I found out years ago that liking one movie can lead to liking a new star, which can lead to liking their whole filmography and their co-stars too!
I was never a fan of Constance Bennett, outside of her role in the lighthearted ghost comedy, Topper (1937). But, that’s all changed now, since she’s been the star of the month on Turner classic movies, every Tuesday night in November.
Last night, I saw her in the wonderful murder mystery — comedy, After Office Hours (1935). And now, guess what — I’m a fan of Clark Gable! I’m already looking forward to watching more of his films.
But getting back to After Office Hours, judging by the film reviews, I’ll admit that this movie has generally received lukewarm ratings, get to the fact that people aren’t sure whether to think of it as a comedy, romance, a simple mystery, or a murder case. But I just think of it as madcap combination of all of the above — and it’s great in being so!
Furthermore, this being the latest of several Constance Bennett films I’ve seen lately, I have come to the glad conclusion that she is my favorite star of the 1930s (sorry, Carole Lombard…it is a close call!). And there are several reasons why: one, she wasn’t ashamed to be a cloths-horse—that is, someone proudly parading around in the latest fashions of the day, setting trends for the movie-going public. Two, the fact that she was a well-known sophisticate — even in her working-woman roles, so well-known, in-fact, that people never doubted her sophistication for a moment, and at one point in her career, she was considered the most sophisticated, well dressed woman in Hollywood. Three, the fact that the biggest bulk of her filmography encompasses the 1930s decade. So, to watch her movies is to literally sit through the entire decade of the 1930s, year by year, observing it from a uniquely decadent standpoint — which makes it a lot of fun. It’s the kind of fun that isn’t found in today’s films, because today’s actresses aren’t so readily identifiable with a certain style of acting or a certain type of film. Because the contract system ceased in the 60s, and because the studios no longer have star makers — people whose sole job it was to make you into a commodity by developing your own unique brand, people have to take pride in other things — such as what good acting skills they have. This is part of why method acting became popular, because actors and actors as her more on their own than ever, and left to their own devices.
With the freedom to choose their own projects, they lost the safety net of guarantees that the studio system brought. Constance Bennett, in all her predictability, was part of that guarantee that fans depended on. When people saw Constance Bennett on the screen, they didn’t expect to be awed or amazed, they didn’t expect to be surprised, they didn’t expect to see a breakout performance, but they expected the guarantee that Constance provided them of a familiar style — one that was her own brand. In other words, actors of today can brag about their method acting skills, while the fans sit at a distance and wonder who these people really are, but actors of yesterday could take pride in the fact that their fans knew who they were, they kept their guarantee, and the fans returned the favor in kind with a virtue that seems to be lacking more and more—- loyalty.
It has been said here in cyberspace that Reese Witherspoon is comparable to Miss Bennett, but, I beg to differ. Even if they did look more alike than they do, Constance was a star of another sort, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the studio era ended.
Constance starred in many fashion films, that is films with thin plots, designed to showcase the glamour of the star specifically for the purpose of furthering the public’s familiarity with that star’s unique style. But, because fashion designers scarcely design especially for a star anymore, that sort of publicity doesn’t exist anymore.
The closest thing we have to a Constance Bennett today is Constance Bennett herself, in all her black-and-white glory. Watch Constance Bennett this coming Tuesday, only on TCM, starting at 8 PM.
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