<ul>
<li>The phrase originates from the silent films era when normal dialogue wasn’t engaging enough to the viewer. </li>
<li>Physical comedy, popularized in the 1920s by Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, relied heavily on action sequences that involved a chase, to keep the viewers hooked on without sound.</li>
</ul>

Cutting To the Chase

Moviemakers were advised to ‘cut to the chase’ or move faster towards an action sequence to keep their audiences engaged. 
This carried on in the screenplays of the 60s, and though the phrase is figuratively used nowadays (We say ‘cut to the chase’ to someone when we want to tell them to get to the point), newer movie franchises like Fast And The Furious remind us that viewer patience is still short.

Cut To The Chase: Keeping The Momentum Going

<div>March 10, 2021</div><figure><img src="https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,h_850,w_1514,x_0,y_216/f_auto,q_auto,w_1100/v1613150284/shape/mentalfloss/642291-gettyimages-464003053.jpg" alt="Charlie Chaplin in The Circus (1928)." width="768" height="431"><figcaption dir="auto">Charlie Chaplin in The Circus (1928).
THE PRINT COLLECTOR/PRINT COLLECTOR/GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure><video playsinline="" webkit-playsinline="" muted="" style="height: 100%; left: 0px; display: block; width: 100%;"></video>Halfway through a meeting that so far has been full of nothing but useless chit-chat and vague ideas, you’re wishing people would get to the point—or, in other words, that they'd cut to the chase.Much like <a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/548109/origins-of-common-phrases" dir="ltr">getting on a soapbox</a> or pushing the envelope, cutting to the chase <a href="https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/cut-to-the-chase.html" dir="ltr">used</a> to be a literal action. When <a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/28422/6-dangerous-stunts-silent-movie-era" dir="ltr">silent films</a> became popular in the early 20th century, filmmakers couldn’t rely on dialogue—jokes, arguments, emotional declarations, criminal confessions, etc.—to keep viewers engaged. Instead, they got creative with physical comedy and action sequences, which often took the form of chase scenes.While many chases featured cars, bicycles, or just people running for their lives, they weren’t quite as formulaic as you might be picturing. Stars like <a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/94491/10-enduring-facts-about-charlie-chaplin" dir="ltr">Charlie Chaplin</a> and <a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/618930/buster-keaton-movie-actor-facts" dir="ltr">Buster Keaton</a> were masters of making their chases both surprising and funny. In 1922’s Cops, for example, Keaton ends up sitting on a ladder seesawed over a fence, while police officers on either end try to pull it down.<div class="embed-placeholder" data-type="youtube" data-id="-nkkUZ6e3jM"></div>
In Chaplin’s 1928 film The Circus, a policeman follows him right into a circus ring, where the audience watches them run circles around each other on a rotating platform.<div class="embed-placeholder" data-type="youtube" data-id="X9CqElNnyVY"></div>
Since moviegoers loved to watch an outlaw on the run, chase scenes outlived the silent film era, and “cut to the chase” was common advice for filmmakers who needed to keep their movies from losing momentum.“When they want to break it up a bit, the formula always is ‘cut to the chase,’” reporter Edwin C. Hill <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/246242211/?terms=%22cut%20to%20chase%22%20%22hollywood%22&amp;match=1" data-ml-dynamic="true" data-ml-dynamic-type="sl" data-orig-url="https://www.newspapers.com/image/246242211/?terms=%22cut%20to%20chase%22%20%22hollywood%22&amp;match=1" data-ml-id="0" data-ml="true" data-xid="fr1615971445471gbb" data-skimlinks-tracking="xid:fr1615971445471gbb" dir="ltr">wrote</a> in a 1939 article about the rising popularity of westerns. “There is, of course always a chase on, and it is a simple expedient to cut back to it when they think suspense has to be whipped up a bit.” Screenwriter Helen Deutsch, who <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/17/obituaries/helen-deutsch-85-screenwriter-of-lili-and-national-velvet.html" dir="ltr">penned</a> classics like The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) and <a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/87528/14-deep-facts-about-valley-dolls" dir="ltr">Valley of the Dolls</a> (1967), even <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/683805081/?terms=%22when%20in%20doubt%20cut%20to%20the%20chase%22%20%22helen%20deutsch%22&amp;match=1" data-ml-dynamic="true" data-ml-dynamic-type="sl" data-orig-url="https://www.newspapers.com/image/683805081/?terms=%22when%20in%20doubt%20cut%20to%20the%20chase%22%20%22helen%20deutsch%22&amp;match=1" data-ml-id="1" data-ml="true" data-xid="fr1615971445471fdc" data-skimlinks-tracking="xid:fr1615971445471fdc" dir="ltr">had</a> a sign in her MGM office that read “When in doubt, cut to the chase.”By the mid-20th century, cutting to the chase had already started to take on its modern meaning. Variety journalist Frank Scully <a href="https://archive.org/stream/crossmyheart00scul#page/138/mode/2up/search/%22cut+to+the+chase%22" dir="ltr">mentioned</a> it in his 1955 <a href="https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1955/12/11/93745355.html?pageNumber=320" dir="ltr">memoir</a> Cross My Heart in reference to helping his Norwegian assistant learn English. “In teaching her, instead of going all the way back to Chaucer, I ‘cut to the chase’ and tutored her from copies of Variety,” he <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=PEdKAAAAMAAJ&amp;focus=searchwithinvolume&amp;q=%22cut+to+the+chase%22" dir="ltr">wrote</a>.Though the phrase is most often used figuratively these days, literal chase scenes have yet to become obsolete—and judging by the ongoing success of the <a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/62688/30-fast-furious-facts-ultimate-fan" dir="ltr">Fast &amp; Furious</a> franchise, that won’t happen anytime soon.Have you got a Big Question you'd like us to answer? If so, let us know by emailing us at <a href="mailto:bigquestions@mentalfloss.com" dir="ltr">bigquestions@mentalfloss.com</a>.

