In what movie did this scene occur?  The scene is memorable in part
for the length of the shot - everything I describe below is a single
camera shot.  The camera proceeds slowly across a guest room (a hotel
perhaps) toward the doors, beyond which a gravel courtyard is visible.
 The camera continues through the doors into the courtyard.  Voices
can be heard in the distance, perhaps children's.  Continuing the same
shot, the camera moves slowly through the courtyard, turns and returns
to the room, at which point we discover that the protagonist is now
dead.

Hello, 
 
What you describe sounds, if not exactly, tho remarkably like a famous
scene of one of Alfred Hitchcock's later movies, "Frenzy" (1972, with
Jon Finch, Alec McCowen, Barry Foster). Please excuse if I'm pointing
in the wrong direction.
 
Quote Internet Movie Database 
&lt;a href=&quot;<a href="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0068611">http://us.imdb.com/Title?0068611</a>&quot;&gt;<a href="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0068611">http://us.imdb.com/Title?0068611</a>&lt;/a&gt; 
&amp;quot;A serial killer is murdering London women with a necktie. The police
have a suspect... but he's the wrong man.&amp;quot;
 
Quote commentor Andrew White on the above-mentioned page: 
&amp;quot;[See] the lovely shot that follows the killer into a house, up a
flight of stairs and into a room, it then tracks back down and out
across the street as the killer commits his dreadful deed.&amp;quot;
 
Quote Penelope Houston, Sight and Sound: 
&lt;a href=&quot;<a href="http://www.aucklandfilmsociety.org.nz/movies/frenzy.html">http://www.aucklandfilmsociety.org.nz/movies/frenzy.html</a>&quot;&gt;<a href="http://www.aucklandfilmsociety.org.nz/movies/frenzy.html">http://www.aucklandfilmsociety.org.nz/movies/frenzy.html</a>&lt;/a&gt; 
&amp;quot;The barmaid's murder must take place off-screen, to make its sequel
tolerable, and the scene in which she's lured inside the killer's flat
ends with the camera moving slowly, smoothly, irrevocably, back and
back, out and across the street. This shot is simply superb; and also
very
Hitchcockian (...)&amp;quot; 
 
Quote Scott Von Doviak: 
&lt;a href=&quot;<a href="http://www.culturevulture.net/Movies/Frenzy.htm">http://www.culturevulture.net/Movies/Frenzy.htm</a>&quot;&gt;<a href="http://www.culturevulture.net/Movies/Frenzy.htm">http://www.culturevulture.net/Movies/Frenzy.htm</a>&lt;/a&gt; 
&amp;quot;Bob [Rusk] leads a potential victim into his apartment and shuts the
door. The camera then tracks back from the closed door, down the
winding staircase, then outside, past workers and passersby, through
traffic, to the other side of the street.&amp;quot;
 
This movie shows -- for Hitchcock's standards -- very graphic
violence, but the scene described lets things happen solely in the
viewers imagination, rendering it perhaps even more violent.
 
Hitchcock has other movies where he experiments with long shots, most
notably &amp;quot;Rope&amp;quot; (1948, with James Stewart), which unless you look
really close appears to be just one long shot.
 
Later on, director Brian De Palma would take on some techniques from
the master of suspense, and he also has more &amp;quot;exotic&amp;quot; camera shots in
his movies.
 
I hope this was indeed the movie you were looking for. 
 
Search terms used: 
    frenzy hitchcock camera  

j_philipp-ga gave a very interesting and comprehensive answer, but it
is incorrect.  carwfloc-ga's answer is correct.  I am very happy to
pay the answer fee, but can it go to carwfloc-ga?

j_philipp-ga gave a very interesting and comprehensive answer, but it
is incorrect.  carwfloc-ga's answer is correct.

Hello antonk,

Looks like this question has opened up again.  Thanks to antonk,
j_philipp, the previous researcher and the Google Answers Editors for
their help.  I'm posting my original comments below (though accept my
apologies for convincing you watch "The Passenengers" voluntarily...I
originally watched it under much duress!)


--

Hi antok, 
 
I must admit, when I first read your description, I instantly thought
of Hitchcock's "Frenzy" as well.  However, the more I think about it,
the more I realize it's probably Michaelangelo Antonioni's "The
Passenger" ("Professione: Reporter").  In that film, Jack Nicholson is
a reporter named David Locke.  His ending is, in fact, the ending of
the film as Antonioni slowly zooms in on the bars of Locke's motel
room until they fill the frame.  Suddenly, we're on the outside of the
room, zooming and tracking in around the courtyard outside, then the
camera find the window again and zooms back in...until we focus in on
Locke, dead on the bed.
 
