Earl-Janoth says > I agree with your assessment of Davis. Davis could be either totally brilliant, or a cheap, tacky ham. Here she's in ham mode. Her performance is almost ridiculous.
I thought Davis did an excellent job in this movie and in most of the movies in which I've seen her. Her acting style, while it could be overly dramatic, never seemed to take away from the character or the film.
In regards to her performance in this movie, I think we have to remember a couple of things and judge it in context to the time in which the movie was made.
1. When she made this movie, Davis had not yet made a name for herself. She was still a fairly unknown, up-and-coming actress; not a star. For all people knew that could have been her natural way of speaking.
2. Perhaps in New York or other major cities people had heard different accents and could distinguish one from another but in the heartland and in most other places audiences wouldn't have known the difference between a good imitation of a cockney accent or a bad one.
3. A true cockney accent is difficult for non-cockney speakers to understand; especially since they also have a lot of unique words and phrases. It would serve no purpose for Davis' accent to be too authentic; no one would have a clue what she was saying.
4. What some may consider the ridiculousness of her performance probably was, in a large part, intentional. Davis is playing Mildred but Mildred is also acting and playing a role herself. She also has a lot of issues that make her an unstable, un-traditional, or ridiculous character.
I think Hepburn would have been atrocious in this.
I have to agree with you on this one. I can't picture Hepburn in this role. She would have been a very bad fit; especially as the movie progressed.
Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]
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