Davis vs. Crawford (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

IMO, Stanwyck was the best actress from the Golden Age. My reasoning is she was great at listening to the actors she played against in films and it came across in her performances. Some actresses were too absorbed in their own performances and you can see it on their faces.

 

[Waldo Lydecker]

I definitely agree…But you’re straying from the thread topic…And you know what happens…???

 

[Robert Crawford]

I definitely agree…But you’re straying from the thread topic…And you know what happens…???

Well, that's my job to make sure it doesn't stray too long.

 

[Thomas T]

I don’t really associate Bette as playing “so many different characters”. She was really more of a “one of a kind” personality and played that to the hilt in most roles. She was the female John Wayne, she embraced her persona and rarely disappointed…

Poppycock! Davis played so many different characters and her range is evident throughout her career: the Cockney slut in Of Human Bondage, the willful Southern belle in Jezebel, the repressed wallflower in Now Voyager, the demure waitress in The Petrified Forest, the clip joint hostess in Marked Woman, the terminally ill socialite in Dark Victory, the determined Queen in Private Lives Of Elizabeth And Essex, the fragile Empress in Juarez, the old maid "Aunt" in The Old Maid, the ruthless matron in The Little Foxes, the affectionate governess in All This And Heaven Too, the calculating wife in The Letter, the loyal wife in Watch On The Rhine, the vain aging beauty in Mr. Skeffington, the twin sisters in A Stolen Life, the Brooklyn housewife in The Catered Affair, the old hag turned society matron in Pocketful Of Miracles, the wealthy American preying on a poverty stricken Italian couple in The Scientific Cardplayer, the cranky sister in The Whales Of August and those are just off the top of my head!

 

[Matt Hough]

I'm reminded of one film---I can't recall which one, now---likely from the mid-1930s. Bette's character had just heard her sister had died, and her reaction---well, I was impressed, she did such a marvelous, subtle job at expressing her emotions. And then she immediately spoiled it all by going into hysterics.

That film was Marked Woman and I think the hysterics were justified. She had been worried about her innocent, inexperienced sister getting mixed up with gangsters, and it had come true and she blamed herself for it for not protecting her. And when she told the mob boss she'd come back from hell to even the score with him, I fully believed it.

 

[octobercountry]

That film was Marked Woman and I think the hysterics were justified. She had been worried about her innocent, inexperienced sister getting mixed up with gangsters, and it had come true and she blamed herself for it for not protecting her. And when she told the mob boss she'd come back from hell to even the score with him, I fully believed it.

Hmmmm.... the problem for me, I suppose, is I've seen Davis go into similar hysterics in so many other pictures, that I thought it was refreshing when she kept her initial reaction very low-key and realistic.

 

[mackjay]

I agree with those who say Davis had more acting talent. She made some fine films. But Crawford appears in a few very good crime/Noir titles, beginning with MILDRED PIERCE -- THE DAMNED DON'T CRY, SUDDEN FEAR, POSSESSED, as well as several decent, dark-tinged melodramas, like HUMORESQUE, FEMALE OF THE BEACH, HARRIET CRAIG. All solid, enjoyable films, if not all masterpieces. Also, Crawford more than holds her own in GRAND HOTEL, up against a crew of acting powerhouses

 

[Waldo Lydecker]

Don’t forget Joan’s popularity in silents as the shopgirl who makes good…(doing a mean “charleston” to boot…) She held her own through a series of films with “Gable” and also wound up being Fred Astaire’s first dancing partner on screen…

 

[Emcee]

There's no question that Davis was the better actress and I'll go so far as to say if one thinks Crawford is a better actress, I'll question how much you know about acting! I liked the Crawford at MGM in the 1930s. She was vibrant and sexy. Once at Warners, she turned into an iron maiden. Yes, that includes Mildred Pierce (so sue me!). I must confess I have a weakness for her post menopausal period where she acts with her eyebrows. Trash like Queen Bee (her eyebrows go into overtime in that one), Female On The Beach and Torch Song.

There are only two performances where I think Crawford shines. She's terrific in A Woman's Face (even better than Ingrid Bergman in the original Swedish version) and she fits in perfectly in the feverish Johnny Guitar. That scene, late at night, when she breaks down and confesses her love for Sterling Hayden is a gem.

