Lubitsch the Editor

Figure 4.1 offers a rare glimpse of Lubitsch in the editing room, working in 1922 on Die Flamme. This scene was obviously posed for the publicity camera, but it serves to indicate how very little equipment was involved in this stage of filmmaking. Editors in Hollywood, had by this point already rigged up small viewers by cannibalizing old cameras and projectors. The first regular sales of the Moviola editing machine began in 1924. During the post-war years, however, Germans edited by eye, just as Lubitsch and his colleagues are shown doing here.

In Germany, labor was divided differently than it was in the US. In Hollywood, from the mid-1910s onward, there was a separate editor who often had assistants. The introduction of this new specialist arose largely because of the standardization of the feature film in 1915-1916. But although features became common in Germany from the early 1910s on, the role of chief editor remained with the director. Assembly began with assistants cutting the camera rolls into individual shots and labeling them. After the director chose which takes to use, another assistant spliced them together into a scene. This assistant, seen in Figure 4.1 at the left, was usually female, and she was termed die Kleberin (literally “the gluer”).

We are also fortunate to have a vivid contemporary description of Lubitsch at work in the editing room in a 1922 Photoplay article by an American journalist who observed part of the making of DIE FLAMME. The author has been discussing Lubitsch's great energy on the set during filming, and he goes on to discuss his behavior in the editing room: