Subject:  Hatter's Castle, hams, Susan's site, etc. |
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Cinephilia
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Date Posted: 05:32:19 02/02/06 Thu
I must watch Hatter's Castle again. The first time, I
didn't notice Emlyn Williams was playing the rake like a
screaming queen! He was elegant and foppish, a bit effeminate to modern eyes possibly, the typical rake in Victorian melodramas.
I think William's character was a charming sociopath. He
used people like pawns for his own sake and drew all
the advantages he could out of circumstances. He had no
moral sense whatsoever and was a complete hedonist. Emlyn did infuse him with dark humor but I don't think he was campy, whether in the American or British meaning of the word.
Emlyn may not have been Charles Atlas, but it was
obvious that poor Deborah was dealing with conflicting
feelings during the seduction scene. James Mason was
almost an impossible love at that point of the story
and the poor girl was famished for any kind of
affection. She was very naive, obviously, and didn't
know anything about sex and couldn't understand the
sensations stirring within her body. And she was
nearly paralysed with the fear of her father's
returning home early.
Even though her best instincts told her to know better
about Emlyn, she kind of liked him and hoped for the
best.
I'd say it's a fair melodrama. Very old fashioned. Bob
and Emlyn took their cues from Victorian stock
characters, but were both able to give compelling
performances anyway.
I wouldn't say Brodie was Newton's finest hour
onscreen. The best performance belonged to Deborah Kerr. As the typical Victorian virginal heroine, she gave a multi-layered, sensitive performance.
As for Newton often being a ham... All British actors
love hamming it up from time to time. Laurence Oliver
could be a glutton when it came to scenery chewing.
I love ham in a movie. It's colorful, it's
entertaining. The greatest French actors are admired
as much for their hammy performances as for their
more subtle acting. A case in the point is Benoit
Poelvoorde who won the French Oscar for Best Actor (Podium)
with the most outré and outrageous comical
performance in years.
When ham is done by a talented actor, it's almost
always fun to watch. Not so when it's done by a hack
formerly from the Saturday Night Live cast. ;-)
I do find some of Newton's performance obnoxious. All
that eye rolling gets boring after a while. But he was
one of the masters and being a succulent ham was only
one of his many assets as an actor. He could also be very subtle and natural.
Actually, I thought Newton could be too hammy until I
saw hammier actors in Hollywood pictures from the 30s
and 40s. Supporting roles were often played like
colorful caricatures back then. What was comic relief
to Depression audiences is often only obnoxious and boring
to me.
A case in the point is Lowell Sherman's performance in the classic "What Price
Hollywood" (1932). His performance was very much admired back in 1932 but it doesn't look very convincing to modern eyes. The movie is wonderful but
Sherman's foppish hamming almost ruined it for me the
first time I watched it. During the first part of the
movie, his acting is on the emotional and comical
level of a six year old Little Rascal. And he can't
seem to decide whether he's in a talkie or a silent.
His dainty pantomime is ludicrous. And his eye
popping, gawd!!! However, when his character's career is destroyed
by alcohol abuse, Sherman becomes natural and touching.
All of the actors I've studied for my websites can or
could ham it up entertainingly. But they're (were) not always
successful at it. David Warner, John Hurt, Robert Newton, Pierre Brasseur, Pauline Garon and Lowell Sherman all love(d) to go over the top. Someone who saw Pauline in "The Phantom Broadcast" said
that she looked as if she wanted to jump out of the
screen and into the arms of the audience. Lowell was
delightful as the womanizing boulevardier in "Bachelor
Apartment". Ultimately, a good piece of ham depends on the actor's talent and charisma, the role and a good director.
As for Susan's site putting the spotlight on Bobbie
the pirate, visitors ought to remember that Newton
is mostly remembered today for his pirate roles. Susan
"baits" prospective visitors with Bobbie the pirate but she also gives them a chance to discover that Bobbie wasn't just
a pirate in his acting career. It's thanks to people
like Susan that Robert Newton will be remembered as much more than
a pirate.
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