"Comet Beauty" is based on Mary Orr's radio drama "The Wisdom of Eve" by Mankiwicz. Mankiwitz was a screenwriter at the beginning of his career. He has written many scripts for major Hollywood film companies, but there are not many successful ones. In 1945, his talents began to show up after he began to work as a director. He has filmed such as "Letter to Three Wives" (1949), "Comet Beauty" (1950), "Caesar the Great" (1953), "Barefoot Countess" (1954), "The Scorching Summer" (1959) and "Cleopatra" (1963) are a series of well-known films. Mankiewicz is known for his ability to deal with lines. His films are all based on language and the characters' response to language. He does not believe that there is an incompatible difference between film and drama, and it is more normal to use pure stage play when making films. He supported and confirmed his views with his successful practice, and "Comet Beauty" is one of the most convincing examples.
It is the ears that are tired from watching this film. Radio dramas originally resorted to the sense of hearing. Now that they were made into a film, Mankiewicz enriched the original aural effects with visible actor images. The performances of Betty Davis and George Sanders are indeed very wonderful, but what supports their performance is the endless lines. In these lines, witty and brilliant metaphors abound. The arrogant, arrogant and self-serving celebrity actor was manipulated by a scheming, honey-heavy follower, who was reduced from talking to a full of complaints; the authoritative critics, who were shameless and opportunistic, worked between the opposing parties and were able to do so. His tongue is like a spring. The clear-headed director, the weak-willed playwright, and his loyal and kind-hearted wife, seem not good at rhetoric in comparison, but they can also make a fuss in a critical moment. Even Miss Caswell (Marilyn Monroe’s early screen role) with a silly look, she only showed up briefly at the party celebrating Bill’s birthday and disappeared, but she was also the only one. The punch line in one of the openings was amazing ("How come filmmakers are like frustrated rabbits?"). It is not an exaggeration to compare the lines of each character with the bursting water or the cascading waterfall. Especially in the scene of emotional excitement, the audience is really overwhelmed. A witty remark is a sharp metaphor. The next sentence will follow before the recollection. Just watching a movie like "Comet Beauty" is really not enough to understand all the mysteries of its language.
When "Comet Beauty" was competing for the Oscar for Best Actress, Davis who played Margot and Baxter who played Eve were launched, and Sanders who played Addison was listed as a supporting actor. In fact, these three This role should stand out in the film. One is a celebrity who lacks self-awareness due to a smash hit, one is a "successor" star who is unscrupulous to become a star, and the other is a shameless literati who uses his pen to stir water and fish. Although they are mixed in the theater scene in New York, they will all end up in Hollywood. Addison told Miss Caswell that Max is a "producer", and Bill would go to Hollywood to direct films from time to time. After Eve's conspiracy succeeded, he proudly announced that he would go to Hollywood to film. Therefore, although the background is New York, it is actually written about Hollywood. No wonder when the American Academy of Film and Art awarded the Oscar for "Comet Beauty", the film critics almost agreed that Hollywood's self-examination spirit is very commendable.
As Hollywood self-examination, the three main characters in "Comet Beauty" are very typical. Since the establishment of the big studio system in Hollywood, celebrities have become the most favored characters. In order to create idols for the audience, the studio painted the actors with bizarre and magical colors, making them seem mysterious and unpredictable under neon light, just like heavens. The astronomical remuneration and the extravagant living conditions on the one hand make the stars become arrogant (of course not all stars are like this), on the other hand, it makes the mortal boy who covets the throne of stars betray their souls. The so-called Hollywood "columnists" (the most notorious such as Laura Parsons and Hedda Hopper) who make waves between stars and movie fans and even blackmail them are also a major public nuisance in the American film industry. These three types of characters are obviously indispensable in the development history of Hollywood. When the audience saw Margot, Eve and Addison appearing in sequence in "Comet Beauty", when they saw Eve taking over the Sarah Sidders trophy from the presenter (Oscar?) At that time, especially when they saw Phoebe and Eve flattering the Gold Award star exactly the same, they would applaud Hollywood's frank self-confession.
