From Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931) -- the great Dwight Frye, as Dr Frankenstein's crippled assistant Fritz, stops to adjust his sock on the way up to the laboratory where the monster lies waiting to be born.
The first time I noticed this seemingly unmotivated and random bit of business, I was in a college dorm, watching the film on late night TV and (quite frankly) under the influence of a mind-altering drug. Needless to say, I practically fell off the sofa in amazement at the sheer brilliance of it. Goddamn, James Whale was some kind of genius of the prosaic!
Since then, of course, I have come to the conclusion that Frye probably just needed to pull his sock up. Although I watched the scene again on YouTube before posting this, and damned if the moving camera doesn't seem to stop moving when the actor does. As if the move was, you know, planned in advance.
Gummo on 29 September 2010
It might be one of those moments where Frye did it unrehearsed on the first take and Whale like it so much he had him do it again, this time choreographing the camera accordingly.
According to the history books, there's a moment like that in the Marx Brothers' first movie, The Coconuts -- where Groucho is calling to the bellhop, "Front! Front!", and he turns it into a dog call -- "Here, Front!" and ducks under the counter as if looking for the dog/bellhop -- he did it rehearsal and the clumsy early sound camera completely lost sight of him; but the director liked it and in the take they used the camera is still slow but manages to follow him around.
the phantom creep on 29 September 2010
Obviously, this was the original Wardrobe Malfunction.
:-)
david k on 29 September 2010
If there is a better scene involving a sock in all of cinema, I'd like to hear about it.