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Keeping up with Hawks - Style in Cinema - filmmaker Howard Hawks

Style, Fall, 1998 by Lea Jacobs

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There is a pronounced pause after Russell's line "Engagement ring." In the 3:20 remaining, the rate of delivery never goes higher than 3.4 w/s, and it slows down to 2.7 w/s near the end of the scene, after Hildy tells Walter that she is getting married tomorrow and Walter begins to think about how to prevent this event. As in the beginning, there is a tendency to alternate speaking and gesture. Here, Grant's gestures fit in the frequent pauses in Russell's speech.

(They stand a few paces behind the desk, Russell leaning on the back of the desk chair, her purse in her right hand.)

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WALTER. Baldwin, Baldwin, Baldwin . . . Oh, I knew a Baldwin once. A horse thief in Mississippi. Couldn't be the same fellow, could it? No. (At "I knew" Grant adjusts the knot on his tie with his right hand; his left is in his pocket, and he is looking front.)

HILDY. You're not talking about the man I'm marrying tomorrow. (After this line, she stands up straight, her purse in her right hand.)

WALTER. (His hand still on his tie, he turns to look at her in surprise after registering her line. He waits a beat before he does the turn and another beat before he says his line.) Tomorrow. As soon as that? (He takes his hand down to waist height. She puts her purse under her right arm and starts to pull on her glove with her left hand.)

HILDY. Hmm Hmm . . . (Grant pushes out his lips, rubs his hands together briefly, and moves forward of her position to the edge of the desk. She begins to play with her glove, which she does throughout.)

HILDY. Well, at last I got out what I came up here to tell you . . . (On "at last I got out," he taps on the phone with his fingers. H e picks up a flower from the desk and puts it in his button hole.) Guess there isn't any more to the story . . . So long, Walter. (He leaves his left hand on his chest and rubs his lapel with the fingers of his right hand as she says "so long.")

WALTER. (He stays in position, looking ahead and continuing the gesture.) So long, Hildy.

HILDY. And better luck to you next time. (She exits behind him, to the left. He stays in position, continuing the gesture.)

WALTER. (He pauses before turning left to look after her, tapping on his lapel with his fingers.) Thanks. Oh, Hildy!

Hawks's much vaunted classicism should be evident in the pacing of this scene, which begins and ends at approximately the same speed, and slowly builds to a high point in the middle. The acceleration from 2.0 to 6.3 w/s is not steady, but a measured building of pace with intermittent ritardandos. Thus the pace jumps from 2.0 to 4.2 w/s, then to 4.7 w/s, and then drops off briefly before climbing to 5.0. There is a "slow" section of 3.8 before the fastest segment in the scene, 6.3 w/s, and then a precipitous decline to 3.2 and finally 2.7 w/s over an extended stretch (more than 3 minutes) as the scene winds down.

The scene is typical of the film as a whole in the important structuring role assigned to speaking rhythm. Note that many of the changes in tempo are keyed to important steps in the narrative. The falling off of pace at the beginning of section 4 occurs at the moment in which Hildy reveals that she is not going back to the paper to work, the decline from 6.3 to 3.2 w/s occurs when she reveals her engagement to Bruce, and the final reduction occurs when she discloses that she will be married the next day. Both gesture and blocking are integrated with the rate of delivery. In the slowest sections gestures tend to alternate with phrases. In the fastest sections, gestures keep pace with the dialogue, and often a word or sound effect or both will punctuate the beginning or ending of a series of gestures (this is the case with "Sold American" and "Unless . . . Hildy"). There is one section where Russell's actions are independent of her words, as she puts on make up but says very little in counterpoint to Grant's telephone conversation and complaints about Sweeny. The dramatic point here, however, is precisely to stress Hildy's distance from Walter's crises and concerns and, with a punctual snap of a compact, her words and gestures are pulled back into the rhythm of the scene in the next section.

Keeping up with Hawks - Style in Cinema - filmmaker Howard Hawks

Style, Fall, 1998 by Lea Jacobs

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