Vivien Leigh and her movie endings

[SarLei]

This afternoon, and I have absolutely no idea how I began to think about it, I went through all the movies I saw with Vivien so far and realized that in every movie I saw her in, she ends up unhappy. "Gone with the Wind", "Ship of Fools", "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone", "A Streetcar named Desire", "Anna Karenina" and "Waterloo Bridge" are the movies I saw with her and she always moved me a lot. But she really never got a happy end for her roles. That's rather sad and as I don't know very much about her private life, just that she was a very gentle person with depressions, I don't know if I really understand why she always chose those tough roles. Sure, she was made for them because she could handle them so fine but doesn't every person sometimes wishes for something light and nice?

[Lydia]

I think her best films have sad endings, but not all of her films did. I've seen Fire Over England, Sidewalks of London, Storm in a Teacup, 21 Days, etc. which all had happy endings.

[SarLei]

I haven't seen those but I'm glad you mention it - so her characters had happy endings too, that's good to know.

[carlos]

HOW I MISS THIS TOPIC ???? - Tomorrow I,m gonna write , here, about it.. as now it,s 5.15 am !!- hehe- I,m absolutely crazy with Aggie,s gift !!- hehe

[aggie-obsessed]

HOW I MISS THIS TOPIC ???? - Tomorrow I,m gonna write , here, about it.. as now it,s 5.15 am !!- hehe- I,m absolutely crazy with Aggie,s gift !!- hehe

I can't wait, Uncle!

[carlos]

OK- Here is my answer:
After GWTW, Vivien Leigh was "catalogued" as one of the best "tragic" actresses- So, almost all the films she made after Scarlett were dramas- NOT so in the Theatre, where she made comedies (SKIN OF OUR TEETH, SLEEPING PRINCE..etc), even a musical!! (TOVARICH), but it seems that her passion, her love for acting..and her face ( her eyes were incredible with the camera!!), were perfect for tragic roles- The ONLY film that she made After GWTW with a happy ending was "Caesar And Cleopatra", 1945, with Claude Rains, a Bernard Shaw,s "comedy" about Caesar and Cleopatra- Shaw ,himself , choose Vivien to make the role. But, among her film-dramas is "The Deep Blue Sea", by Terence Rattigan, in 1955- As I told u, Vivien was excelent in this roles- And it has NOTHING to do with her choosing "to suffer" !!: it has to be with "what a kind of actress she was"- Same as Susan Hayward, or Stanwyck, or Davis...// She had a great sense of humor and passion for life: that point is very important, as people, seeing her films, and knowing about her illness ( TB and Manic-depression) tendes to look, her, as a tragic figure- Not at all !!- She suffered a lot, but even if she was depressed..she WANTED to be happy, to have a wonderful life and to be loved, as she was capable of loving- ANY QUESTION I will be very happy to answer, u- Uncle

[SarLei]

Thank you for those informations! I'm glad she didn't connect roles and her life, that would have been sad. But I thought about it because even the "drama queens" had lighter roles now and then. So Vivien had them in the theatre, that's great! And I'm honest, I thought about her as a tragic figure too. I'm glad that it wasn't as I thought it was.

[carlos]

Thank you for those informations! I'm glad she didn't connect roles and her life, that would have been sad. But I thought about it because even the "drama queens" had lighter roles now and then. So Vivien had them in the theatre, that's great! And I'm honest, I thought about her as a tragic figure too. I'm glad that it wasn't as I thought it was.

In SOME way u were right: Vivien always "was" the character she was playing- she had some "problems" doing Blanche.. for example, cause she was an "emotional" actress, the oposite of a "tecnic-actress"- Even IF she studied drama in England: for that same reason she was so wonderful in the "actor-Studio" group doing "A streetcar..."-
And another thing: yes, other "tragic actresses" did some comedies on film, but u have to know that those actresses did about a hundred films and Vivien only 9 after GWTW- That,s the major difference- She considered, mostly, a theatre actress, and with THAT we loose a wonderful FILM-actress- But..she choose that... -uncle.

[SarLei]

In SOME way u were right: Vivien always "was" the character she was playing- she had some "problems" doing Blanche.. for example, cause she was an "emotional" actress, the oposite of a "tecnic-actress"- Even IF she studied drama in England: for that same reason she was so wonderful in the "actor-Studio" group doing "A streetcar..."-And another thing: yes, other "tragic actresses" did some comedies on film, but u have to know that those actresses did about a hundred films and Vivien only 9 after GWTW- That,s the major difference- She considered, mostly, a theatre actress, and with THAT we loose a wonderful FILM-actress- But..she choose that... -uncle.

I imagine that anybody, not only Vivien, can have problems doing Blanche because "A Streetcar named Desire" is really tough stuff to deal with.
Yes sure! Oh Sarah, do a little bit more thinking, yes? It's sad that we cannot see her theater performances, I'm sure she did an awesome job in the theater - I consider it more difficult than film because there cannot be close-ups and everything and because you have to get the emotion to a large audience instead of the camera.

[carlos]

I imagine that anybody, not only Vivien, can have problems doing Blanche because "A Streetcar named Desire" is really tough stuff to deal with.
Yes sure! Oh Sarah, do a little bit more thinking, yes? It's sad that we cannot see her theater performances, I'm sure she did an awesome job in the theater - I consider it more difficult than film because there cannot be close-ups and everything and because you have to get the emotion to a large audience instead of the camera.

Yes, anybody can have problems doing Blanche: but Vivien had to search in her worst inner feelings to do it- She was maniac-depressive.. and as she always said: "That film turns me to madness ": as she always thought, about herself, that she was mad !!- In fact "A Streetcar.." was filmed in 1951 and in 1953 Vivien had her worst Manic-depressive attack: she had to leave "Elephant Walk" as she couldn,t cope with it- The first and ONLY time Vivien left a production-
As Olivier said about Vivien: " You have to be VERY talented to be beautiful in films and theatre"-
I think the same-

By the way: YOU can see Vivien in a TV production, from 1959, of "The skin of our teeth": this play was the most honored by critics when she made it on theatre, so she did it for TV: a WONDERFUL production !!- Vivien was 46 at that time: she seems to be 25 !!- ( in her 50,s and 60,s films they have to put makeup..special makeup..to let her look more mature: they used something with latex: wrinkles etc, like in "That Hamilton Woman" (begining and the end)- She had a beautiful natural-skin. You can look in YT for that TV play- uncle