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Post by MiketheMechanic on Jan 18, 2018 16:08:34 GMT
 He did his best work in 1932's Crooner but overall seemed rather bland. |
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Post by mattgarth on Jan 18, 2018 16:20:43 GMT
Extremely!
It was easy to understand why Zita Johann preferred creepy old Boris Karloff over him in THE MUMMY!
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Post by MiketheMechanic on Jan 18, 2018 17:38:15 GMT
Extremely!
It was easy to understand why Zita Johann preferred creepy old Boris Karloff over him in THE MUMMY!  |
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Post by Doghouse6 on Jan 18, 2018 17:53:08 GMT
I doubt I've seen more than a dozen of his films, but "bland" is probably an adjective that could be applied in most of those cases, although no more so than to some contemporaries like, say, George Brent. Manners managed, nevertheless, to find his way onto the screen alongside some powerhouse performers: Katherine Hepburn, Barbara Stanwyck, Claudette Colbert, Loretta Young, George Arliss and Claude Rains among them.
Crooner is one of the ones I've missed, but Manners exhibited some sparks of life under Frank Capra's direction in 1931's The Miracle Woman, sort of an Elmer Gantry prototype in which he played a blind war vet. But heavy drama didn't seem to be his forte; of those I have caught, I'd judge his best work to be in the light entertainment of 1933's The Death Kiss, a serio-comic whodunit in which he displays both energy and a casual, breezy charm not apparent in most of the others.
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Post by Nalkarj on Jan 18, 2018 17:54:07 GMT
David Manners? Not an actor I often think about, but let’s see… He might have been bland—OK, he was—but I don’t think he was awful. His performances are serviceable, not particularly extraordinary, but horror fans (and, looking over his filmography, I’ve only seen his horror flicks) tend to hate him, and I don’t think that’s warranted either. His performance in Dracula is fine. Great, no, but then the part-as-written is as dull as dishwater (with Harker’s most interesting scenes in the book being give to Renfield). His line-readings are—well, I don’t find them as stiff as many critics claim. They’re—again—just fine. Nothing more, nothing less. I’d say the same points stand for The Mummy and The Black Cat, in both of which the villains and the heroines were more interesting than Manners. He’s a bland romantic-interest (not exactly “hero”), yes, but worse than any of the competition? Barry Norton, John Boles, Leon Ames, even Bellamy and Knowles in something as late as The Wolf Man? Ehh… Universal didn’t get a really compelling male-lead till—I dunno, Dracula’s Daughter and Otto Kruger? Or maybe Colin Clive? Naturally, I can’t fully cover the question, as my knowledge is (as noted) limited to the horrors—apologies about that. * I just can’t get too worked up one way or the other about Manners, I suppose…though I can blame him for peddling the legend that Browning didn’t bother to direct Dracula…  *And I see that Doghouse6 has added the other piece of the puzzle here, with Manners’s non-horrors. Thanks, m’friend—and I should get around to The Miracle Woman one of these days; I’ve seen little of early Capra. |
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Post by teleadm on Jan 18, 2018 19:15:53 GMT
I think I've only seen him in The Mummy and Dracula, and with such strong other characters in those movies he has more or less disappeared from my memory. Just like John Boles in Frankenstein. The Mystery of Edwin Drood 1935, though sounds interesting since he played Edwin Drood, and is based on Charles Dickens.  |
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Post by manfromplanetx on Jan 18, 2018 20:26:10 GMT
Not in Man Wanted (1932) with Kay Francis , Manners is hired as personal secretary, this is a marvellous stylish romantic comedy, a gender-reversed Cinderella story. Manners is perfectly suited alongside the fashionable executive woman, with his appealingly handsome features, his soft nature and vulnerable look, he holds his own in a delightfully animated, entertaining performance...  |
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Post by snsurone on Jan 18, 2018 21:01:16 GMT
Yes, along with Hardie Albright, Philips Holmes, and Gene Raymond.
And I think any one of them would have been better as Ashley Wilkes in GWTW than Leslie Howard.
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Post by koskiewicz on Jan 18, 2018 23:14:40 GMT
...bland is a compliment for this guy...
