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Suddenly Something Clicked: The Languages of Film Editing and Sound Design
*Please note that due to eBook formats, this title is not compatible with the Paperwhite device.*
Highly lauded film editor, director, writer and sound designer Walter Murch reflects on the six decades of cinematic history he has been a considerable contributor to - and on what makes great films great.
Together with Francis Coppola and George Lucas, Murch abandoned Hollywood in 1969 and moved to San Francisco to create the Zoetrope studio. Their vision was of a new kind of cinema for a new generation of film-goers. Murch's subsequent contributions in film editing rooms and sound-mixing theatres were responsible for ground-breaking technical and creative innovations.
In this book, Murch invites readers on a voyage of discovery through film, with a mixture of personal stories, meditations on his own creative tactics and strategies, and reminiscences from working on The Godfather films, Apocalypse Now, Lucas' American Grafitti, and Anthony Minghella's The English Patient and The Talented Mr Ripley.
Suddenly Something Clicked is a book that will change the way you watch movies.
Highly lauded film editor, director, writer and sound designer Walter Murch reflects on the six decades of cinematic history he has been a considerable contributor to - and on what makes great films great.
Together with Francis Coppola and George Lucas, Murch abandoned Hollywood in 1969 and moved to San Francisco to create the Zoetrope studio. Their vision was of a new kind of cinema for a new generation of film-goers. Murch's subsequent contributions in film editing rooms and sound-mixing theatres were responsible for ground-breaking technical and creative innovations.
In this book, Murch invites readers on a voyage of discovery through film, with a mixture of personal stories, meditations on his own creative tactics and strategies, and reminiscences from working on The Godfather films, Apocalypse Now, Lucas' American Grafitti, and Anthony Minghella's The English Patient and The Talented Mr Ripley.
Suddenly Something Clicked is a book that will change the way you watch movies.
368 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 6, 2025
42 people are currently reading
492 people want to read
About the author
Walter Murch
22 books83 followersWalter Scott Murch is an American film editor, director, writer and sound designer. His work includes THX 1138, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather I, II, and III, American Graffiti, The Conversation, Ghost and The English Patient, with three Academy Award wins (from nine nominations: six for picture editing and three for sound mixing).
For his work on Apocalypse Now, Murch was the first person to receive a credit as "Sound Designer." Murch was also involved with the editing of Apocalypse Now Redux. In 1998, producer Rick Schmidlin chose Murch as his editor for the restoration of Orson Welles's Touch of Evil. Murch is the author of a popular book on film editing, In the Blink of an Eye, and is the subject of Michael Ondaatje's book The Conversations. Famed movie critic Roger Ebert called Murch "the most respected film editor and sound designer in the modern cinema." David Thomson calls Murch "the scholar, gentleman and superb craftsman of modern film", adding that in sound and editing, "he is now without a peer."
For his work on Apocalypse Now, Murch was the first person to receive a credit as "Sound Designer." Murch was also involved with the editing of Apocalypse Now Redux. In 1998, producer Rick Schmidlin chose Murch as his editor for the restoration of Orson Welles's Touch of Evil. Murch is the author of a popular book on film editing, In the Blink of an Eye, and is the subject of Michael Ondaatje's book The Conversations. Famed movie critic Roger Ebert called Murch "the most respected film editor and sound designer in the modern cinema." David Thomson calls Murch "the scholar, gentleman and superb craftsman of modern film", adding that in sound and editing, "he is now without a peer."
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
October 13, 2025
By far my favourite book on filmmaking that I have ever read. Full of eye opening observations on every page and a constant enthusiasm for not only cinema, but humans and the way we work.
Could spend hours and hours longer with Walter Murch, incredible writer and a real genius.
Could spend hours and hours longer with Walter Murch, incredible writer and a real genius.
August 25, 2025
A perfect mix of entertaining anecdotes and education through rare Oscar-level experiences from someone who's great at writing as well as filmmaking. Much of this learning is through film history, but this has given me a clearer picture of the workings of the modern day as well. I look forward to the next volume, and it's unfortunate that this book hasn't garnered more attention here yet.
