[("Shadows" )] [Author: Raymond Carney] [Jun-2001]

BFI Film Classics

by Ray Carney

John Cassavetes' Shadows is generally regarded as the start of the independent feature movement in America. Made for $40,000 with a nonprofessional cast and crew and borrowed equipment, the film caused a sensation on its London release in 1960. The film traces the lives of three siblings in an African-American Hugh, a struggling jazz singer, attempting to obtain a job and hold onto his dignity; Ben, a Beat drifter who goes from one fight and girlfriend to another; and Lelia, who has a brief love affair with a white boy who turns on her when he discovers her race. In a delicate, semi-comic drama of self-discovery, the main characters are forced to explore who they are and what really matters in their lives.Shadows ends with the title card 'The film you have just seen was an improvisation,' and for decades was hailed as a masterpiece of spontaneity, but shortly before Cassavetes' death, he confessed to Ray Carney something he had never before revealed--that much of the film was scripted. He told him that it was shot twice and that the scenes in the second version were written by him and Robert Alan Aurthur, a professional Hollywood screenwriter. For Carney, it was Cassavetes' Rosebud. He spent ten years tracking down the surviving members of the cast and crew, and piecing together the true story of the making of the film. Carney takes the reader behind the scenes to follow every step in the making of the movie--chronicling the hopes and dreams, the struggles and frustrations, and the ultimate triumph of the collaboration that resulted in one of the seminal masterworks of American independent filmmaking.Highlights of the presentation are more than 30 illustrations (including the only existing photographs of the dramatic workshop Cassavetes ran in the late fifties and of the stage on which much of Shadows was shot, and a still showing a scene from the 'lost' first version of the film); and statements by many of the film's actors and crew members detailing previously unknown events during its creation. One of the most interesting and original aspects of the book is an nine-page Appendix that 'reconstructs' much of the lost first version of the film for the first time. The Appendix points out more than 100 previously unrecognized differences between the 1957 and 1959 shoots, all of which are identified in detail both by the scene and the time at which they occur in the current print of the movie (so that they may be easily located on videotape or DVD by anyone viewing the film). By comparing the two versions, the Appendix allows the reader to eavesdrop on Cassavetes' process of revision and watch his mind at work as he re-thought, re-shot, re-edited his movie. None of this information, which Carney spent more than five years compiling, has ever appeared in print before (and, as the presentation reveals, the few studies that have attempted to deal with this issue prior to this are proved to have been completely mistaken in their assumptions). The comparison of the versions and the treatment of Cassavetes' revisionary process is definitive and final, for all time.

Unknown Binding

First published June 26, 2001

About the author

Ray Carney is an American scholar and critic, primarily known for his work as a film theorist, although he writes extensively on American art and literature as well. He is known for his study of the works of actor and director John Cassavetes. He teaches in the American Studies department at Boston University and has published several books on American art and philosophy.

Reviews

[Adriana Scarpin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esse livro é tão detalhista na feitura e no que vemos na tela de Shadows que acaba sendo entediante, não sei até que ponto uma dissecação tão completa cena a cena não atrapalha a experiência do filme em si, mas também é uma preferência minha, nunca gostei desse tipo de crítico que praticamente decupa o filme. Enfim, só recomendo esse livro a acadêmicos que estudam Cassavetes, Carney é um grande especialista no assunto, mas chato demais na exposição de amor fílmico.

[Behnam Taki · Rating 3 out of 5]

خشایار قشقایی ترجمه بسیار خوبی از این کتاب کرده است. این کتاب در رابطه با فیلم سایه‌ها اثر کاساوتیس است. روند ساخت فیلم، فیلم‌برداری در دو تاریخ متفاوت، چگونگی تهیه پول برای ساخت فیلم و همچنین رویکرد نویی که درفیلم آورده شده است محتوای کتاب را نشان می‌دهد.
دو بخش نمونه از کتاب را اینجا می‌گذارم و به کمک آن می‌فهمید که با چه فیلم متفاوتی رو‌به‌رو خواهید شد:
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از منظر او، تفاوت «سایه‌ها» با بیش‌تر فیلم‌های دیگر عمدتاً در مرکزیت مشارکت بازیگران در روند خلاقه بود. هدف اغلب کارگردانان، بالاخص خوش‌قریحه‌های آن‌ها، مثل استرنبرگ، ولز، هیچکاک و کوبریک، آن است که بینش خود را بر کار سوار کنند تا هر نما، صحنه و برهم‌کنش نشانی از آن‌ها داشته باشد. کاساوتیس اما مسیری مخالف را پیش گرفت، در وابستگی جدی به سهمی که هر نقش‌آفرین او عهده‌دار می‌شد. اگر نوع اول فیلم‌سازی را «متمرکز» بخوانیم -چنان که نقطه‌نظرهای اشخاص گونه‌گونِ درون کار نهایتاً در شیوه‌ای تک، در شیوه‌ای فراگیر از دیدن و حس کردن انباشته بشود- نوع فیلم‌ کاساوتیس را شاید بشود «متفرق» خواند، چون که کار را محصول بیش‌ترین لحن‌ها، سبک‌ها و حال‌های شخصیِ مختلفِ ممکن تخیل می‌کند. هدف نه متشکل کردن کار گِرد نقطه‌نظری یکه، که متنوع کردن آن بوده، با راه دادن به بیش‌ترین نقطه‌نظرهای مختلفِ ممکن.
**
مشکل هرگز «آن بیرون» نیست و هرگز هم دیگری‌ای مسببش نیست. کاساوتیس(کارگردان) از «مشکلات واقعی» دو معنی مد نظر دارد: در زندگی «واقعی» به آن‌ها برمی‌خوریم؛ و «واقعا» مهم‌اند چون که تقصیر خودمان‌اند. مشکل در فیلم هالیوودی، گره در این نوع از فیلم -رهانیدن گروگان‌ها، بردن مسابقه و به دست آوردن دختر قصه- «تصادفی» است، نه فقط چون به‌ ندرت در زندگی پیش می‌آید، بلکه با ماهیتِ خود ما در هیچ ارتباطی نیست.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this a helpful and enjoyable read.

As "Shadows" [1959] sinks further into the past, like me, some reader or readers in the future will probably be very glad of Ray Carney's record and analysis.