MovieChat Forums > Lady in the Lake (1947) Discussion > Other Point of View Movies

Other Point of View Movies

posted 17 years ago by rob-cooper-3
44 replies | jump to latest

Hi everyone,

I'm researching Point of View movies and was wondering if any film historians out there know of similar examples. There are lots of films that have extended P.O.V scenes in them, but do you know of any films (or indeed other media), where the whole experience is shot in P.O.V.

There's a current TV sitcom in the UK called Peep Show, which makes use of this technique, but I'm struggling to think of any other examples.

Any pointers greatfully received.

R

[–] batmanrob2 13 years ago

Enter the Void

[–] sdc100 12 years ago

The most obvious answer is Dark Passage, a 1947 film noir starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. I say obvious because both movies were made in 1947 and film critic Neal Gabler said that Dark Passage was influenced by Lady in the Lake's P.O.V. gimmick. While the gimmick does not run the entire movie, we don't see Humphrey Bogart's face until 62 mins into the 106 min movie -- even though he is in every scene. The scenes are mostly shown from his point of view, although some scenes also switch back-and-forth to a conventional perspective. In that case, Bogart's face is hidden by shadows, i.e. the interior car scene, and later post-surgical bandages. Very effective and creepy. Jack Warner of Warner Brothers was furious that their star wasn't shown but Bogart was amused by the fact that he was being "paid so much" without being seen.

The gimmick is actually useful to the plot because Bogart's character gets plastic surgery to evade the police. We don't know how he looked before the surgery.

[–] TwistedMango 12 years ago

I hope you included Suzhou River in your research

[–] rwm6 12 years ago

Eyes of Laura Mars contains many POV elements and should probably be included in any research on this topic.

[–] blue_sock_monkey 12 years ago

The 1931 version of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde opens with an extended POV sequence.

"If it's not in frame, it doesn't exist."

[–] duncan-brinsmead 11 years ago

I think the opening fight in the 1962 Requiem for a Heavyweight was shot int he first person. We don't see Quinn until he looks at his beat up face in the mirror... Pretty effective camera work.

[–] tehck 11 years ago

Most of the Dutch film Zusje (Little Sister) is presented through the camera lens of the brother of the title character, who is videotaping everything we see. So essentially, it is all through his perspective.

[–] Fmartiterron 11 years ago

I'm surprised nobody mentioned "Strange Days", I thought this film had something of a cult following. It's a sci-fi film set in near future LA, were people "get high" and deal with clips containing visual and sensorial memories from other people. Some of the key scenes in the film are clips, and are shown to us as subjetive cameras doing all sort ofs uncut travellings.

The technique is also used, as they have mentioned, in several "giallos" to show the murderer's actions without revealing the killer's identity, and sometimes pops up here and there in comercial films.

However, films entirely or almost entirely shot in subjective camera are a rarity. I can only think of this one and the 2012 remake of "Maniac" that was mentioned before.

[–] warnerchild 11 years ago

i think you'll find you didn't read the 4th comment in this threads first page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdTmT3wVBxM "someone should remake hollywood"

[–] CindyH 10 years ago

A more modern film would be Cloverfield, I think. It's shot from a video cam that someone is carrying.

Random Thoughts: http://goo.gl/eXk3O

[–] Asaaf00 10 years ago

I've been looking for POV films, and I'm glad I found this post. Some of what I've seen were mentioned here like the very unique 'Enter The Void', the great 'Russian Ark', and the Dutch film 'Zusje'.

You might also find these interesting:
Viajo Porque Preciso, Volto Porque te Amo (2009)
The Garden of Earthly Delights (2004)
Sto je Iva snimila 21. listopada 2003. (2005)