I saw a video using Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard as an example of old school artificial acting vs modern “natural” acting. Well, that’s silly. Swanson’s performance was consciously stylized and highly affected, a performance within a performance within a performance. - ThreadSky

moviessilently.bsky.social • 167 days ago

I saw a video using Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard as an example of old school artificial acting vs modern “natural” acting.

Well, that’s silly. Swanson’s performance was consciously stylized and highly affected, a performance within a performance within a performance.

Comments

m154n7hr0p3.bsky.social•166 days ago

What’s missing from modernity is any understanding of nuance

magstheobscure.bsky.social•167 days ago

I thought the whole point of Swanson was that Norma Desmond had become like a Ghost Sign of the silent era. You can still see it but it doesn't have the same impact it did in it's day and trying to restore it will only ruin it further.

So she has to be something other

moviessilently.bsky.social•167 days ago

Yes, she’s trying to use her old methods but has morphed into something stranger in her isolation and then she adds another layer when she is attempting to put on a performance in real life. It’s a very complex bit of acting

magstheobscure.bsky.social•167 days ago

Then you add the lighting of her which is very deliberate.

moviessilently.bsky.social•167 days ago

William Holden in that film would be a better example of typical acting of the period.

Obviously, acting styles change but I feel modern people are not aware of the affectations of modern performers and I look forward to people of 2078 using iterations of the Joker as their go-to examples.

peterjosyph.bsky.social•167 days ago

True… but there are degrees of believability in any era, even in parts like Swanson’s, or Leigh’s in STREETCAR, where the character is putting on a show. I find Swanson so over the top that it’s exhausting. Leigh too. I think Lila Kedrova in ZORBA gives a more believable double-performance…

moviessilently.bsky.social•167 days ago

I think Swanson intended to be exhausting, though. That’s why only Max could stand her in large doses

peterjosyph.bsky.social•167 days ago

They thought about pairing Mae West with Brando, and Mary Pickford with Clift…

aiabx.bsky.social•167 days ago

Agreed - she did everything but wave her arms to say "LOOK AT ME" in semaphore.

lokkeheiss.bsky.social•167 days ago

The “double-performance” was a favorite type of role for Ivan Mosjoukine, who sometimes even found a way to do a “triple performance” along the lines of playing an actor doing a death scene who finds he really is dying and struggles not to die until his dying scene is completed and the play is over.

museofire.bsky.social•167 days ago

Every time someone praises Gary Oldman, i think “but he’s so mannered!”

jasonchirevas.bsky.social•167 days ago

Hoping I’ll live to see Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker derided as the soulless, insulting pantomime it is.

etamny.bsky.social•167 days ago

or Nancy Olson!

gjmaupin.bsky.social•167 days ago

I like to confuse people on such matters by showing them The Harder They Fall (1956) with Bogart and Steiger and asking them which is the modern “Method” guy and which is the guy from the apparently overwrought and melodramatic era.

absurdistprod.bsky.social•167 days ago

Most of the big-name actors of modern times seem to mostly have a public persona and just tweak it a little, playing themselves in each role. Of course, there are exceptions. But the idea that modern actors are somehow superior seems based on not having watched enough classic cinema.

steveshilstone.bsky.social•167 days ago

A delightful person. I had her yoga book and used a number of her suggestions when I was a fitful youth.

poeia.bsky.social•167 days ago

Norma Desmond was a proponent of old school artificial acting. In portraying her, Swanson was somewhere between the two camps.

For me, Irene Dunne is the epitome of old school artificial acting. As much as I like her, there isn't a minute she's on screen that I'm not aware that she's ACTING!

cinefredo.bsky.social•167 days ago

It’s Thomas Flight’s video right ?

saltcup2006.bsky.social•166 days ago

I think I agree with this but also don’t know if I am qualified to speak on acting style/ability

nromanek.bsky.social•167 days ago

I saw that video and had the same outraged reaction.

pbtc.bsky.social•167 days ago

If they bothered to watch the movie they'd see she's completely in contrast of everyone else.

junomars.bsky.social•166 days ago

Absolutely

fantomascinema.bsky.social•167 days ago

That is a hideous video. I have had the displeasure of watching it.

j-ceder.bsky.social•167 days ago

A friend who spent years on the dark side of Hollywood has described this "LA-mindset" very precisely: People start acting as soon as they get up in the morning, trying to direct their lives towards fame and success (this seldom works).

moviessilently.bsky.social•167 days ago

Yes, it’s such a strange town but the ordinary people are great

serena-spencer-esq.bsky.social•167 days ago

It was all affect. That was the whole point. Wild.

kevinh2.bsky.social•166 days ago

Yes of course it was

akopigo.bsky.social•167 days ago

It's one of my favourite films and her performance was so effective that i felt the pain and horror of it all and it never left me. Swanson plays an aging silent era actress where exaggeration is the norm and she puts on a performance everyday because the actress has taken over her completely.

akopigo.bsky.social•167 days ago

She watches her films over and over again as if she wants to hook herself in that image. And it all comes to that terrifying climax performance.

lars-gunblade.bsky.social•166 days ago

I think Sunset Boulevard says a lot about today, even though it was made in 1950.

casantos7.bsky.social•166 days ago

It definitely regained relevance due to the arrival of the internet era. Streaming changed the TV/film industry tons (for better or worse), but I think where it has the most relevance is music. The industry is almost unrecognizable compared to, say, the early 00s & prior.

casantos7.bsky.social•166 days ago

(Also, the struggles of an aging woman in entertainment are, unfortunately, as relevant as ever)

caporegimo.bsky.social•167 days ago

She was brilliant.

northfacingtower.bsky.social•167 days ago

Good Lord. It’s been spoofed so many times that even a rando like me gets that. These young ones can’t even imagine Carol Burnette.

robertdaniel.bsky.social•167 days ago

There really does seem to be an over-simplified view of how acting styles have shifted over the years. Jimmy Stewart is usually my go-to for an Old Hollywood actor who seemed very "natural," but of course there are many, some much earlier, examples.

moviessilently.bsky.social•167 days ago

Yes, Kevin Brownlow discusses this in The Parade’s Gone By. Silent era actors modulated their performances depending on the genre but modern people can’t see it

robertdaniel.bsky.social•167 days ago

It probably doesn't help that relatively few silent films are available, huh?

Also, I should track down a copy of that book. I watched Brownlow's Hollywood series earlier this year and really enjoyed it.

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