I had always assumed that the therepy session splitscreen scenes in Annie Hall had been produced in the standard fashion with both sides of the split filmed separately but it was actually shot in camera with the sets built next to each other divided by a physical wall. This allowed for longer takes, more natural performances and overlapping dialogue.
And I had forgotten how brilliant the opening montage of Manhattan is, one of the greatest beginnings in the the history of cinema. Set to George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue it's Woody's love letter to New York. The stunning black and white tableaux by Gordon Willis remind me of the great street photographers of the 1960's and 70's; Garry Winogrand, Joel Meyerowitz et al (below), and when the fireworks kick in over the Manhattan skyline I can't think of a cinematic moment with more perfectly matched music and picture.
Manhattan// Opening Sequence
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