Why is it so much easier to believe that Norma Shearer is a teenager...
... than it is to believe the same thing of Leslie Howard?
I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't think I believed for a minute that Norma Shearer was actually thirteen, or even twenty, but the whole idea of casting a 43 year-old (Howard) and a 34 year-old (Shearer) as two characters who are supposed to be at least twenty years younger than they actually are is deliriously absurd, and I'm not sure if you were
ever expected to believe it. But I think my problem with Howard lies elsewhere: he's just not a convincing romantic lead. I've yet to see
Pygmalion, but basing expectations on the Rex Harrison of
My Fair Lady, that seems like a role Howard would fit: literate, upper class, refined, slightly reedy. He worked in
Of Human Bondage because the entire point is that Bette Davis is just using him. But as a straight, supposedly handsome young man, he just can't work. At least parts of Norma Shearer's almost painful attempts to look naive and innocent work; her face is smooth and fresh enough that she occasionally charms you into submission, even if she can't really work the Shakespearean dialogue. But she's probably the best thing this film has to offer, unless watching Edna May Oliver chew ferociously on every single thing she says is your cup of tea; personally, it got old fast. I think I'll stick to the Baz Luhrmann version.
... than it is to believe the same thing of Leslie Howard?
I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't think I believed for a minute that Norma Shearer was actually thirteen, or even twenty, but the whole idea of casting a 43 year-old (Howard) and a 34 year-old (Shearer) as two characters who are supposed to be at least twenty years younger than they actually are is deliriously absurd, and I'm not sure if you were ever expected to believe it. But I think my problem with Howard lies elsewhere: he's just not a convincing romantic lead. I've yet to see Pygmalion, but basing expectations on the Rex Harrison of My Fair Lady, that seems like a role Howard would fit: literate, upper class, refined, slightly reedy. He worked in Of Human Bondage because the entire point is that Bette Davis is just using him. But as a straight, supposedly handsome young man, he just can't work. At least parts of Norma Shearer's almost painful attempts to look naive and innocent work; her face is smooth and fresh enough that she occasionally charms you into submission, even if she can't really work the Shakespearean dialogue. But she's probably the best thing this film has to offer, unless watching Edna May Oliver chew ferociously on every single thing she says is your cup of tea; personally, it got old fast. I think I'll stick to the Baz Luhrmann version.
