In the 1950s, the film department at the University of Southern California was nothing like it is today. It was housed in an old building on the edge of the campus, and it would be many years before advanced degrees in film were offered. Aspiring filmmaker Ed Spiegel was a student there at the time.

When USC brought Slavko Vorkapich in to head the film department, a lot changed. Vorkapich had established a niche for himself in Hollywood in the 1930s and ‘40s as a master of the montage; his credits included sequences in David Copperfield, The Good Earth and Meet John Doe. "When he came to the university to teach," writes Spiegel, "[he] was conscious that his montage imagery should be experienced in a more profound way and not merely felt kinesthetically or understood intellectually." For Vorkapich, "movement, besides creating a visceral response, was itself emotional and symbolic."

The primitive response to movement, whether onscreen or in life, was something Vorkapich called "the innocence of the eye." He developed a theory of filmic dance based upon imagery in motion; his ideas were controversial, but they inspired a legion of filmmakers, including Conrad L. Hall, ASC. Hall recently told Spiegel that he had been inspired by Vorkapich’s ability "to engender the spirit in us that we were developing a new language, that movies weren’t just about drama, but learning how to use the tools to create drama."

Spiegel was inspired to become a filmmaker and implement Vorkapich’s theories as a writer, director, editor and producer. This well-written book clearly sets forth some of Vorkapich’s principles in short, incisive chapters, some of which are illustrated with film frames from San Francisco, The Bride of Frankenstein and American Beauty.n

– Ray Zone