Comedy and Drama with Whip-Pans and Doors in THE BIG STEAL
The Big Steal (1949) is a noir which doesn’t take itself too seriously - it doesn’t have the budget to. Everything from a herd of goats to a Mexican cop’s steady stream of dad jokes provide laughs amongst the tension.
When Fiske (Patric Knowles, white suit) tries to evade Duke (Robert Mitchum, gray suit), the result blends comedy and subterfuge, with very specific specific editing and camera techniques to juice them up.
Not too much happens the first 27 seconds; Fiske waits, thinks, smokes. This slow silence is important, because it contrasts with the upcoming quick cuts, snappy dialogue, and fisticuffs.
When Fiske opens the door at 0:27, there’s a quick cut to the opposite side of the door; that shot holds just until we see Fiske’s eyes and mouth open with surprise, cuing the whip-pan over to a chair where Duke coolly asks “going somewhere?”
Duke is seated (backwards in the chair; perfect choice, much bisexual), which facilitates things like the next shot, where Duke can still ‘fill’ the hallway and block Fiske’s path, but we can clearly see Fiske over his shoulder:
Fiske closes the door, and the camera is back inside the room with him, where he calls the hotel desk. Somewhere offscreen a phone rings, and the camera follows his movement downwards so we can see him puts the receiver down ‘off the hook.’
Any wondering exactly what he’s up to doesn’t last long; as Fiske opens the door (into an OTS reverse of the earlier hallway shot; Duke still sitting), a loud phone rings down the hall, clearly in Duke’s room. That shrill jangle will play through most of the rest of the scene, ramping up the tension.
The next few cuts are singles of the men ‘sizing each other up’ and Duke smart-mouthing while Fiske closes the door slowly . . . then opens it again. (Anyone who thinks noir isn’t outright hilarious should reconsider.)
Note how the angles and eyelines, while not extreme, remind us who is ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ - even though Duke has the upper hand, he’s sitting and casual, while Fiske is primed to run, but can’t.
At the point in their exchange where Fiske invites Duke to come in and “talk it over,” the camera cuts back behind him into an OTS, only now they’ve ‘switched places’ - Fiske on the left and Duke on the right.
Duke enters and a delightful, rough-and-tumble fistfight ensues, at the end of which Duke is standing and holding the gun while Fiske is slumped on the ground. Having switched, both are now in literal positions of power which match their figurative ones.
No matter what your budget, you can say a lot with blocking and positioning, and who ends up where within the space as well as the frame.