The Emotional Shortcut - Great Cinematography
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
The first time watching this movie I was taken by the number of mirror shots, thinking it was Gregg Toland's way of piling on the mirror shots, like a figure skater adding more difficult jumps to a routine. After seeing it many more times, I come to a different conclusion. This is conjecture on my part. I believe Mr. Toland was well aware of the length of the film, it is growing toward a 3 hour runtime and there needed to be some concise way of getting through scenes. There are ways of conveying multiple emotions in a scene while the camera stays on principle subjects. Without the back and forth cutting of dialogue, but the seamless dialogue of both reactions face forward. Or, the reflection of the character seeing some reality about themselves through the mirror clearly, not the distortion of what was projected to others--not in dialogue, but with one brief look in a mirror.
![Picture](/uploads/1/0/2/3/10234071/byool-mirrorpeggy-marie_orig.png)
![Picture](/uploads/1/0/2/3/10234071/byool-wilmatrue_orig.png)
This is why I watch the movies I have loved more than once. There can be so much we miss just letting the story wash over us the first time.