Читать книгу The Making of a Motion Picture Editor - Thomas A. Ohanian - Страница 5

Dede Allen, ACE

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Partial Credits: Wonder Boys, The Breakfast Club, Reds, The Wiz, Slap Shot, The Missouri Breaks, Dog Day Afternoon, Night Moves, Serpico, Slaughterhouse-Five, Little Big Man, Alice's Restaurant, Bonnie and Clyde, America America, The Hustler.

By far, it is Dede Allen who was referenced the most by the editors in this book. Eventually, I was able to contact her, and she was kind enough to reply. She left us a short time afterwards. As you read on, you will find quite a lot about Dede through the words of editors who worked with her and who still admire her work.

Dear Mr. Ohanian,

I appreciate your offer to interview me for your book, but I must decline. I'm retired now. Just about everything I would have to say is in the public record. I started in this business in 1943 at Columbia Pictures as a messenger and moved from there into sound effects editing and editorial assistant. I didn't really start editing until after I got married and moved to New York with my husband.

In my time at Columbia in Hollywood, an editor was considered a craftsman or a technician. It was a back-lot occupation. You were the tool of the studio, not the colleague of the director. That was the conventional wisdom in regard to film editors in those days. In my view, film editing is an art, and belongs in the same category as the writer, director, production designer and cinematographer.

Working in the freer environment of New York, I believe I made an important contribution to the status of the film editor, principally in being the first to get a head credit for the film editor along with the other arts on the film. I wish you success on the book. You are certainly working with some of the best film editors I know.

I hope this is of some value to you.

All the best, Dede Allen