The Pioneers
In 1926, the position of cutting negatives and assembling reels was held almost
entirely by young working-class women. According to Hatch (2013), “Out of the ranks of
these film joiners and negative cutters emerged a handful of women who would help to
develop the editing techniques that would become the hallmark of Hollywood’s visual
style” So, despite the drastic decrease of female editors subsequent to the 1930s, many of
the most iconic and influential film editors of all time were, and still are, women. Among
the pioneers of film editing are Margaret Booth, Dede Allen, Viola Lawrence, Blanche
Sewell and Anne Bauchens - these talented women established the Hollywood editing
style.
Margaret Booth began her career as a negative cutter for D.W. Griffith.
According to Hatch (2013), “the job of a negative cutter was difficult, time-consuming,
and intricate, which perhaps explains why it fell so often to women.” After Griffith
closed his L.A. studio, Booth began working at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for Irving
Thalberg. Booth worked as the supervising editor for MGM studios for 30 years. Director
Sidney Lumet is quoted saying, “When I complete a film for Metro, I have to get blood
on the floor to protect it from a lady named Margaret Booth, who I’m sure none of you
have ever head of. She was Irving Thalberg’s cutter and to this day she checks every
movie made for MGM and can stop you at any point, call off your mix and re-edit
herself. She owns your negative” (Reynolds, 1998). In Booth’s essay, “The Cutter” she
discusses the importance of cutting to a close up during a monologue to stress the
LADY FILM CUTTERS: THE PIONEERS OF FILM EDITING
importance of the dialogue as well as the importance of a distinctive rhythm when
editing. “The Cutter” established many key editing principles that are still used in
Hollywood today (Hatch, 2013).
Dede Allen started her career at Columbia pictures as a messenger, was promoted
to sound cutter, then assistant editor and finally to film editor. Eventually, Allen was
hired as the head of post-production at Warner Brothers Studios. She is known for editing
The Breakfast Club, Bonnie and Clyde and The Addams Family. Allen has been
nominated for three Oscars but has never received one (Dede Allen, n.d.). In, The Cutting
Edge (2004) Allen discuses her style, “A master shot had to come first and then if you
had an over-shoulder you went to the over-shoulder. You never went to the close-up till
you'd done the whole dance, coming from far to close. For instance, if you were going to
have a transition from one place to the next it would be done with a dissolve.” Allen
brought many Russian and German editing techniques to Hollywood.
Female film editors remained prominent through the 1940s and 50s. Viola
Lawrence, Blanche Sewell and Anne Bauchens are all iconic Hollywood film editors who
continued editing long after the integration of sound. Lawrence edited Goldwyn’s first
sound film and continued editing until the 1950s. Sewell edited MGM’s first sound film
and continued editing until the late 1940s. Bauchens edited for MGM until the late 1950s.
These women continued to shape the style of Hollywood editing. However, according to
Hatch (2013), “entry-level positions were now going to men more often than to women,
and it would become increasingly difficult for women to work their way into the studios’
editing rooms.”
Women in Hollywood
LADY FILM CUTTERS: THE PIONEERS OF FILM EDITING
Sally Menke is Quentin Tarantino’s editor – she edited Pulp Fiction, Inglorious
Basterds, Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2 and Reservoir Dogs which are arguably a few of the most
successful movies of all time. In, The Cutting Edge Menke states, “I think editors play a
big role with directors in giving them support, making them feel like they can look at
something that may have trouble or problems and be comfortable enough so that they can
approach these problems.” She emphasizes the importance of getting the audience
emotionally invested in the story.
Thelma Schoonmaker is the most successful female film editor in Hollywood
today - she is the only female to win an Oscar for Best Film Editing since 2001. Her first
Oscar was for her spectacular cut of, Raging Bull (Thelma Schoonmaker, n.d.).
Schoonmaker began editing during the cinema verite3 period of documentary filmmaking
and she claims it heavily influenced her editing style. In The Cutting Edge (2004), she
discusses how her years of experience editing documentary footage helped her edit
Martin Scorsese’s heavily improvised films like Raging Bull and Goodfellas.
Schoonmaker compares editing these improvisational films to assembling a jigsaw puzzle
and explains it was very time consuming.
Bette Davis is a famous and talented actress – her filmography includes more than
120 credits. She has been nominated for an Oscar eleven times, but only won twice for
her performance in Jezebel (1938) and in Dangerous (1936.) Davis was the first Warner
3
Cinema Verite is a style of documentary filmmaking invented by Jean Rouch, inspired
by Vertov’s theory of Kino-Pravda (Kino-Pravda roughly translates to film truth) in
which the subject and the audience become unaware of the camera’s presence.
LADY FILM CUTTERS: THE PIONEERS OF FILM EDITING
Brother’s actress to win an Oscar and she is often referred to as, “The Fifth Warner
Brother” (Bette Davis, n.d.). In October 1941, Bette Davis became the first female
president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. However, “she resigned
less than two months later, publicly declaring herself too busy to fulfill her duties as
president while angrily protesting in private that the Academy had wanted her to serve as
a mere figurehead” (Bette Davis, n.d.). Davis passed away in 1989 – her tombstone reads,
“She did it the hard way” (Bette Davis, n.d.).
Gender Traits
Women have gender assumed traits that make them more suited for editing film.