I'm doing this from memory, so apologies if the details aren't
correct.  But I am fairly sure this is the scene you wanted,
especially since you don't make a mention of the serial killer
following the soon-to-be victim (as the shot in "Frenzy" shows).
 
Hope this helps, 
carwfloc-ga

carwfloc-ga's answer is exactly what I wanted.  j_philipp-ga's answer
was very interesting and comprehensive, but incorrect.

Hi antok,

I must admit, when I first read your description, I instantly thought
of Hitchcock's "Frenzy" as well.  However, the more I think about it,
the more I realize it's probably Michaelangelo Antonioni's "The
Passenger" ("Professione: Reporter").  In that film, Jack Nicholson is
a reporter named David Locke.  His ending is, in fact, the ending of
the film as Antonioni slowly zooms in on the bars of Locke's motel
room until they fill the frame.  Suddenly, we're on the outside of the
room, zooming and tracking in around the courtyard outside, then the
camera find the window again and zooms back in...until we focus in on
Locke, dead on the bed.

I'm doing this from memory, so apologies if the details aren't
correct.  But I am fairly sure this is the scene you wanted,
especially since you don't make a mention of the serial killer
following the soon-to-be victim (as the shot in "Frenzy" shows).

Hope this helps,
carwfloc-ga

I guess i don't get credit for this, and am probably undermining the
whole "answers" system, but info wants to be free, right? Regardless,
I'd bet more than $20 that what you're looking for is Michaelangelo
Antonioni's "The Passenger", starring Jack Nicholson. This is the
final scene of the movie and was acutally quite a technical feet,
considering the length (in time) of the shot and size of the room. The
shot through the gate actually required that they pull the gate apart
for the camera. If you're an Antonioni fan, it's certainly one of his
better, but I think Antonioni is pretty over rated and his films are
pretty uninteresting. Here's the imdb link:
<a href="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0073580">http://us.imdb.com/Title?0073580</a>

If it's indeed Michaelangelo Antonioni's "The Passenger" (as first
mentioned by carwfloc-ga in the comments), I apologize and would be
happy to see the price and possibly answer spot be given to carwfloc,
if that's possible.

I am frequently amazed at Google's ability to find the page I need. 
Now I am similarly amazed with Google Answer.  I have posed my
question to various people and online groups over the years, and I
have never found the answer.  In 37 minutes Google Answer did it. 
j_philipp-ga gave a very interesting if incorrect answer - inspiring
enough for me to rent "Frenzy" last night.  The barmaid murder scene
is good, but I think Antonioni does a better job in "The Passenger"
(although I wonder if he borrowed from Hitchcock, filming 3 years
later).  And yes, carwfloc-ga is right - the movie I have wondered
about all these years is "The Passenger".  I rented it this afternoon.
 The murder scene is engrossing.  Six and half minutes for one
unbroken shot (the shot in "Frenzy" is actually two).  At first the
snail's pace of the camera itself holds your attention, then the
action outside takes on a life of its own, then the scene behind the
camera plays out in sound with visual cues from the front, and finally
everything resolves quickly as the camera slides through the gates of
the hotel room into the outside world and the pace picks up.  The bars
of the window are a metaphor - behind them Locke has lived his slow,
disconnected life as a reporter, and on the other side the real world
rushes by - stark and full of purpose.  Thank you, j_philipp-ga and
carwfloc-ga.  I've enjoyed two great movies in the last day, and I've
answered an old question.  If Google Answer can arrange it, the prize
goes to carwfloc-ga.

So much for looking at the comments before leaping...  Guess it was my
own fault for not checking back on this question earlier.  Did you
repost the question, antonk, or did Google Answers do something?

Warm regards,
carwfloc-ga

I gave j_phillip's answer the lowest rating and then I asked for a
refund.  I hoped this would get Google Answer's attention so that the
payment might be routed to you, carwfloc.   /Anton

carwfloc - I just discovered in my "invoices" that the Google Answer
editor pulled j_phillip's answer.  This happened after I requested a
refund.  I guess it was the editor's action which allowed you to post
your answer.

Hi antonk,

Thanks for the posts.  I wonder if the process was something Google
Answers has planned for the final release, or just for this beta test.
 I'm not sure there is a simpler way of handling
clarifications/answers, but hopefully the wrinkles will be ironed if
Google decides to go full ahead with GA.

Thanks,
carwfloc-ga