362 CHAPTER 8EDITING
135246The master scene technique These six shots from the
opening of John Ford’s The Searchers(1956; editor: Jack
Murray) very economically establish both the place and some
of the themes of this complex movie: the vastness of the
desert valley in which Aaron and Martha Edwards’s home is
situated; the intimacy of family life in this isolated spot; and
the return home of Ethan Edwards, who became a mercenary
soldier in the Civil War after his brother married Martha, who
nonetheless still yearns for Ethan, as he does for her. [1]
Martha (Dorothy Jordan), framed in the doorway, looks out
at Monument Valley in the background; [2] she stands on the
porch; [3] she shields her eyes to try to focus on someone
approaching; [4] Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) rides toward
the house; [5] Martha is joined by her husband, Aaron
(Walter Coy), and their children; finally, [6] the two brothers
meet for the first time in years.