“Cut to the chase” is a slightly friendlier way of telling someone to get to the point, but old Hollywood filmmakers meant it literally.

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Halfway through a meeting that so far has been full of nothing but useless chit-chat and vague ideas, you’re wishing people would get to the point—or, in other words, that they'd cut to the chase .

Much like <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/548109/origins-of-common-phrases">getting on a soapbox </a> or pushing the envelope , cutting to the chase <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/cut-to-the-chase.html">used </a>to be a literal action. When <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/28422/6-dangerous-stunts-silent-movie-era">silent films </a>became popular in the early 20th century, filmmakers couldn’t rely on dialogue—jokes, arguments, emotional declarations, criminal confessions, etc.—to keep viewers engaged. Instead, they got creative with physical comedy and action sequences, which often took the form of chase scenes.

While many chases featured cars, bicycles, or just people running for their lives, they weren’t quite as formulaic as you might be picturing. Stars like <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/94491/10-enduring-facts-about-charlie-chaplin">Charlie Chaplin </a>and <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/618930/buster-keaton-movie-actor-facts">Buster Keaton </a>were masters of making their chases both surprising and funny. In 1922’s Cops , for example, Keaton ends up sitting on a ladder seesawed over a fence, while police officers on either end try to pull it down.

In Chaplin’s 1928 film The Circus , a policeman follows him right into a circus ring, where the audience watches them run circles around each other on a rotating platform.

Since moviegoers loved to watch an outlaw on the run, chase scenes outlived the silent film era, and “cut to the chase” was common advice for filmmakers who needed to keep their movies from losing momentum.

“When they want to break it up a bit, the formula always is ‘cut to the chase,’” reporter Edwin C. Hill <a data-ml="true" data-ml-dynamic="true" data-ml-dynamic-type="sl" data-ml-id="0" data-orig-url="https://www.newspapers.com/image/246242211/?terms=%22cut%20to%20chase%22%20%22hollywood%22&amp;match=1" data-skimlinks-tracking="xid:fr1615971445471gbb" data-xid="fr1615971445471gbb" dir="ltr" href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/246242211/?terms=%22cut%20to%20chase%22%20%22hollywood%22&amp;match=1">wrote </a>in a 1939 article about the rising popularity of westerns. “There is, of course always a chase on, and it is a simple expedient to cut back to it when they think suspense has to be whipped up a bit.” Screenwriter Helen Deutsch, who <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/17/obituaries/helen-deutsch-85-screenwriter-of-lili-and-national-velvet.html">penned </a>classics like The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) and <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/87528/14-deep-facts-about-valley-dolls">Valley of the Dolls </a>(1967), even <a data-ml="true" data-ml-dynamic="true" data-ml-dynamic-type="sl" data-ml-id="1" data-orig-url="https://www.newspapers.com/image/683805081/?terms=%22when%20in%20doubt%20cut%20to%20the%20chase%22%20%22helen%20deutsch%22&amp;match=1" data-skimlinks-tracking="xid:fr1615971445471fdc" data-xid="fr1615971445471fdc" dir="ltr" href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/683805081/?terms=%22when%20in%20doubt%20cut%20to%20the%20chase%22%20%22helen%20deutsch%22&amp;match=1">had </a>a sign in her MGM office that read “When in doubt, cut to the chase.”

By the mid-20th century, cutting to the chase had already started to take on its modern meaning. Variety journalist Frank Scully <a dir="ltr" href="https://archive.org/stream/crossmyheart00scul#page/138/mode/2up/search/%22cut+to+the+chase%22">mentioned </a>it in his 1955 <a dir="ltr" href="https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1955/12/11/93745355.html?pageNumber=320">memoir </a>Cross My Heart in reference to helping his Norwegian assistant learn English. “In teaching her, instead of going all the way back to Chaucer, I ‘cut to the chase’ and tutored her from copies of Variety ,” he <a dir="ltr" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=PEdKAAAAMAAJ&amp;focus=searchwithinvolume&amp;q=%22cut+to+the+chase%22">wrote </a>.

Though the phrase is most often used figuratively these days, literal chase scenes have yet to become obsolete—and judging by the ongoing success of the <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/62688/30-fast-furious-facts-ultimate-fan">Fast &amp; Furious </a> franchise, that won’t happen anytime soon.

Have you got a Big Question you'd like us to answer? If so, let us know by emailing us at <a dir="ltr" href="mailto:bigquestions@mentalfloss.com">bigquestions@mentalfloss.com </a>.

Why Do We Say 'Cut to the Chase'?

Cutting To the Chase

Cut To The Chase: Keeping The Momentum Going

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