Scifirenegade's Trash Can

Cinemateca has a more complete retrospective on George Cukor, in book format (will see if I can snag a copy for myself).

While Manuel Cintra Ferreira's text is better than the other one I posted, the "author" has a lot of "quirks" (you'll see) and I heavily disagree with some of his opinions, specifically when it comes to the screenplay being seemingly outdated and to Segert. I could write why I disagree, but eh, feel like it deserves its own post. And I still have to write the fabled Erik meta. The style talk is great, though. I would emphasise the chiaroscuro more.


The making of American versions of European hits is not a new phenomenon, nor does it stem from some "lack of imagination" on the part of Hollywood screenwriters, as is hastily claimed. In the latter case, it is in fact an "adaptation" of a possibly successful work in a "language" that is more "understandable" to the American market, with actors who guarantee success at the box office. The romantic vision of the artist, typical of Europeans, is at the root of why we see so many other "adulterations" in these adaptations. Even when it's an "inferior copy" of the "original" (which isn't always the case), it's a different work, for another market with stricter rules than that of its origin. It's not always a case of "parasitising" on a famous work. Sometimes a screenwriter or actor's vision of an unknown film sparks ideas for their own treatment, which, in turn, ends up "enhancing" the original.

The above is about this beautiful film from George Cukor, another of his lesser-known works and one of his most original. At least, it represents the exploration of a new path by the author of What Price Hollywood?. But let's start with its European origins. There are a number of "curious" crossings with this A Woman's Face. Its origins lie not in Francis de Croisset's virtually unknown play Il Était Une Fois, but in the film Gustav Molander made of it in 1938 in Sweden, En Kvinnas Ansikte, and one of Ingrid Bergman's last works in her native country before "conquering" Hollywood. This, in fact, happened with the American version of one of her big Swedish hits from the year before En Kvinnas Ansikte, Intermezzo. The success helped distribute other films featuring the actress internationally (two of them shown to us in the 40s, Pan Solsidan and En Enda Natt). Among the films that made it to Hollywood was En Kvinnas Ansikte, and it was while watching it that Joan Crawford decided to play the character that Bergman played because she saw in it the possibility of a great role. A Woman's Face would become one of Joan Crawford's biggest dramatic performances, worthy of an Oscar she wasn't even nominated for (later, Cukor would say in an interview that he considered the Academy Award given to Joan for Mildred Pierce to be compensation for the lamentable neglect of this film, and it's not hard to agree with him when comparing the two). But, had she won, it would have been a particular "coincidence" with Bergman (from whom Crawford got the part), who won her first Oscar, also under Cukor and also with a "stolen" work: that of Gaslight, an American version from Thorold Dickinson's notable British film.

What's new about A Woman's Face in relation to Cukor's oeuvre is the creation of a new atmosphere, marked, in terms of photography, by a mastery of contrasts, a game of light and shadow that is identified with expressionism. It is evident that Conrad Veidt's presence in the cast, in one of his best performances in American cinema (and the most diabolical, alongside The Thief of Bagdad) reinforces the identification. But Cukor's subsequent films showcase that such atmosphere had nothing to do with trends, and seemed to be the result of a darker look at the world plunged into war. The Philadelphia Story is the "end" of his condescending eye over a "sophisticated" world wrapped in social games (in fact, Two-Faced Woman may be included in this genre, but it's already a kind of look back at the "past"). With A Woman's Face, repressed ghosts emerge, and they bring with them shadows and fear. Even Adam's Rib, which marks Cukor's return to comedy (but now on another level and with a less cynical look), what the director gives us is a series of melodramas about tormented characters: Keeper of the Flame, Gaslight, A Double Life, Edward, My Son and the "apocryphal" Desire Me. When it comes to the screenplay, A Woman's Face can be seen as rather outdated today. Made in the same year as Citizen Kane, Cukor's film is surprisingly conventional in its use of flashback. The whole story is told in this way, but it appears chronologically correct. If we wanted to be ironic, we could say the judge had a bit of a "screenwriter" in him, calling the witnesses exactly in chronological order and, we could add that this "artistic endeavour" made him choose the correct moment for the happy-end (and if A Woman's Face was a "parody" of the conventional melodrama and it's narrative methods, after all? Maybe one should consider that hypothesis, however outlandish it may seem). But for Cukor's film, this is a minor issue. What matters here are the portraits he gives us of the characters and their transformations, even if they seem to be marked by an outdated psychologism: the original story's basic idea is that of "the face is the mirror of the soul". Anna Holm enters the world of "crime" as a "revenge" against the society that marginalises her because of her deformed face, which frightens some and is mocked by others (the accomplices). Her vindictive "mission" is to blackmail superficial women who pass through her guest house (and the more beautiful they are, the more they have to pay). The exterior shot of the guest house shows it in the middle of a forest, surrounded by big trees that looked straight out of Die Niebelungen, another expressionist reference, but also takes the story into the world of fairy tales. In fact, there's something of this universe in Cukor's film, with Anna Holm appearing as some sort of "ugly duckling" who, after the surgery, transforms into a swan. But the inner "scar" is harder to remove, adding to that is Barring's (Veidt) evil influence. Anna's fixation on Barring is pathological, but also recognition. Because he was the only one who didn't laugh at her or walk away. Segert, the doctor (Melvyn Douglas) is the other one, but with a different motivation. For Barring, the deformity is the reason for his fascination, which gives rise to a perverse erotic motivation. For Segert, she is like a mask that, once removed, will show the world the true face and soul of Anna Holm. The two represent Anna's "duality" (on the subject of "duality", MGM's version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is from the same year of 1941 and, another interesting "crossing", with Ingrid Bergman).

Cukor skilfully manages the wait for the face to be revealed. Until the "scar" is removed, the camera always focuses on Joan Crawford's left cheek. The scar scenes are shown with a light diversion to the left by Barring's hand, and later Segert's. The surgery's result is show even more skilfully. There's always an object in the foreground that "cuts" Joan's face when the bandages are taken off, and the full face is only shown, in a skilful raccord, when Anna testifies in court. As the action goes on, Anna's face becomes more familiar, until it dominates the screen, as the past vanishes, to burst with fury at the end, in a brief shot in which the torch passes the die of her face, thrown by Barring, willing to do what she was not capable of: killing the nephew. Segert and Anna's pursuit of Barring ends in the fabulous scene of their meeting in the attic, surprised by the maid, and it's one of the strongest moments in Cukor's oeuvre. If the theme may seem outdated, the film is one of the director's best. In that case, yes, you may say it's a rediscovery.


Shame there's no Above Suspicion pic here lol.

Sorry about the rotationnon the second scan. This is what happens when you clear the EXIF data.

On another note: someone I follow on Tumblr, who has never shown interest in Conrad Veidt, reblogged a very amusing post comparing a cat with a moustache-like marking on the face with Torsten :D

And Ebbing too. I think he got there by accident. But who am I to deny his tunnel of love :D