An Introduction to Film

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Continuity editing in Casablanca, a classic

Hollywood movie Ten frames from a sequence in

Casablancaillustrate continuity editing. [1] The sequence

opens with an interior shot of Rick’s Café Americain; [2]

inside, a moving camera pans across the main room, showing

its customers and well-known piano player; [3] this diverse

crowd includes an Arab customer, smoking a water pipe, and

his waiter; [4] a man complains to a friend that all he does is

wait, that he will never get out of Casablanca; [5] a woman,

obviously in need of cash, sells her diamonds for less than

they are worth; [6] two men, apparently spies or criminals,

quietly discuss some impending event while they are watchful

of those around them; [7] a refugee (left) buys an exit visa for

a very large sum of cash; [8] the camera pans past a group of

Asians at a table to an Englishman having a drink at the bar;

[9] a female member of a large party asks the waiter to ask

Rick to have a drink with them and is told that he never drinks

with customers; and [10] a medium close-up of a hand

approving a customer’s charge; we see the bold signature

“Rick” as the camera pans up to a middle shot of Rick Blaine

(Humphrey Bogart). This sequence, flowing smoothly and

rhythmically from shot to shot, shows that each shot has a

meaning that is directly related to those that precede and

follow it. The sequence tells us exactly where we are,

establishes the customers’ unique problems, and suggests

that at least one person, Rick, who runs his café with an iron

hand, may be able to solve them. Indeed, Rick will hold in his

grasp the fate of several major characters.

MAJOR APPROACHES TO EDITING: CONTINUITY AND DISCONTINUITY 357