You're screwed up and brilliant, look like a million dollar man, so why is my heart broke?
I have just realised my death certificate is going to have this man's name on it and I have come to accept this fact with a zenlike calm.
And because this is my blog, I shall talk about why this fucking bit makes me go weak at the knees.
Basically, it's Cukor's flawless direction and Connie's flawless acting (actually, Joan Crawford and Reginald Owen are flawless in this scene as well, but I'll just focus on this particular bastard for the moment). I love the amount of characterisation they've packed into every single second of this movie--I still keep finding out new stuff and that shouldn't even be fucking possible. Like, I only just realised there's a vice on a table and I had no idea why the fuck there should be one at the back room of a restaurant. But then I remembered it's a den of blackmailers and oh fuck, the symbolism. And on another level, it can also symbolise Torsten squeezing the owners.
But what I really love about it is the sheer *power* there. The entire movie is about complex social power dynamics and here we get introduced to Torsten and Anna, both. And Connie--I mean, bloody hell, he already had charisma and power and presence enough to power a nuclear submarine but it's never, ever more apparent than in his performance here, and I love how Cukor brought it out of him and restrained him (and Joan) from slipping into any silent movie overacting. We can tell Torsten is a motherfucking aristocrat and no mistake. The way he waltzes into the back room of a restaurant and just assumes nobody is going to fuck with him because of his name is just perfect. It's not boorish, it's not boyishly arrogant in a toffy way, but in the way of a man who has natural authority you just do not fucking question, period. That definitely comes naturally when it's Connie, but I also love the way he says these lines with a smile--it's the smile that really brings this into perfect, delicious villain territory. Not only is he the boss here, but it fucking *amuses* him that these peasants think he needs petty things like cash. Which makes him all the more outrageous in his arrogance but in a frighteningly charming way, the way the best villains are. And then they just crown it with that despising flick of his cigarette, so perfectly controlled and timed. His body language (and the camera angle) is all about authority and perfect control, and there is nothing casual about the most casual of gestures--it's all perfectly calculated, all perfectly measured. He pretty much is power incarnate--incarnate being the operative word because his body is so present throughout the entire movie and it is specifically a sexual power he later wields over Anna. And that's basically what makes me scream because he just hits all my perfect top buttons, personally--that whole *control* thing. It's what I find insanely attractive about Connie's performances in general, and again, he's never more controlled than he is here, thanks to Cukor. It's so focused that even his usual mannerisms, speaking styles, his sexual aura are... well, I was comparing this and Dark Journey with wallogirl the other day and I said that in some of his other films, the porn and the control and the ruthlessness are all over the place but here it's concentrated--it's like comparing a sun radiating in all directions to a laser that focuses everything into a single beam that can cut through everything. Christ, no wonder so many actors won Oscars under Cukor.
And dear gods, this is nothing compared to the way he undresses Anna a couple of seconds later with his eyes and asdlkjkjckckck. It's the power and the control and the presence and I have no idea how he did that. I don't know if I should tell people with any power fetishes/subby tendencies to even watch this movie because it may be so damaging to one's sanity because SERIOUSLY, HOW? I'm not sure if I can even read other men as men any more and I don't even know if that makes sense because I slip into feminine pronouns with Connie anyway and maybe it was the inhabiting both sexes thing that made him fucking superhuman with the porn but but but he just had so much fucking *power*, okay?
OH GOD, TALK TO ME ABOUT TORSTEN BARRING. I NEED THIS BEFORE I END UP ACCIDENTALLY WANKING MYSELF TO DEATH OVER THIS GUY.
And because this is my blog, I shall talk about why this fucking bit makes me go weak at the knees.
Basically, it's Cukor's flawless direction and Connie's flawless acting (actually, Joan Crawford and Reginald Owen are flawless in this scene as well, but I'll just focus on this particular bastard for the moment). I love the amount of characterisation they've packed into every single second of this movie--I still keep finding out new stuff and that shouldn't even be fucking possible. Like, I only just realised there's a vice on a table and I had no idea why the fuck there should be one at the back room of a restaurant. But then I remembered it's a den of blackmailers and oh fuck, the symbolism. And on another level, it can also symbolise Torsten squeezing the owners.
But what I really love about it is the sheer *power* there. The entire movie is about complex social power dynamics and here we get introduced to Torsten and Anna, both. And Connie--I mean, bloody hell, he already had charisma and power and presence enough to power a nuclear submarine but it's never, ever more apparent than in his performance here, and I love how Cukor brought it out of him and restrained him (and Joan) from slipping into any silent movie overacting. We can tell Torsten is a motherfucking aristocrat and no mistake. The way he waltzes into the back room of a restaurant and just assumes nobody is going to fuck with him because of his name is just perfect. It's not boorish, it's not boyishly arrogant in a toffy way, but in the way of a man who has natural authority you just do not fucking question, period. That definitely comes naturally when it's Connie, but I also love the way he says these lines with a smile--it's the smile that really brings this into perfect, delicious villain territory. Not only is he the boss here, but it fucking *amuses* him that these peasants think he needs petty things like cash. Which makes him all the more outrageous in his arrogance but in a frighteningly charming way, the way the best villains are. And then they just crown it with that despising flick of his cigarette, so perfectly controlled and timed. His body language (and the camera angle) is all about authority and perfect control, and there is nothing casual about the most casual of gestures--it's all perfectly calculated, all perfectly measured. He pretty much is power incarnate--incarnate being the operative word because his body is so present throughout the entire movie and it is specifically a sexual power he later wields over Anna. And that's basically what makes me scream because he just hits all my perfect top buttons, personally--that whole *control* thing. It's what I find insanely attractive about Connie's performances in general, and again, he's never more controlled than he is here, thanks to Cukor. It's so focused that even his usual mannerisms, speaking styles, his sexual aura are... well, I was comparing this and Dark Journey with wallogirl the other day and I said that in some of his other films, the porn and the control and the ruthlessness are all over the place but here it's concentrated--it's like comparing a sun radiating in all directions to a laser that focuses everything into a single beam that can cut through everything. Christ, no wonder so many actors won Oscars under Cukor.
And dear gods, this is nothing compared to the way he undresses Anna a couple of seconds later with his eyes and asdlkjkjckckck. It's the power and the control and the presence and I have no idea how he did that. I don't know if I should tell people with any power fetishes/subby tendencies to even watch this movie because it may be so damaging to one's sanity because SERIOUSLY, HOW? I'm not sure if I can even read other men as men any more and I don't even know if that makes sense because I slip into feminine pronouns with Connie anyway and maybe it was the inhabiting both sexes thing that made him fucking superhuman with the porn but but but he just had so much fucking *power*, okay?
OH GOD, TALK TO ME ABOUT TORSTEN BARRING. I NEED THIS BEFORE I END UP ACCIDENTALLY WANKING MYSELF TO DEATH OVER THIS GUY.