For me, you seem to be a little hard on Crawford. I think Mildred Pierce, Humoresque, and her other late 1940s movies offer some of her strongest on-screen work. She was making a lot of good movies then. A Woman's Face is also a good movie, although I'd probably say Johnny Guitar is best enjoyed based on its campier aspects. She made a lot of other good movies as well.​

As for Davis, she's given some of the greatest performances by an actress in American cinema: Of Human Bondage, Jezebel, Dark Victory (she transcends its soap opera qualities), Privates Lives Of Elizabeth And Essex, The Letter, The Little Foxes, Now Voyager, Mr. Skeffington, The Corn Is Green and All About Eve. If her post AAE career never lived up to her 1937-1950 period, very few actresses (maybe Meryl Streep) had a run of great performances for 13 years straight. Still, there were pockets of good performances post AAE: The Star, The Virgin Queen, Storm Center, The Scapegoat, Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?, The Nanny, Whales Of August etc.

There's no denying Davis was a stronger actress than Crawford, and therefore Crawford has a lot more stinkers in her filmography. Both actresses had the unique ability to elevate trash.​

If you want to discuss Davis's equals then it's not Davis vs. Crawford you need to discuss but Katharine Hepburn and Barbara Stanwyck.

Stanwyck was perhaps the most versatile of the four you have mentioned here. She glided effortlessly between the genres, from comedy, to Westerns, to melodrama, to film noir, and practically everything in between. Davis and Crawford were both good actresses, but they belonged in the soapier melodramas. Their separate attempts at comedy were not very good, although perhaps better than typically given credit for. Hepburn was delightful in screwball comedy, but I don't necessarily like her dramas. She seems a little too preachy and stubborn in the heavier films.
​

 

[Emcee]

I agree with those who say Davis had more acting talent. She made some fine films. But Crawford appears in a few very good crime/Noir titles, beginning with MILDRED PIERCE -- THE DAMNED DON'T CRY, SUDDEN FEAR, POSSESSED, as well as several decent, dark-tinged melodramas, like HUMORESQUE, FEMALE OF THE BEACH, HARRIET CRAIG. All solid, enjoyable films, if not all masterpieces.

All good films that you mentioned.

Also, Crawford more than holds her own in GRAND HOTEL, up against a crew of acting powerhouses

There is a prime example of Crawford holding her own against the likes of Garbo, both Barrymores, Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, and so forth. She was very good in that movie.

 

[Emcee]

Don’t forget Joan’s popularity in silents as the shopgirl who makes good…(doing a mean “charleston” to boot…) She held her own through a series of films with “Gable” and also wound up being Fred Astaire’s first dancing partner on screen…

Joan always held to the fact that she had her start in show business as a dancer. In fact, her original contract with MGM in 1925 says she was hired as a dancer. She was the ideal flapper, an assumption even writer F. Scott Fitzgerald saw and wrote about.

Her movies with Gable offered some of her strongest films of the 1930s. Her rags-to-riches/Cinderella formula served her well for many years, but by 1938, it had fallen out of style and she was called "box office poison" by theater owners. MGM countered the claim, boosting Crawford had received around 900,000 fan letters in a single month during that same year.​

 

[Waldo Lydecker]

“Jungle Red”…!!!

 

[Mark Toscani]

IMO, Stanwyck was the best actress from the Golden Age. My reasoning is she was great at listening to the actors she played against in films and it came across in her performances. Some actresses were too absorbed in their own performances and you can see it on their faces.

Robert 100% agree. I actually think it’s a no brainer. Stanwyck could do it all…pre-code, melodrama, comedy, film noir, westerns. What fascinates me is how seemless she glides from one genre to another.

And by the 1950s when roles for these great ladies were drying up, Stanwyck never relied on personality to perhaps gain attention or wink at her audience. No tricks like “Aw there’s Cary Grant being Cary Grant”. I mean of course i love Bette smoking and twitching and clipping her speech. But Stanwyck in say “There’s Always Tomorrow” (1956) remains true to her character and the story. Truly impressive.