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it would have been ridiculous for Bill to come from behind to win. The medium and long shots were therefore used to indicate the ding-dong battle and the close-ups to show the riders' reactions — with Chick to show that he at least had no doubts as to the result, and with Bill to show his confidence gradually returning until he just wins on the post.
As in the sequence from Naked City, great care has been taken here to keep the spectator clearly informed about the precise state of the race at each stage. Here, however, this does not present much of a problem : the aim is not so much to elucidate a complicated chase as to convey something of the suspense of the contest. This is done partly through the use of the self-explanatory long shots, partly through the suggestive use of reaction shots.
The first three shots leading up to the beginning of the race are all deliberately slow. In the opening shot the three men are silently walking towards the camera : the music is a reminder of Bill's previous triumphs on this track and of his nervousness about making a come-back.
Again, 2 and 3 are both long-lasting shots in which the preparations for the race are made at leisurely tempo.
Following on this slow introduction, the quick group of shots 4-9 conveys the sudden release of the stored-up tension. This is the moment when Bill's nerve is being most severely tested and constitutes, in effect, the first climax of the sequence.
As the race progresses, the action shots (10, 12-15, 18, 22, 24) are all kept on the screen for a relatively long time. The end of the race, as Jack Harris points out, could not be made in any way spectacular because that would have been out of keeping with the story. Accordingly, the rate of cutting is not appreciably increased towards the finish. In this sense, the editing is quite different from the Naked City chase where the story required a mounting tension. The end of the race is here shown in long shot and gives a straight objective view of the riders crossing the finishing line. There is no attempt to force another climax.
The final shot of the sequence conveys the slow dying down of the physical excitement : in a long-lasting shot (33) Bill slows down as he approaches the camera and finally comes to rest in medium shot. The race itself is over by the time 31 has been seen and Tommy's reaction (32) — he is known to be sympathetic to Bill — leaves no doubt as to the result. Shot 33 is therefore merely used to suggest the lull after the excitement. This is an important dramatic point in the story because the lull contrasts with what would happen in a real race meeting and leads naturally to the
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