Joan Bennett had a nice screen presence which changed over the years, partly from dying her hair but partly, too, from her stance and posture. Her voice improved dramatically around this time, as if she had taken some lessons.
Her ability to shift characters is powerfully displayed by her first two roles of 1935 - Sally MacGregor pushed to her limit in "Private Lives," and in the way she expands and expounds upon this rather desultory cookie cutter role of Lucy, in "Mississippi."
The two characters are strikingly different and the skill with which Bennett transforms from one to the other is a hallmark of greatness that only few actresses, then or now, are capable of displaying.
Her ability to shift characters is powerfully displayed by her first two roles of 1935 - Sally MacGregor pushed to her limit in "Private Lives," and in the way she expands and expounds upon this rather desultory cookie cutter role of Lucy, in "Mississippi."
The two characters are strikingly different and the skill with which Bennett transforms from one to the other is a hallmark of greatness that only few actresses, then or now, are capable of displaying.