Happy Birthday to
Joan Fontaine
94 today
I've been thinking a lot about the Golden age of Romantic cinema recently, so it's seems fitting to celebrate a birthday of one of the great stars of her time, and one of the few legendary beauties still with us. Best remembered for her collaborations with Hitch (Rebecca , pictured, and Suspicion) Joan's look of fragility and grace in the soft focus glow of the 40's is a reminder of what the studio system did best - create stars we could only dream of being.
Saturday, 22 October 2011
Joan Fontaine
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3 comments:
I love your warm opening...I like that you think about the Golden Age of Romantic Cinema....and your final sentence is wonderful..."stars we could only dream of being". How true! Fontaine is a great star....
not a fan. :(
though it's true I've seen just a couple of film of hers. have yet to catch up on Suspicion, though I hear it's one of the less-inspired Oscar decisions.
Tom,
It's largely thanks to Mark Cousins' thought provoking documentary series on the history of film currently showing in the UK. He is quite sniffy about Hollywood generally but he did have some nice things to say about the way stars were filmed in the 30's and 40's. Interestingly I think Woody Allen took the same approach for Marion Cotillard in Midnight in Paris.
Alex,
I think she's wonderful in Rebecca, especially in the first half. She's fine in Suspicion but the film hasn't aged well and is best remembered for the studio insisted ending.
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