Edit This - Academy Award Winning Editorial Blunders of the 1930's

(Special to the Dollar Video Curator! - Back by popular demand, the scrutinizing, anally retentive stylings of the Master of Editing Errors, Guy Fawkes)

With the Academy Awards fast approaching, your omniscient curator thought it would be enlightening to look at some of the films whose editors got the award. This award started in 1934 but not all the movies are available for scrutiny.

This round of films: Lost Horizon (1937 – Ralph Dawson), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938 – Ralph Dawson, again) and Gone with the Wind (1939 – Hal Kern).

Lost Horizon

Lost Horizon is where we get “Shangri-La”, the mythical utopia which is all summed up at the beginning of the movie. Here, we are told that all most of us are looking for in life is to retire to that “little chicken farm”. You can tell where this is going before we even meet our hero – Robert Conway.

We start with wardrobe problems when Thomas Mitchell (who you remember as Uncle Billy, the drunken goof who enriches Henry Potter by eight G’s in It’s a Wonderful Life) has his handkerchief move around in his pocket. Next, it disappears and reappears. (7:08 – 14:21 – 14:52).

Then there’s the airplane. The film uses a Douglas DC-2 that had seven windows on each side in the passenger compartment. This is an airplane that we all want to come back. It carried 14 people, seven on each side – each with a window/aisle seat and tables and lamps. But, this airplane crashes in the movie, and after the crash when our hero is wandering around outside in the snow, we can clearly see there are now eight windows in the passenger compartment. Then, as the scene switches back to the interior of the plane, there are only five windows which return to seven when the scene goes back to the exterior (6:35 to 6:45).

Then there’s the tableware. Ralph Dawson seems to have difficulty with food and dishes. We find mistakes regarding tableware in this film and in Robin Hood. We have a scene at the dinner table where Conway has dishes in front of him. These dishes disappear at 40:06, reappear at 40:40 and vanish at 40:19. The dish problem rears its head again when Uncle Billy is at the table – his wine cup is there at 1:00:34, gone at 1:00:56, back at 1:01:15, gone at 1:01:39 and this continues for a while until the scene changes.

The High Lama needs a crutch since he amputated his own leg years ago when he first arrived at Shangri-La. This was before the natives told him that his leg would heal itself in this magical place. LESSON: Always consult the natives before cutting off any body parts. The High Lama has no crutch at 1:06:57 but one appears seven seconds later.

Finally, there’s the chess game where we can see three pawns that have been captured standing on the side of the chessboard. When we first see them, they are separated (1:35:50), then they are together (1:36:35) but separated again (1:37:52).

The Adventures of Robin Hood

Let me get Dawson’s tableware/food problems out of the way first. We see a table with no pitcher (1:53), then a pitcher (1:55) then no pitcher (2:01). We have difficulty with gold wine cups at 42:36 when we see the cups next to a green pitcher, then they are gone at 42:27 only to return at 43:14. This is the same scene where people suddenly appear behind Robin – I thought they might be responsible for the gold disappearing but then I remembered this is Robin Hood who stole from the rich to give to the poor so presumably the folks who hung around him wouldn’t need to be stealing. At 42:04 Robin is munching on a HUGE leg of mutton which is completely devoured in seven seconds. I recently saw a hot dog eating contest on cable and not even those guys could polish off this leg of mutton in seven seconds.

Other miscues:

Little John completely misses Robin’s foot with his staff but Robin reacts anyway (22:34);

Robin leaps from the gallows to a horse with his hands tied behind his back but his hands are free only to tied again (1:07:15, 1:07:15, 1:07:16);

As Robin is escaping there is no sword on the right side of his horse but a sword and scabbard appear out of nowhere so he can cut the rope to drop the gate (1:08:06 and 1:08:15).

The best error of the film starts at 14:27 and goes through 17:12 when Robin fires off at least ten arrows when he had only five in his quiver to begin with. Then, at 19:06 his quiver is full. This reminded me of George Bush’s approach to the federal deficit.

Gone With The Wind

This movie comes on two disks with an intermission (labeled “Entr’ Acte” to show that the producers knew how cosmopolitan the audience would be). So, this is broken down to disk 1 and disk 2 to show how un-cosmopolitan Guy Fawkes is.

Disk 1.

Magic Dogs. Dogs suddenly appear behind Scarlet on the porch (7:53-7:54).

Magic Globe. Initially the world globe has the West Coast of the US showing (30:43) but has Asia and India facing outward at 31:37.

Magic Cigar. Just where did Rhett put that thing? (46:40)

Magic Shadowbox. The shadows do not correspond to the movement of the actors (59:15).

Magic Chair. The chair moves slightly to the left (1:11:41 and 1:12:44). But, wait’ll you see the magic chair on disk 2!

Disk 2.

Magic Hat 1. Watch the tie to Sue Ellen’s red hat disengage from the hat and go around her neck.

Magic Hat 2. Scarlet loses her hat in the struggle in her buggy but it gets back on her head at 43:30 to be lost again at 43:35 only to return to her head at 43:53.

Magic Former Slave. After saving Scarlet, Sam drives her buggy away (with Scarlet in it) but Sam disappears four seconds later.

Magic David Copperfield (all the pun intended that I can get away with). We have a scene where the women are knitting and there is no book on the table (44:40). It appears at 44:44 and is gone at 47:39. We eventually learn that the book is David Copperfield.

Magic Chair reprise. There is a chair by the front door when Rhett arrives (46:00) and it is still there when he leaves at 46:33. When the Yankees come in at 47:28, the chair has disappeared.

Well, your favorite anarchist is worn out but I will return (by leave of your curator) with films of the ‘40’s including Sergeant York, The Pride of the Yankees and National Velvet.