Of course, in real life, Davis, Baxter, and Sanders have nothing in common with the characters they play. The only similarity between Davis and Margot is that they are both smash stars and are of the same age-Davis was 41 years old when he played Margot, and Margot in the film was 40 years old. Devis’s role as Margot is somewhat accidental, because the Margot originally invited by Mankiewicz is Claude Cobert, who is 3 years older than Devis. It’s just because Cobert was before the filming of the film. The accidental back injury only had to make a temporary change. Davis is the only star in Hollywood who does not rely on beauty to win the admiration of the audience. She was rejected by drama schools and kicked out by film companies several times. Who can imagine that a girl whose eyebrows are too far apart and her nose and mouth are too close will win the audience's favor? She didn't finally win a place in Hollywood because of her outstanding acting skills until she was over 25, when her youth was about to die. Therefore, Davis has long enjoyed the reputation of "the only true professional actor" in Hollywood. Another advantage that Davis's extraordinary star can achieve is the strict requirements for the quality of the script and the quality of the director. At Warner's screenplay seminars, Davis often quarreled with producers, screenwriters or directors, and would never give in easily. When Warner Corporation assigned her to star in "Black Hawk" in 1935, she believed that the quality of the adaptation of the script was too low and the quality of the director was too poor, so she resolutely refused to act. At the time of stalemate, she traveled to the UK to film in anger, and was brought to court by Warner Corporation for arbitrarily breaking the contract. As a result, Davis lost the lawsuit and suffered heavy economic losses. However, this turmoil made Davis famous for her independent and unruly personality. She has won the Oscar for Best Actress twice when she starred in this film, which is the day when her reputation is the most prosperous. Margot Johnson is widely regarded as Devis's most brilliant creation. It is not difficult for the audience to find that Margot has never shown her acting skills on the stage in the film, she has only performed incisively and vividly in life, and Eve also has not shown her strength on the stage to the audience. Does this mean that the shining red star is probably outside the mercury lamp? When Phoebe secretly tries on Eve’s costume in front of the mirror, the audience will surely remember Eve’s exactly the same actions back then, but does this cycle just start with Eve? When the president of the Sarah Siddes Society talked about the nobility and greatness of the acting career in a lengthy speech, when the senior veteran actor praised the young and beautiful rookie's character and talent before the award, when Eve had a clear face When her defeated officers expressed their most sincere gratitude, the camera slowly shook the faces with distorted expressions: bitter, indifferent, contemptuous, resentful...Is it at the award ceremony of any other name? In a corner
There are also many critics who do not appreciate "Comet Beauty". They criticized the film for being too "rapid" and too neglected of the unique possibility of film performance. As a matter of fact, such “tongue” stage-style screen masterpieces are not uncommon, and we can easily cite examples such as "A Streetcar Named Desire" or "Guess Who Is Coming for Dinner". It is a narrow view to oppose the film’s emphasis on language elements. “Tangling” is actually not an easy task. It requires the director to have higher literary literacy, rhetoric skills, and scene management ability, so that the audience will not be affected by the large reduction in dynamic shots. It produces a sense of dullness; it requires actors to have stronger language skills, accurate biting, clear vocalization, proper expression and gestures, and rich emotions. What's more, different themes and different creative intentions inevitably require different narrative methods and different forms of expression. It is absurd to only use the number of lines as the criterion for judging the pros and cons.
Finally, there is an episode: at Bill's birthday party, we saw Marilyn Monroe appearing in front of the guests holding Sander's arm. Like Miss Caswell, Monroe is still seeking an opportunity to make an appearance. Sanders introduced her as a "graduate of the Capacabana School of Drama" and said to her, "I can see that your career is rising from the east as if the sun is rising."
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