By Margaret Hinxman
Translator: Yi Ersan
Proofreader: Qin Tian
Source: Sight & Sound (Winter 1971/72)
Physically, she was an astonishingly petite woman. The skeleton is thin, the facial features are exquisite, and the figure is well-proportioned. This famous sharp mouth is also a standard size, far less lethal.
Betty Davis is filming the new film "Lady of Sin" at Pinewood Studios, and the atmosphere is exciting. It's not that she expects or deliberately attracts attention, but she has a powerful presence that drives the entire set.
The Lady of Sin
Time and hindsight left her with more than just the identity of great actresses and superstars. No one can represent everything in Hollywood so accurately. Even her rebellion, her brief retirement, her legal struggle with Jack Warner over the contract system, are all typical.
Looking back on the past defiances, she may be surprised by the intense sense of protection she felt in her 40 years of arduous, humiliating, and exhilarating "career." She spoke of the word "career" as if it were a separate star orbiting the planet Betty Davis and not completely under control.
"Cinema has always been a great art. Those of us who were in the '30s — the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood — knew that. But this is not the case with critics. They didn't take movies seriously. You know why? Because the audience can enter the cinema at any time, even when the film is halfway through. Unlike in a theater, you have to go to the show on time. This behavior should not be allowed. But they say that's what motivates people to get into the habit of watching movies." The intonation of the voice is as telling as the dialogue. After the word "theater" fades from your ears for a few seconds, you can still feel the afterglow of it: no doubt because critics tend to leave respect to the stage and ridicule to the screen.
She smoked skillfully. Her makeup in "Lady Sin" — black wig, green eye makeup, black pants decorated with jeweled floral ornaments — would scare most women. But she knows exactly how to navigate fabrics, oil paints and rhinestones – that's one of her specialties.
"This film is a whole new experience for me. First of all, it's a crime story, and usually I like to look for places in myself that are associated with the characters. But how can you understand someone as shameless as Mrs. Sin? So I have to keep introspecting. It's interesting. Now the way they make movies is completely different. So I had to let David Grenie, the young director, lead me by the nose. He's smart, but like I said, it's very different from the directors I've worked with before."
"When we were shooting this scene, we used to shoot it on location. In my time, perfect locations were created in the studio, such as the set in The Fossil Forest (1936), and even faked. We are able to continue to work unaffected instead of waiting for the weather to clear. But they work differently now. I'm learning. I can't say I felt comfortable. It will never be the same again. Those days are over and will never come back..."
Working photo of "Fossil Forest"
She has great respect for her producer and co-actor Robert Wagner. "This young man is a great manager. Executive producers can also do it. But some actors become directors! It's crazy. I've made 80 films, but I don't know how to direct a movie..."
Like most veteran actors who have lived through the Hollywood system, she instinctively distrusts the lack of organization and sloppiness. Hard work is one thing, futile effort is unforgivable. Despite her reservations when commenting on new film styles, she made it clear that unprepared work habits were the hardest to accept.
"I once heard warner bros. they wanted to use a passage of Sails (1942) in Past Like Smoke (1971), and they implied that the choice was meant to be funny. My lawyer wrote back saying that if they wanted a hilarious clip, why not choose a scene from their own company's current movies. In fact, I think this choice is very tasteful and plays an important role in the story. Anyway, I have a lot of admiration for Robert Mallegan. You know, I went to great lengths to get a character in Sails. Miss Erin Dunn was supposed to star in the film. I rushed into Hal Voorhes's office – he witnessed all my best work and was a genius! I told him that I had a contract, how dare he choose Miss Dunn? That's my role. I know all about that woman and her possessive New England mother."
"Sails"
"I'm lucky. A lot of my films are made by Henry Blanco, who has great taste. Now everything on the screen has gone astray, and what should be honest has become vulgar. But we used to always get angry about compromise. I don't know if you remember "The Sword Of Wisdom" (1948), which is a love story between a woman and a man who is learning to become a priest. It's a brutal story. She hated his church and faith. She couldn't understand why he had stayed away from her. The relationship between the two is going hard. But then they had to downplay it, making it a mild romance with only a little Catholic overtones."
