George Cukor, what a man. What a lesson here. Usually he takes it as his charter to get out of the way and let an actress (usually an actress) shine or more often to let the wheels of the studio machine turn.
This may be his most distinctively personal film. And its a gem of sorts.
Its from a time when actors put tremors into their lines and punctuating hesitations into their movements to denote gravitas. Its a tradition from 19th century Shakespearian productions, or at least became associated with them.
And going with this here is some very careful staging and blocking. Very, very highly composed, abstract and theatrical. Its worth watching because of the simple craft of the thing. Its excellently shaped.
But the story, and the way it weaves among all the production threads is quite special. And that is why I would like to recommend this to you.
The story is rather simple: an actor is intense, so intense that the personality of his characters tends to take over his own. The war between identities isn't a war at all; he just doesn't like himself, sees no sense in himself. His roles offer solidity, sense, so they color his world.
He gets talked into doing an Othello and the character takes over his life. Blackouts and all that. At this level, it is just another Jekyll and Hyde deal, and might have been as banal as the Spencer Tracy belch. But the blurring of what we see on stage and screen is blurred so effectively. In the way the actors carry themselves. In the lighting and even set dressing.
And in the story of course. His "real" wife/loving exwife is his Desdemona. There's a folding between her screen and stage characters. Lest we not be locked in that simple two-layer structure, we have her merged with a promiscuous waitress. Its really quite deft.
Underneath is another layer, overtly racist. That the moor is black is never mentioned, though of course he is dark makeup. But the idea (this is the 40's now) is that of all the characters he has played and whose possession he has mastered, this one overtakes him with an uncontrollable negroid passion. Its a notion explicit in many productions of Othello of course, and is played here.
Even though it is never mentioned in terms of humans, see how the notion is spoken. Four or five times a scene begins with the principle characters and then slides off into apparently random conversations of surrounding folks. Exclusively, the conversation is about the dangers of adding white stuff (milk or cream) to black stuff (coffee).
You might not even notice it, so deft is the introduction. Smooth and ghastly.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
