New favorite 1930s actress: Constance Bennett!

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.

Film: the highest art-form

(via Madame Grès)

After browsing images within THE RED LIST (a website devoted to the visual arts), one thing struck me like a canon—-a movie is the hub of it all!

Fashion stands alone as visual, paintings stand alone as visual, architecture, design, photography—-all visual. But, if you’ll notice, all of these visual arts can be found in film, which is, itself, a visual art. So, could it be that film is the most elevated of all art-forms? It’s quite a heavy statement to make, but I think so! In fact, dance is the closest think to matching movies in that way, being that it can be audible, visual, and narrative.

However controversial it may be to claim that film is the most advanced art-form, there is no denying that it is the most in-depth. Hence, just looking at this 1940s fashion photo by designer, Madame Gres, one can totally envision this as a movie-still!

So then, is it any wonder that films seemed to have started off more primarily concerned with visual art than with narrative? Take the comedians of the silent era, for example. The sketches that Laurel & Hardy, Buster Keaton, and Charlie Chaplin were in were designed to make you laugh. The story was secondary, a mere device which may or may not have been developed for the sole purpose of enhancing the quality of what was seen.

By the same token, when the sound era finally came along, arguably the most successful genre was the musical. Again, the story would have been comprised to incorporate elements of the visual, not the other way around.

So, what does all this have to do with the photo included  with this article? Well, the photo, along with this article, illustrates how easily we associate certain visual art with the movies, even when a certain image  is not necessarily part of  that niche.

The people of the first 60 or 70 years of the industry seemed to anticipate this tenancy and called upon all the best fashion designers, choreographers, musicians, and even cosmetologists, like the legendary Max Factor, to come and enhance the field of film. That strategy worked so well, that now, it is virtually impossible to dissociate the other art-forms from it, even when they are done independently of the medium.

One easy way to describe it is  that movies are a means-to-an-end, meant as a way of evoking all art, absolutely, once, for all, and for all time.  That is why film-preservation is so important. Because it’s about so much more than the obvious—-hence that picture up there.

But, make no mistake. I do not wish to imply that film is simply the representation of other art-forms. No, quite the contrary is true. In fact, the most important thing to remember about this whole discussion is that movies have not only benefited from the other arts, but that the other arts have benefited from them as-well. And, the fashion industry is definite proof of that—-hence, that picture up there.

So, anyone with a taste for the arts must thereby appreciate the film industry for inadvertently helping to keep all the elements alive. This, to me, is what makes it the highest art-form.

NOTE: If you’re a lover of all art-forms and would therefore like to support film-preservation efforts, you may do so here.

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ephemeral-:

by eko bintang

I can’t remember the last time I have loved art pieces so much! I love these—-mostly because looking at them only reconfirms what I’ve long thought—-1950s sophistication and lady fashion rocks! The classicist of all! Although, I will admit that the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s come pretty close too. I also like the first half of the 1960s—-albeit, such a specialized period cannot be easily distinguished in a retrospective set like this.

It was the cusp between the 1950s and 1960s (a period that is not readily recognized as distinct) that simply oozed elegance, charm, sophistication, and sex-appeal. Just take a look at old photos of the glamor stars of the day (Liz Taylor, Natalie Wood, and Deborah Kerr come to mind), and you’ll know what I mean. Ah, so lovely!