Key Films / 1952
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Monte Blue
Monday, November 21, 2011
Monte Blue and Raquel Torres in White Shadows in the South Seas (1928)Most viewers of White Shadows in the South Seas shrug at the plot of the film and prefer to relish the languid cinematography that makes it more travelogue than theatre. This is not entirely misguided, as the cinematography, especially in the underwater sequences, is truly spectacular, and the synchronized sound which even includes one or two words of dialogue makes this silent fresher to modern audiences than most. However, the real treat of this film is Monte Blue's performance. Blue is Dr. Matthew Lloyd, a white doctor stranded on a Pacific island, alone and despondent, angry at the greedy Westerners who have arrived to take advantage of the natives. Lloyd is a self-destructive alcoholic with so much deep-ground loathing inside him that he rails against those who hate him, despite the fact that he hates himself in equal measure. His hypocrisy does not end there, as he is so lonely and desperate that, when given a chance to be the white god to the island natives, he happily takes the role and all the associated perks, both implied and conspicuous.
Startlingly liberal for its time, speaking out plainly against colonialism and the commercial greed of white Westerners, it also fails in a few key moments by othering the Polynesians who appear in the film. Director W.S. Van Dyke, according to Facing the Pacific by Jeffrey Geiger, intensely disliked the Polynesians he worked with, complaining about the locale and the peoples with a vengeful racism that most certainly affected his craft. The use of now-well-worn tactics such as feminizing/emasculating the Polynesian males, attributing mystical qualities to the native inhabitants, and the use of the island inhabitants and a lost-island paradise to save the white male hero do nothing but clutter a film that otherwise played fair -- at least more fairly than other liberal-for-its-time films of that era did. For much deeper insight and understanding of the politics of WSitSS, Geiger's critique is unsurpassed and highly recommended.
Blue, Torres, and two unidentified actresses in White Shadows.Blue's performance in WSitSS was startling, just short of epiphanic, at least for someone like me who had barely noticed him in his multitude of character roles in talkies. Having since seen more of his work through my Marie Prevost Project, I realize what a fine actor Blue was. He used his entire body to show emotion, not a rare trait in an actor, but Blue did so without being obvious or obtrusive. His eyes carried most of the heavy load of emoting, but often subtle, nearly imperceptible movements accentuated what we saw in his eyes. A slight straightening of the spine when aroused, a shifting of the shoulders as his eyes narrow, the almost-out-of-frame hand raising a few inches at the reception of bad news. And his rapport with his female co-stars was unparalleled; when his character was in love, you felt Monte Blue himself was in love. The passion, fear, anger, and overt desire he showed his many female counterparts was tangible, popping right off that screen in ways that must have momentarily taken 1920s audiences aback before drawing them in closer.
Monte Blue, Ernst Lubitch, and I believe Patsy Ruth Miller circa 1926.For no reason other than celebration of a fine actor I have grown to love, I present another SBBN Flickr set: Monte Blue, 41 photos.
Posted by Stacia at 4:14 AM 2 comments
Labels: actors, photo gallery
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2 comments:
I still have to see this one, but actually found out Van Dyke wrote to a member of my family throughout the production. Apparently, they were lovers and they have the letters in a "journal" of Van Dyke's in print. Small world.
Is it fair to point to this movie anytime you hear how original Avatar is?
Thanks for a great post about Monte Blue. He's also a familiar name to serial fans. In "Undersea Kingdom" he played the baddie against good guy Crash Corrigan, and in "Secret Agent X-9" he played another black hat, this time against Scott Kolk and "Flash Gordon" alumnus Jean Rogers. Even in those quickies his acting was very effective.
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