The Stuff You Gotta Watch - Classic Screencaps: Public Enemy

A Shot of Elegance

One Continious Shot from William Wellman's Public Enemy (1931)
By John V. Brennan, July 2008

I've seen the classic gangster film Public Enemy several times. It chronicles one gangster's rise and fall in the bootleg liquor business that arose thanks to Prohibition in the 1920s. I never before noticed the long take that occurs almost right at the start of the film. After opening the film with an almost unnecessary shot of bartenders pouring beer (thus alerting audiences that alcohol will be a major part of the story), Wellman takes us from a brewery to a side entrance of a bar down the block by following different unnamed characters as they cross the streets going about their daily business. At the end of the shot, he brings out his two main characters, albeit as boys before they grow up to become James Cagney and Edward Woods. Wellman could have done it in standard individual shots, but instead used one continuous panning shot, without cuts. It's masterfully done. Themes, locals, characters... all introduced without a single cut in a mini-thematic opening statement. (Screencaps are numbered 1 through 10).- JB

1 Delivery truck leaves brewery...	2 Turns onto the street past a bar...
3 Camera follows man crossing street...	4 Man reaches corner, delivery man exits saloon...
5 Delivery man crosses street...	6 Emphasis on beer, the fuel on which this film will run
7 Delivery man reaches corner, another bar...	8 Salvation Army Band passes by heading right...
9 Camera pans with band past side entrance of bar...	10 ...out of which steps our two main characters as boys.

It is, of course, more fluid and impressive than I could capture in just ten screencaps (I made about 25 all together) so rent the film for the full shot.