Sightlines · a concept

action image large form

situation → action → modified situation.

On screen: a global situation presses until a decisive act transforms it

Seven Samurai (1954) — Kambei diagrams the village in the dirt; the global threat to the harvest presses until the seven's organized defense decisively turns the situation over — the structure Deleuze read as Kurosawa's…
The Birth of a Nation (1915) — An encompassing situation (the Reconstruction South staged as historical facsimile) pressed until a single decisive act — the founding of the Klan — claims to 'redeem' it: the SAS' arc.
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916) — Each strand builds an encompassing situation pressing toward a decisive act — the race to stop the execution, the defense of Babylon — and Griffith stacks four such pressures at once.
Nanook of the North (1922) — A seasonal survival arc where an encompassing situation presses until a decisive act answers it — the long wait at the seal's breathing hole resolving in the strike and haul.
Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge (1924) — Kriemhild "marries Etzel, king of the Huns, not for love but for the military power to destroy the men who wronged her," then "lures her brother King Gunther and his court eastward" — a global…
Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924) — Dragon-slaying, the winning of Brunhild, the murder by Hagen — decisive acts inside a chain of oaths and reprisals whose outcome the audience senses from the outset, 'the inevitability of a legend…
The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) — The sorcerer's malevolence sets an encompassing situation; Achmed's acts (the horse, the rescue of Pari Banu, the alliance with Aladdin and the witch) resolve it in the climactic defeat of the demon…
The General (1926) — the global Civil War / stolen-engine situation pressing until decisive acts transform it; the out-and-back palindrome where gags planted going north pay off going south
Napoleon (1927) — The Revolution as an encompassing situation that presses on Bonaparte until he masters it; the double storm framing him as the man who masters chaos, the film closing on the threshold act of the…
Spies (1928) — A vast global situation (the spy network) presses until a decisive act — 326's pursuit and the climactic confrontation — can transform it
City Girl (1930) — An encompassing situation — the harvest season, its economic pressures and its rough seasonal laborers — presses on the couple until the strain on the marriage forces action that changes the…
Hell's Angels (1930) — The war as encompassing situation pressing toward a decisive act — the suicidal raid on the German munitions depot — which succeeds while nothing follows from it; the ending offers no redemptive…
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) — The chain-gang world presses on Allen until one decisive act — the escape — is staged as the transformation of the situation; Holmes's propulsive cutting drives imprisonment, escape, rise and…
King Kong (1933) — An encompassing situation — the island, then the captured ape loose in Manhattan — presses until decisive action transforms it; the classic milieu-to-duel-to-new-situation architecture.
A Night at the Opera (1935) — Thalberg's structural prescription — half the gags, aimed at the powerful, with lovers to serve — turns the wrecking of the Trovatore performance into the mechanism of the plot's resolution: the…
Captain Blood (1935) — The 1685 Monmouth aftermath, transportation to Barbados, and the plantation form a total situation that presses until Blood's escape and turn to piracy transforms it — the S–A–S′ arc the film is…
The 39 Steps (1935) — The encompassing spy-ring threat to Britain bears down until one decisive act — Hannay forcing Mr. Memory to recite the secret at the music hall — discharges it; situation→action→transformed situation
Fury (1936) — The first half's structure: the small town as an encompassing social ecology in which rumor circulates like current, pressing until the mob's decisive act (storming and torching the jail) transforms…
Alexander Nevsky (1938) — A global encompassing situation (the Teutonic invasion of the Russian lands) presses until the decisive Battle on the Ice transforms it, structured as Russian-vs-Teuton force against force.
Holiday (1938) — The encompassing household presses until the climactic act — the departure through the front door that reads as escape — but the situation is not transformed: Edward keeps the bank, Ned stays, the…
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) — A global situation (Richard captive, John usurping, extortionate taxation) presses until Robin's raids and the castle assault transform it — situation → action → transformed situation
Destry Rides Again (1939) — Bottleneck under Kent's monopoly is a global situation pressing for one decisive act; the film loads that structure and withholds the act until the last reel, when Destry straps on the guns and the…
Gone with the Wind (1939) — The S-A-S structure: the encompassing war and the collapse of the South press until Scarlett is forced into decisive acts (saving Tara, fleeing burning Atlanta) that yield new pressing situations…
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) — The total corruption-milieu of Washington presses on Smith until one decisive act — the filibuster — transforms it; the film's whole structure is Situation→Action→new Situation (SAS).
Only Angels Have Wings (1939) — S-A-S structure: the global situation (fog, mountain pass, mail-subsidy deadline) presses until a decisive flight transforms it.
Stagecoach (1939) — The large form SAS': a global situation (the journey across Apache territory) presses on the passengers until decisive acts — the chase defense, Ringo's reckoning at Lordsburg — transform it
The Roaring Twenties (1939) — Eddie returns from the war to no job, drifts into bootlegging, and builds a cab fleet and a liquor empire: a global situation (post-war unemployment, Prohibition) presses until his decisive acts…
The Grapes of Wrath (1940) — The Depression/Dust Bowl situation presses on the Joads until they load the truck and migrate west; the SAS structure where a global situation forces a transforming act
The Thief of Bagdad (1940) — A global situation — Bagdad seized and ruled by fear under Jaffar — presses until decisive acts (the theft of the All-Seeing Eye, the return of Ahmad's sight) transform it; the dossier's 'romance in…
