songbird2 Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 Windows to the soul is how the eyes are often characterized. Actors, good and bad, express so much through them that is never adequately expressed in the script. Can you think of any actors whose eyes tell their story as much as anything? Here are a couple of my favorites: Conrad Veidt. His eyes are always expressive, but especially in two films I viewed recently, The Man Who Laughs (1928), and Contraband (1940) Vivien Leigh. Especially memorable in Waterloo Bridge (1940) and Anna Karenina (1948). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patful Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 Natalie Wood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOOMANYNOTES Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 . Message was edited by: TOOMANYNOTES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarboManiac Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 Jean Harlow, Betty Grable, and Rita Hayworth's eyes always sparkled so when they smiled. Delightful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinemabuff64 Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 To me, both Irenne Dunne and Greer Garson had endearing looks.I know some of you might disagree here but Barbra Streisand has some beautiful and expressive eyes.Add to the list Elizabeth Taylor,Olivia DeHaviland,Carole Lombard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wordmaster Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 Ahhhhhhhh....CAROLE LOMBARD.......the luminous one........... Pardon me as I float upon her ethereal gaze............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inglis Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 James Cagney's eyes man they could rip right through you especially in his nasty roles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeanddaisy666 Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 Bela Lugosi in Dracula. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pandorainmay Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 How do you describe something as ephemeral or mercurial as an expression found only in an actor's eyes? It's hard to say in words but one actress who could communicate alot with her eyes--sometimes clumsily, but more often intensely, was Joan Crawford, especially in her early talkies such as Possessed (1931), Rain (1932) and Today We Live (1933). Then she started to be much more of a clothes horse/big honking MGM star, and her face hardened into a mask. Later, beginning with A Woman's Face (1942) her eyes expressed more again, only to seemingly cloud over again after Humoresque (1946). Could it be that directors from Clarence Brown to Jean Negulesco found a way to coax something vulnerable and alive from the lady that others missed or she found impossible to produce? It's interesting that only two of the films I've thought of were considered commercial successes, (Possessed '31, & Humoresque '46).Of course, there are bound to be many who disagree... P.S. I'd also throw in the first 15 minutes of that other Possessed (1947). Crawford's eloquent eyes are alive again in the poignant sequence when she is seen wandering the streets of LA in a seemingly semi-catatonic state, looking for "David". The rest of the movie just doesn't cut it for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BallofFire Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 I agree on Cagney and must add Garbo - I believe her expressive eyes were one of the things which made her such a wonderful actress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdb1 Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 This reminds me of what F. Scott Fitzgerald said about Crawford. In Crawford's early days as a lead actress, Fitzgerald was in Hollywood as a script writer, mostly doctoring other people's scripts. He complained that it was impossible to write for Crawford, because for every nuance of emotion she had to express, she wanted the scene stopped so she could "compose" her face appropriately. He said that he therefore couldn't write anything subtle for her, because it became too expensive to have to shoot so many takes for just a few lines of dialog. Fortunately for us, she seems to have gotten the hang of it before too long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarboManiac Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 Thank you, BoF! If I had said that, it would have seemed trite! Glad someone else remembered!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarboManiac Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 Love that story, J! It is always nice to have your prejudices reinforced (even though I have come to like her, now). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeanddaisy666 Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 And then there was her turn in Rod Serling's Night Gallery, where she did perhaps an homage to her face composing (neat story, nice to know it)? The eyes, boss, the eyes! Lovely twist at the end. Everyone see it? Too soon gone, was Rod Serling. dolores Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarboManiac Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 Yes! I saw it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayresorchids Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 [imagine deep French accent]: Charles Boyer Never touched Bette Davis in All This and Heaven Too and still made love to her! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metsfan Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 Vincent Price had a strong stare that scared his victims. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
songbird2 Posted July 27, 2006 Author Share Posted July 27, 2006 Ayres, [imagine an even deeper French growl]...ah, mon petit, you cannot imagine what joy you have given me by reminding me of the gaze of another Frenchman, Jean Gabin. Oh, can he express himself without words.Longing, amusement, pity, lust, curiosity, and disdain---it's all there in those great baby blues in such films as Pepe LeMoko, Grand Illusion, Touchez Pas Au Grisbi , French Can-Can, and even the late-in-the-day The Sicilian Clan. Gabin didn't really need sound. Merci, mon ami. You too Ayres. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarboManiac Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 Ah, Ayres! Charles Boyer! How could we forget him?? And, songbird, wasn't Dietrich absolutely made about Gabin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
songbird2 Posted July 27, 2006 Author Share Posted July 27, 2006 Yes, Jean Gabin was probably Marlene Dietrich's great love. They met and became involved during his failed attempt to fit into the Hollywood system after the fall of France in 1940. Gabin, who loved his country more than his career, could not be persuaded to remain in America and enlisted in the Free French Forces. Dietrich sought him out throughout the European Theater of Operations during her time over there entertaining the troops. They finally met, with him riding on a tank and Dietrich publicly and effusively expressing her joy in finding him alive. Gabin was said to be less than amused by the p.d.a. They tried to work together in films after the war, but the failure of Martin Roumagnac (1946) put an end to that, and, since Gabin wanted marriage and children and a family life--something that Dietrich could not give, and, because both were pretty set in their ways, they eventually parted. C'est la vie. I recommend Maria Riva's bio of her mother and the documentary about the lady, Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Song (2001) as good sources of info on her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarboManiac Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 I have seen a couple documentaries on her. I have them on tape somewhere. I bought the book, but can't read it. Once I found out what she was really like, according to her daughter, which is probably the most reliable source, I decided to keep her film persona in tact and just view her as I desire. But, thanks for the info. She is in my top four favorite female stars, who of course were the most glamorous: Garbo, Lamarr, Deitrich and Harlow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOOMANYNOTES Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 ' Message was edited by: TOOMANYNOTES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarboManiac Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 That's right, TOOMANY. And, that was a FOREIGN film. Very impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinemabuff64 Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 Yeah! I remember that scene..and the music in the background,everything was so perfect.How about the first time Scarlett saw Rhett at the bottom of the stairs and he just stood there so sure of himself,so handsome and flirty? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katyscar11ett Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 Too soon gone, was Rod Serling. How true, Dolores, how true. :-( The Twilight Zone is a show I watch all the time - I have all the episodes and never tire of it. Before his time. Scarlett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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