Early shooting put more focus on the pool playing , but during filming Rossen made the decision to place more emphasis on the love story between Newman and Laurie 's characters . Despite the change in emphasis , Rossen still used the various pool games to show the strengthening of Eddie 's character and the evolution of his relationship to Bert and Sarah , through the positioning of the characters in the frame . For example , when Eddie is playing Findley , Eddie is positioned below Bert in a two shot but above Findley while still below Bert in a three shot . When Sarah enters the room , she is below Eddie in two shot while in a three shot Eddie is still below Bert . When Eddie is kneeling over Sarah 's body , Bert again appears above him but Eddie attacks Bert , ending up on top of him . Eddie finally appears above Bert in two shot when Eddie returns to beat Fats .