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ALL TOGETHER NOW IN HIS LATEST BOOK, WALTER MURCH EXPLAINS EDITING SECRETS BEHIND 'THE CONVERSATION' AND MORE SOMETHING CLICKED: Walter Murch at work. 32 C I N E M O N T A G E F E A T U R E By Mel Lambert W alter Murch, ACE, is a filmmak- ing phenomenon. Now in his early 80s, he has worked over the past six decades on many landmark films that have benefited from his insight- ful film editing and sound design skills, often simultaneously. His first publication, "In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing," written in 1995 and based on a successful lecture he gave at Spectrum Films in Australia in Octo- ber 1988, became an essential textbook for students and aficionados alike. His second offering was published earlier this summer. Titled "Suddenly Something Clicked: The Languages of Film Editing and Sound De- sign," the book comprises a journey through past successes with a focus on helping readers come to terms with the challenges of editing image and sound. With Oscar and BAFTA nominations for such films as "The Conversation" (1974), "Julia" (1977), "Apocalypse Now" (1979), "The Godfather Part III" (1990) and "Ghost" (1990), plus director Anthony Minghella's "The English Patient" (1996), Murch knows whereof he speaks; this latest book is a master class on motion pictures and how they are made. His emphasis is on both how to use sound and image to best effect and also why decisions are made to include or modify material. Recruited by director/pro- ducers Francis Coppola and George Lucas, Murch left Hollywood in 1969 and relocated to San Francisco where he and other film school associates helped found American Zoetrope, which embraced a unique vision for a new style of cinema appropriate to an emergent generation of f ilmmakers and filmgoers. Murch also co-wrote and edited the award-winning documentary "Coup 53," which chronicles the remarkable story of Operation Ajax, an Anglo-American plot in