Ball of Fire (1941) — The gangster reasserts his claim and a global situation presses on the household until only a decisive act can resolve it; the film switches forms for its climax.
High Sierra (1941) — The resort robbery staged with full legibility — who is in which corridor, how the alarm propagates — and the whole Warners rise-and-fall template of Little Caesar that the film inherits and runs at…
The Little Foxes (1941) — The cotton-mill deal presses on the family until each member acts decisively — Ben schemes, Leo steals the bonds, Regina maneuvers; the classical situation→act→altered-situation circuit drives the…
Mrs. Miniver (1942) — A global situation (the war coming to England) presses until decisive acts transform it: Vin enlists in the RAF, Clem takes the small boat down the river to Dunkirk.
Hangmen Also Die! (1943) — The occupation as a global situation that presses until the decisive act (Svoboda's assassination of Heydrich) transforms it, followed by a second arc in which the counter-plot resolves the hostage…
Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) — The SAS' structure held intact: a vast wartime situation presses on one man until a single decisive act — the public confession — transforms it and the town forgives him.
Lifeboat (1944) — The encompassing situation that would normally demand the decisive act cannot be photographed inside the boat, so it has to be talked into existence; the killing of Willi arrives as the one act that…
To Have and Have Not (1945) — The neutral Morgan is pressed by the global Vichy-occupation situation until a single decisive act converts him from detachment to commitment — Situation→Action→transformed Situation.
Enamorada (1946) — The opening block: Reyes rides into Cholula, takes the town, jails the notables — a global situation established so that a decisive act can transform it. The film moves in blocks (taking of the town…
Great Expectations (1946) — The encompassing milieu of marsh, forge and hulks presses until the boy acts (the file and the food), and the film's climax is a pure action passage — the Thames escape carried by optical, miniature…
It's a Wonderful Life (1946) — Bedford Falls as an encompassing situation that presses on George until decisive acts (emptying his honeymoon money to stop the bank run) transform it
My Darling Clementine (1946) — Tombstone's lawlessness (murdered brother, stolen cattle, no law) presses on Wyatt until the O.K. Corral gunfight discharges it and restores the town — the Situation–Action–Situation arc Deleuze…
Body and Soul (1947) — The rise-and-fall structure in which the fight game as a total situation presses on Charley until each choice narrows to one decisive act in the final bout; 'the last fight becomes a test of whether…
Brute Force (1947) — The escape narrative as spine: a global situation (Westgate) presses until a decisive act (the break from Cell R17) is committed to transform it; the film runs the full SAS circuit and then cancels…
Odd Man Out (1947) — The opening reels are shot straight: high overhead establishing views of the city, level compositions, the mill payroll robbery 'covered with clarity so the audience understands the geography of the…
Fort Apache (1948) — The classical situation→act→situation arc: the frontier milieu presses on the regiment until Thursday's decisive charge — though here the act annihilates rather than resolves, putting a worm in the…
Key Largo (1948) — The classical gangster-cycle circuit the film ultimately honors: the sealed hotel situation presses until McCloud's decisive act on the boat transforms it
Oliver Twist (1948) — The built milieu presses on the child until acts follow from it — the workhouse request, the flight to London, the mob at Jacob's Island — with the sensory-motor chain intact throughout
Red River (1948) — The whole film is structured as situation→action→transformed situation: the encompassing demand of getting the herd from Texas to Missouri or facing ruin presses until decisive acts (the drive, the…
The Naked City (1948) — The procedural converts perception of the drowned body into a chain of decisive acts (canvass, cross-check, trace, corner, capture) — an encompassing situation pressed toward a transforming act…
La Terra Trema (1949) — 'Ntoni perceives the wholesalers' rigged monopoly (a global situation) and acts decisively — mortgages the house, buys a boat — to transform it: the SAS large-form structure
The Heiress (1949) — The Goetzes' invented ending — the bolted door as the single decisive act that transforms the encompassing situation, completing and refusing the last-minute rescue the audience is sitting inside
The Breaking Point (1950) — The classical circuit is kept whole — an encompassing situation presses until Harry commits decisive acts (taking the charter, the shootout) — but MacDougall's restored fee-per-charter arithmetic…
The Gunfighter (1950) — The Western's native situation-action-situation machine is kept intact but emptied: two shootings 'over before they have registered as scenes,' no landscape encompasser, 'a Western that has renounced…
Wagon Master (1950) — The journey to the San Juan is a global situation that presses for ninety minutes, but the decisive act it should produce — the showdown with the Cleggs — 'is over in seconds and is filmed almost as…
High Noon (1952) — A global situation (Miller's gang arriving at noon) presses on the whole town until one decisive act, the duel, is required to transform it — the classic SAS structure of the Western.
The African Queen (1952) — The total situation of the opening of WWI and the German gunboat Louisa presses until Rose's single decisive act — converting the launch itself into a torpedo — transforms it; the journey structure…
Shane (1953) — A global settler-rancher situation presses until Shane's decisive act at Grafton's transforms it — the classical situation→action→resolution circuit.
The Wages of Fear (1953) — Once the trucks move: an overwhelming situation (the road, the company, the cargo) presses until a decisive act must transform it — the perfected suspense machine.
The War of the Worlds (1953) — Lyndon's screenplay builds the classic situation-action-situation arc: an encompassing invasion presses on humanity through escalating institutional response (townspeople, police, National Guard…
Godzilla (1954) — A global situation (ships lost, island testimony, a nation exposed) presses through institutional rooms — shipping office, Diet chamber, research institute — until a single decisive act, the Oxygen…