Research from the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology as well as Neuroreport suggests
that women are innately more empathetic than men. One of the many tasks of an editor is
to choose the shot with the most convincing and fitting emotion. Since women are tuned
to reading emotions and are naturally more empathetic, they are better able to choose the
shots that are more emotionally appropriate for the scene. Booth describes a females
unique emotional perspective when viewing a film as bringing a, “women’s eye view” to
the editing room.
According to Hatch (2013), an article in the Motion Picture Magazine from 1925 read:
Among the greatest ‘cutters’ and film editors are women. They are quick and
resourceful. They are also ingenious in their work and usually have a strong sense
of what the public wants to see. They can sit in a stuffy cutting room and see
themselves looking at the picture before an audience.
LADY FILM CUTTERS: THE PIONEERS OF FILM EDITING
Quentin Tarantino prefers a female editor because he believes women to be more
nurturing and less demanding than men. Louann Brizendine’s4 book, The Female Brain
discusses how the physical and hormonal composition of the female brain makes them
innately more nurturing than men. In, The Cutting Edge, Tarantino discusses his
relationship with Sally Menke, “ When I was doing my first movie, the only thing I knew
is I wanted a female editor. (…) They wouldn’t try to be winning their way just to win
their way. They wouldn’t be trying to shove their agenda or win their battles with me.
They would be nurturing me through this process.” In fact, editors are often compared not
only to dressmakers and librarians, but also midwifes. In this scenario, the director is
giving birth to the film and the editor is there to help the film be born without incident.
According to Reynolds (1998), “The director is the proud father standing on the porch.
The midwife merely helped to avoid any tragic accidents.”
Male Dominated Hollywood
There is a large gender gap in Hollywood and men hold the majority of above the
line positions5. The problem rests within the 6 major studios that dominate the box office:
Warner Brothers Pictures (Time Warner), Universal Pictures (NBC Universal/Comcast),
Walt Disney Pictures (Disney), Paramount Pictures (Viacom), Sony Pictures and 20th
Century Fox. These six major studios are known for their lack of female screenwriters,
directors, producers and editors. In the last five years, a woman directed only 4.7% of
feature films released by a major studio. The lack of female filmmakers creates a
4
Louann Brizendine M.D. is a neuropsychiatrist and the author of two novels: The
Female Brain and The Male Brain.
5
Above the line positions include Executive Producers, Producers and the Director.
LADY FILM CUTTERS: THE PIONEERS OF FILM EDITING
representational ghetto for women within Hollywood (Dargis, 2015). The Director’s
Guild of America is aware of this gender gap and encourages production companies to
interview more women and possibly initiate “set-asides” for female directors. In 1983,
after many failed attempts to persuade major studios, Michael Franklin6 filed a classaction lawsuit against three major studios. Unfortunately, due to various legal
requirements, the judge refused to assign to hear the case. Since then, the DGA has made
many crucial efforts to expand filmmaking opportunities in Hollywood to women.
However, women remain a minority in Hollywood and it seems legal action is necessary
(Glese, 2014).
European Model
In the realm of independent and foreign filmmaking, the majority of editors are
still women. Women were able to establish themselves as editors due to the informality
of early European cinema. They learned editing skills while working because specific
qualifications weren’t required. The rise of sound did not affect European cinema like it
did to Hollywood. When sound emerged in Europe, film editing was still seen as a timeconsuming secretarial job and was evaded by men, which allowed female editors the
opportunity to conquer sound technology. Jean-Luc Godard7 is often quoted saying,
“tourner est masculin, monter feminin," which translates to, “shooting is masculine,
editing is femininea” (Reynolds, 1998).
6
Michael Franklin is the National Executive Secretary of the Directors Guild of America.
7
Jean-Luc Godard is a famous French filmmaker known for directing Pierrot Le Fou and
Vivre Sa Vie.
LADY FILM CUTTERS: THE PIONEERS OF FILM EDITING
Discussion
Hollywood needs female editors to maintain and advance the quality of film
editing as a craft. Women are the pioneers of Hollywood’s editing style - without the first
female film cutters, film editing in Hollywood wouldn’t exist as it is today. Viola
Lawrence, Blanche Sewell, Anne Bauchens, Margaret Booth and Dede Allen established
the very principles of cutting and editing films in Hollywood. Consequently, the recent
lack of female film editors is affecting the progression of Hollywood’s editing style.
Women are better equipped to edit film because they are intrinsically empathetic and
nurturing and now, without “a women’s eye,” Hollywood editing has become lazy and
increasingly hollowed of emotion and meaning – the cuts barely even match anymore.
The lack of female editors in Hollywood today is because the six major studios refuse to
hire more women. So, in order to ensure women have an equal opportunity to be
filmmakers in Hollywood, legal action must be taken.
It may be argued that the decline of female film editors is not an issue that calls
for legal action, however the lack of female editors widens the gender gap that exists
within Hollywood. Without female editors, directors, screenwriters and producers,
women appear less and less on the Hollywood screen and are increasingly sexualized and
objectified by the six major studios. According to Dargis (2015), “In 2012, only 28.4
percent of on-screen speaking characters in the top 100 (box-office domestic releases)
were women.” Women have lost their voice in Hollywood cinema. Cinema is a powerful
media that affects the people in world around it. The lack of a female voice in Hollywood
is harmful to our societies perception of women and gender equality. Therefore, the large
gender gap within Hollywood needs to be addressed immediately.
LADY FILM CUTTERS: THE PIONEERS OF FILM EDITING
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