August 10, 2025
I will admit that some of the technical talk here on editing and sound was way beyond my understanding. Once you get away from the mechanics, Murch is a wonderful storyteller... it would be fun and interesting to take a class on these subjects with him leading the way. The sections on Touch of Evil, The Godfather, and Apocalypse Now are good, but for me, the real highlights deal with The Conversation. Murch talks about the way the film changed through both sound and editing, and he addresses what always has been the most problematic part of The Conversation: the differing readings of one line of dialogue at two separate points of the film. He explains the justification for the move, and while I still think the change hurts the film, it is easier now to understand why it was done. More books by this author are expected. I look forward to reading them.
May 31, 2025
A must read. Murch is the man.
April 25, 2026
Genius.
“If we had the ability to visualize the emotions and thoughts of an audience under the sway of a well-made film, they would probably resemble the beautiful arcing loops that we see with large flocks of birds of schools of fish.”
“Those successful branching points are nodes—like the knots in the structure of a tree where it ‘decides’ to send branches out from the trunk. If the grafting point is in the wrong place, the ‘sap’ of the audience’s thoughts and emotions cannot flow freely into the new ‘branch’, which is to say, the new shot.”
“Wisdom of the Hands: my catchphrase for letting the unconscious take control, a spontaneous ‘automatic writing’ reaction to the material, with minimal conscious intervention. The feeling is that ‘someone else’ is making the decisions. . . . To give an example of the split between conscious and unconscious thinking: you may be able to touch-type quickly and accurately, but try to quickly populate a drawing of an ‘empty’ keyboard with the correct keys and you will see how difficult it is.”
“If we had the ability to visualize the emotions and thoughts of an audience under the sway of a well-made film, they would probably resemble the beautiful arcing loops that we see with large flocks of birds of schools of fish.”
“Those successful branching points are nodes—like the knots in the structure of a tree where it ‘decides’ to send branches out from the trunk. If the grafting point is in the wrong place, the ‘sap’ of the audience’s thoughts and emotions cannot flow freely into the new ‘branch’, which is to say, the new shot.”
“Wisdom of the Hands: my catchphrase for letting the unconscious take control, a spontaneous ‘automatic writing’ reaction to the material, with minimal conscious intervention. The feeling is that ‘someone else’ is making the decisions. . . . To give an example of the split between conscious and unconscious thinking: you may be able to touch-type quickly and accurately, but try to quickly populate a drawing of an ‘empty’ keyboard with the correct keys and you will see how difficult it is.”
February 17, 2026
Possibly the most entertaining & delightful textbook I’ve read. The experiences & wisdom that Mr. Murch has accrued are invaluable to not only the understanding of but the very history of motion pictures… I reserve one star here only because, unlike the movies, it is aimed at a more selective audience.
Now hurry up and publish the next two volumes!
Now hurry up and publish the next two volumes!
December 29, 2025
“Senses plus mind equals reality. The unconscious mind is a master at using limited data to construct a version of the world that appears to be realistic and complete to its serenely oblivious partner, the conscious mind”
January 8, 2026
Sprawling and brilliant mix of memoir, filmmaking how-to, philosophy, and science as only Murch could write it. Essential, can't wait for the rest of this planned trilogy (!). Starting off my 2026 reading year strong.
February 1, 2026
A career worth of cinematic sorcery is revealed in those pages. What is so striking is his innate desire for the scientific and the rational. But he strives for it only inasmuch as he can apply it in his search for the mercurial, intangible, poetic. It goes beyond montage.
August 26, 2025
Really interesting book!
November 8, 2025
Is Walter, is good. My fave part was learning he’d originally written a much bigger book, then derived to break it into a few parts - so there’s more to come!
November 27, 2025
This is a fascinating treatise on art, the philosophy of work, the reason we like the things we like, and of course film. But it is so much more than movies. I would recommend it to any creative.
December 28, 2025
Thanks, Walter. A great explanation of film editing and sound design. I can't wait for the next volume. The marginal QR codes were really helpful, too.
January 21, 2026
Great both as a tutorial for anyone interested in visual storytelling, insights into film history, and even brain science. All written in a very engaging style.
February 22, 2026
this would had been better with some editing
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews