[older film stars versus today's stars]

Every time I try to make up a top 10 list of my favorite actors, there's always a mix of the classic era, golden era, and the more recent years. For my money Daniel Day-Lewis, Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino can hold their own with anyone from the studio era, and on average their movies are far superior in terms of plot and character development.  As much as I love the old time films, I've yet to see many performances that can top (for example) Daniel Day-Lewis's Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood.  Too many of Hollywood's best actors back in the day got too easily typecast into the same constricted roles over and over again, with formulaic sword fights and fist fights that differ from today's pathetic high tech "action" movies only in their cruder technology.  The stars had plenty of personality but not too much subtlety, and their films all too often seemed to end in the same way every time.

 

The problem with too many movies of the Breen era is that the censors greatly restricted the range of their scripts.  I wish that I had a dollar for every marriage proposal scene before about 1960 that took place in the last two minutes of the movie, because if I could arrange for such a payoff, I'd be a very rich man.  Once in a while, it's nice and sentimental, but when you can set your watch to it, it becomes a bit much.

 

OTOH when it comes to actresses, I'll have to agree that the studio era and silent era women win hands down.  There was a vivacity to their performances that suggested a sort of sex appeal and personality that even Joe Breen's Victorian code book couldn't squash.  Barbara Stanwyck, Roz Russell, Ida Lupino, Katharine Hepburn, Jean Harlow, Bette Davis, Joan Blondell, Glenda Farrell, Clara Bow,  Louise Brooks in her two G.W. Pabst films----With the possible exception of Judy Davis, there's no one remotely comparable to them on today's big screen.  They were infinitely more interesting and far more appealing.

True, Day-Lewis, DeNiro and Pacino could do well in the Golden Age, but they have a few years of experienced and paid their dues, but some of the others forget it.  And I agree about the actresses of the studio and silent eras were better.

[older film stars versus today's stars]

I think that the current crop of film stars can't hold a candle to the older one's from the early days.  Where are the new Cagney's, Davis's, Wayne's, Tracy's, Hepburn's, etc. Nobody currently.