"Wise Sword Cuts Love Silk"
"The most typical case is The Tears of Incense Notes (1940). The Hayes Code stipulates that I must die because my character is a female murderer. William Wheeler did everything he could to solve the problem, but ignored the main point of the story, which is her last line: "Tragically, I still love the man I killed." 」
"Incense Notes and Tears"
Somehow, we mentioned Fashion 1934 (1934), which was almost forgotten by the world. Are there really any copies left? "Isn't that movie scary?" That was my "Garbo period." They gave me a long blond wig to make me look like Garbo's counterfeiters. But I didn't let them get away with it for too long. I usually go to warner Bros. employee cafeterias, occasionally look at the pictures posted on the walls, and I swear to you, every young girl on it looks exactly the same. They always want to give you a teeth fix at the beginning, which is the first thing, and then change your hairstyle and color. Margaret Sullivan, Catherine Hepburn and I are all diehards. We are people who stand firm and are unwilling to change. I really feel sorry for those Hollywood people. They don't know us at all..."
Fashion 1934
She remembers that when she first made her debut on stage, a New York hat dealer offered to give her some selection of hats because "these hats are so special that they make you feel like a different person," and she declined, replying, "But I don't want to be different, I like who I am now."
"Still, hats work well on certain occasions," she says thoughtfully, as in Comet Beauty (1950), where the use of hats highlights a sudden flash of femininity, a weakening of her defenses— making her look very fragile and sympathetic. "The designers at Warner Bros. are fantastic. Ori-Kelly, Edith Hyde. They don't design fancy dresses like MGM's Adrian."
Comet Beauty
"Compared to Warner Bros., MGM is a fairytale company. They will make the staff feel important and valued. They have very big dressing rooms and other things. I don't like that. At Warner, no one makes us feel important. You'll just bury your head in the work. In the early '30s, I made six or seven B-movies a year. That's where I honed my acting skills, and we all have experienced there."
"But it's a cruel life, and you have to always fight for the quality of the work." Sometimes it can be tiring. When you go to the studio, you think, 'Why am I trying so hard?' Why don't I give in? If the dialogue isn't perfect, if the dress doesn't fit the role, does it really matter to the audience?" But now when I see my movie on TV, I'm glad I stuck with it. Because its quality will be obvious."
"The Red Shirt Tear Stains (1938) is where my career really started to take shape. Hal earned me a role in Red Shirt Tears. I remember David Selznick wanting to sue us because we launched the film before Gone with the Wind (1939). But in a way, I think Red Shirt Tear Stains reflects the feeling of the South more realistically than his films. I've always felt that Gone with the Wind would have been twice as effective if it were black and white, with a more intimate and smaller story. Unfortunately, at the time you had to shoot on color film, and you couldn't shoot on black and white film that was essentially a black and white subject. On the contrary, "The Blue Girl" (1962) would look good if it was made in color. The same is true of The Beauty of the Mountains (1939) and Mr. Sveffington (1944). But in the 1930s, the studio only set aside two color films a year because it was too expensive, and at that time there was only one craft, Technicolor. Those of us who are used to make money at the box office have never made a color movie because we don't need that extra appeal. They add color to bad scripts as an added incentive to attract the public."
"Mr. Sgeffington"
When it comes to her colleagues, she is sometimes harsh but always full of empathy. Some thought that working with Paul Mooney on Splendid Mountains and Rivers (1939) must have been an ascetic, but she called him "Sir" and preferred to remember that he didn't need makeup to create a convincing character.
"In Bordertown (1935) and Scarface (1932) it was so natural, so kind. In Splendid Mountains and Rivers, he wears a full rubber mask that makes him look exactly like the portrait and statue of Benito Juarez. The theater exhibitors were upset; they said, 'If you don't recognize Mooney, what's the point of having him play the role?' In any case, he also portrayed his character very well. Juarez was originally a marginal character; the story focuses primarily on Maximiliano I, the character played by Brian Achen, and his wife Carlotta, who played me. After they cut out some of the key scenes between the two of us, the audience couldn't understand why Carlotta ended up going crazy. That doesn't make sense."
Scarface
"Now people are criticizing Hollywood. But we also made some good movies. Including some anti-fascist films – such as The Dark Legion (1937) and Outlaws (1932). One of the saddest days of my life was going to a farewell party at Warner Bros. On the walls hung stills from every film the company produced, and all the living elders appeared, including supporting actors like Frank Machue, who appeared in many films. There were a lot of people present... I almost cried when I got home because I knew we would never see that kind of party or Hollywood again."
《Exile》
The assistant director of "Lady Sin" leaned out of the door of the makeup room and apologized for informing her so early, because it was just a precaution. "No need to apologize," she told him. "Your job is to anticipate the director's needs. Wheeler is the same way; if he needs a prop or an actor and you can't get the job done, you're probably going to lose your job. You're just doing your part." There's no great compliment for Betty Davis.