This is the best of the filmed versions of this story. There isn't a lot of plot in this gritty, earthy early talkie but there is an astonishingly powerful tour de force performance by Mae Clarke. I had always admired her fragile beauty and strong second lead performances in many films over the years but I'd never seen this one in which she plays a prostitute or "party girl" as they used to call them in the early sound films, a girl who is forced into prostitution in London after her show closes and she cannot get decent work. There's a blitz going on and zeppelins are reigning bombs down onto London streets and people must take shelter underground. Life is extremely difficult but onto the scene comes American Douglass Montgomery whose family, wealthy as can be, live outside of London on a marvelous estate and his sister turns out to be none other than Bette Davis. Will the family accept her? Will she tell them she is a street walker?
The drama unfolds and gradually grips you fully if you like pre-code movies. Montgomery and Clarke as the young lovers have a real chemistry between them. Clarke's performance totally inhabits her space as she handles objects, uses her entire body in her performance and shows a remarkable range of emotion that seems to ripple through her entire body. I had the feeling that the actress was almost possessed by the spirit of her character. At times quiet and introspective,she then her emotions rush to the forefront and in one near final scene she belts out her anguish with astonishing power and range that blew me away. I take this to be one of the great acting performances in the history of movies and it is absolutely THE most underappreciated Academy Award quality performance ever given. You may not agree but over the last 46 years I've been teaching film history at the university level and I'd stake my reputation that for its period of time there isn't anything quite like it. It is whole decades ahead of its time.
You may marvel as I did at how modern her acting is and not stilted or theatrical as her contemporaries such as Bette Davis come across now. It is a performance that one would marvel at if given today. And yet her projection is also worthy of a great stage performance as well, for this is also after all basically a filmed play.
James Whale is always a fascinating director. What he coaxed out of Mae Clarke in this film is something for the ages and any acting student can learn a lot about how to move about a room, use your hands, modulate your voice and use every part of your body to create a real character. It is all the more extraordinary that Whale did this in just a few weeks and with a shoestring budget. After the film I just sat for a while in rapt amazement, so grateful that this performance has been captured on film and I had the privilege to watch it. In a word, wow!.
Review of Waterloo Bridge
