Ralph Rosenblum

Ralph Rosenblum (October 13, 1925 – September 6, 1995) was an American film editor who worked extensively with the directors Sidney Lumet and Woody Allen. He won the 1977 BAFTA Award for Best Editing for his work on Annie Hall, and published an influential memoir When the Shooting Stops, the Cutting Begins: A Film Editor's Story.

Life and career Towards the end of the World War II in 1945, Rosenblum worked as a filmmaking apprentice in the U.S. Office of War Information; among his mentors there were Sidney Meyers and Helen van Dongen. Following the war he became van Dongen's assistant while she was editing Robert Flaherty's film Louisiana Story (1948), and was credited as an editor on Of Human Rights (1950), which van Dongen produced and directed. Much of Rosenblum's work in the 1950s and early 1960s was in television; he worked on shows such as The Search, Omnibus, The Guy Lombardo Show, and The Patty Duke Show. With Sid Katz and Gene Milford, he formed a company, MKR Films, that provided editorial services for television shows, spots, and corporate films.

In the 1960s, Rosenblum edited four films directed by Sidney Lumet, starting with Long Day's Journey into Night (1962). These films, which were all serious dramas, were very important to Rosenblum's career; as John Gallagher has noted,

In 1966, Rosenblum was nominated for an American Cinema Editors "Eddie" award (Best Editing of a Feature Film) for A Thousand Clowns (1965), which was directed by Fred Coe.

In 1968, Rosenblum was hired as an "editorial consultant" to help a young Woody Allen hone a large amount of footage into what became Allen's first film, the mockumentary Take the Money and Run. Rosenblum went on to edit the next five of Allen's films, including Annie Hall, for which he won the 1977 BAFTA Award for Best Editing with Wendy Greene Bricmont. Interiors (1978) was Rosenblum's last film with Allen. Rosenblum and Allen came to a mutual decision that Rosenblum would not edit Manhattan. Susan E. Morse, who had been Rosenblum's assistant editor on several of Allen's films, became his successor and edited Allen's films for the ensuing twenty years.

For the last film, Interiors, Allen was actively involved in the editing and was fearful concerning the reception of the film. Allen's biographer Eric Lax quoted Rosenblum about the film:

Cover of the 1986 reprinting of Rosenblum and Karen's 1979 book. alt=Artwork that looks like several frames of a strip of movie film with sprocket holes along its sides. The strip looks like it was cut near its middle, and the lower portion is angled about 20 degrees from the upper portion. In the frame of the upper section are the words "WHEN THE SHOOTING STOPS". The lower frame has a photograph, possibly of Diane Keaton and Woody Allen from Annie Hall, and then the words "THE CUTTING BEGINS". The text continues, in a smaller font, "A Film Editor's Story" and "Ralph Rosenblum and Robert Karen" In 1979, Rosenblum published a book written with Robert Karen, When the Shooting Stops, the Cutting Begins: A Film Editor's Story. In his final decade, Rosenblum taught editing at the International Film and Television Workshops in Rockport, Maine.

Selected filmography The director of each film is indicated in parentheses. Long Day's Journey into Night (Lumet - 1962) Fail-Safe (Lumet - 1964) The Pawnbroker (Lumet - 1965) A Thousand Clowns (Coe - 1965) The Group (Lumet - 1966) The Producers (Brooks-1967) The Night They Raided Minsky's (Friedkin - 1968) Goodbye, Columbus (Peerce - 1969) Take the Money and Run (Allen - 1969) (as editorial consultant) Bananas (Allen - 1971) Sleeper (Allen - 1973) Love and Death (Allen - 1975) Annie Hall (Allen - 1977) North Star: Mark di Suvero (de Menil - 1977) (as editorial consultant) Interiors (Allen - 1978) Summer Solstice (1981)