Olivia and Joan......

[JackFavell]

Now for years I loved O and thought she was the most beautiful creature on earth. I thought her acting was OK, but her demeanor was charming!

I never liked Joan, and even less as she aged. The roles she took didn't always seem to fit her personality. There is something clenched about her that bugged me.

In the last few years, my opinions have completely changed. Now, I find, after reading a bit about O, I don't like her personality. In fact, she could be a real pain. However, her acting in The Heiress, GWTW, and They Died With Their Boots On, is really quite remarkable. She is very good in The Strawberry Blonde, To Each their Own and The Snake Pit too.. there is a cold, dark side to her, an almost insane quality that I especially love, like in The Heiress, which is tops. I also love her Melanie more and more as time goes on. It is probably the most difficult role in screen history - to play nice like that is extremely hard. Her Melanie is almost a fanatic, and this lends depth to the role. I love her portrayal for it's incredible intensity.

But when you get to some of the duds, like Devotion, in which she seemed completely wrong for the role, then I have a hard time. It's almost like Joan all over again....she just doesn't seem to get what is required of the part. Perhaps she was too busy fighting with Ida Lupino to read the script properly.

Joan, on the other hand, I now find charming in her youthful roles, like "I" in Rebecca and A Damsel in Distress. She is downright funny and incredibly sweet in The Women. Did someone mention Beyond a Reasonable Doubt? It is just a terrible movie for all involved, and I wanted to kill Joan from the beginning.

[feaito]

Larry,

She's a shameless, conniving and scheming flirt in "Ivy" (1947) and looks truly mesmerizing in XIXth Century gowns. It was one of the few times in which she played a villain. The other film in which she played another double-crossing woman is "Born to be Bad" (1950), another goody.

For lovers of doomed romantic relationships I recommend "September Affair" (1950), a rather beautiful love story. I have never seen "Serenade" (1956).

[srowley75]

I do like both actresses a lot, though I think Larry makes a good point about Olivia being the one who seemed to invest more in the acting/moviemaking profession. It's not that Joan didn't make great films (she did) or that she wasn't as prolific (she made more films than O in the 1950s), it's just that Olivia seemed to put more of her heart and soul into her performances. With Joan, the roles she took on (especially later in life) lead you to suspect she really just viewed it all as a way to pay for her skin care regimen.

I see that I really need to check out Ivy. I've had that title set aside for some time but haven't yet worked out a time to watch it. If you're able to find it, I also highly suggest The Constant Nymph, in which Joan plays a character very much like Lisa in Letter from an Unknown Woman. Most copies that are out there are pretty bad, but I found one that was watchable and despite the poor print quality, I still liked the movie.

-Stephen

[charliechaplinfan]

I have to concur with all the above about Olivia's films. She was quite savvy, not setting her sights on the role of Scarlett in Gone With The Wind but going after the role of Melanie, not an easy role to play, not a flattering role but a role that needed a good actress who cared more about the roles and less about the glamour of the profession. With her portrayal of Melanie she was seen as a serious actress and was given roles more varied than being Errol's girl.