The Economy of Opening Scenes - THE SEA WOLF (1941)

The economy of this opening scene is remarkable, especially in light of more recent films, where we are given background histories of the main characters, glimpses of their home life, psychological reasons why they are the way they are, and it is twenty minutes before we get to the first plot point. And notice how one action - Garfield knocking over his drink while pulling his coat around him - leads directly to the next - the well-dressed man buying him a drugged drink. In this scene, there is not one line or one shot that does not give us some bit of information.

In the 30s and 40s, writers and directors understood that the audience was eminently capable of filling in the blanks. Although John Garfield was relatively new to the movies, there was still a kind of shorthand, a series of signs passed from the screen to the audience. Moviegoers knew this was a Warner Brothers film, and that Warners had a reputation for fast paced films populated by tough guys. So when Garfield walks into the saloon and catches the pickpocket, audiences knew immediately - here's a tough guy, like Cagney, like Bogart.

They could fill in the rest by themselves.

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