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Post by mattgarth on Jan 18, 2018 23:48:25 GMT
Yes, along with Hardie Albright, Philips Holmes, and Gene Raymond. And I think any one of them would have been better as Ashley Wilkes in GWTW than Leslie Howard. My selection for romantic, stalwart and sensitive Southern gentleman 'Ashley Wilkes' in 1939 for GWTW -- Randolph Scott. |
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Post by politicidal on Jan 19, 2018 0:39:33 GMT
Extremely!
It was easy to understand why Zita Johann preferred creepy old Boris Karloff over him in THE MUMMY! Oh that guy? I couldn't even remember who he was until I saw your post. Hell yes he sucked. Even back when I was 7 when I first saw the '32 Mummy and couldn't get behind this dude as the hero. |
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Jan 19, 2018 0:59:36 GMT
When I want to think of an actor without charisma, "David Manners" comes to mind.
There were other actors of his type like Gavin Gordon but they had much more zip. Gordon made a fabulous Byron.
"I should like to think that an irate Jehovah was pointing those arrows of lightning directly at my head. The unbowed head of George Gordon, Lord Byron. England's greatest sinner."
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Post by Doghouse6 on Jan 19, 2018 1:03:27 GMT
I’d say the same points stand for The Mummy and The Black Cat, in both of which the villains and the heroines were more interesting than Manners. He’s a bland romantic-interest (not exactly “hero”), yes, but worse than any of the competition? Barry Norton, John Boles, Leon Ames, even Bellamy and Knowles in something as late as The Wolf Man? Along with Lester Matthews and Frank Lawton. And most of them did much better work elsewhere; most notably Bellamy, who, as did Knowles, pretty much phoned it in in TWM, The Ghost Of Frankenstein and Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. Ames was quite effective as the exasperated Victorian father in Meet Me In St. Louis, the mysterious stranger in Yolanda and the Thief and the crafty prosecutor in The Postman Always Rings Twice. Even Lawton and Matthews had their moments to shine; the former as the grown David Copperfield and the latter not only as an elegant heavy in B-pictures like Warren Williams's Lone Wolf entries, but as a comically befuddled foil to Gracie Allen in several appearances on her show with Burns. It seemed to be almost a requirement of the Universal horrors that the male romantic interest be underwritten: an ineffectual stick figure of little depth, personality or utility. The one exception of whom I can think was Don Porter in Night Monster (Porter...who'da thunk?). I think I actually prefer it to some of Stanwyck's pre-codes like Baby Face or Night Nurse; she has opportunities to pull out all the stops, and Capra takes the scale of the enterprise from intimate to epic. |
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Post by Doghouse6 on Jan 19, 2018 1:11:54 GMT
There were other actors of his type like Gavin Gordon but they had much more zip. Gordon made a fabulous Byron. "I should like to think that an irate Jehovah was pointing those arrows of lightning directly at my head. The unbowed head of George Gordon, Lord Byron. England's greatest sinner." Few actors have rolled as many Rs in a single, brief scene as Gordon did in that one. He displayed some of the "zip" of which you speak as the rich, ne'er-do-well playboy suspected of murder in Mystery Of the Wax Museum. |
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Post by MiketheMechanic on Jan 19, 2018 1:11:55 GMT
I doubt I've seen more than a dozen of his films, but "bland" is probably an adjective that could be applied in most of those cases, although no more so than to some contemporaries like, say, George Brent. Manners managed, nevertheless, to find his way onto the screen alongside some powerhouse performers: Katherine Hepburn, Barbara Stanwyck, Claudette Colbert, Loretta Young, George Arliss and Claude Rains among them. Crooner is one of the ones I've missed, but Manners exhibited some sparks of life under Frank Capra's direction in 1931's The Miracle Woman, sort of an Elmer Gantry prototype in which he played a blind war vet. But heavy drama didn't seem to be his forte; of those I have caught, I'd judge his best work to be in the light entertainment of 1933's The Death Kiss, a serio-comic whodunit in which he displays both energy and a casual, breezy charm not apparent in most of the others. A bit annoying in The Death Kiss but he seemed to have a good time with his role. btw, was reading the reviews for the film and one of them mentioned his legendary disdain for Hollywood. Never heard about that! Also read in his bio that his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was removed for reasons unknown. Wonder what happened there? The guy definitely didn't seem so bland in real life! |
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Jan 19, 2018 1:16:06 GMT
Few actors have rolled as many Rs in a single, brief scene as Gordon did in that one. He displayed some of the "zip" of which you speak as the rich, ne'er-do-well playboy suspected of murder in Mystery Of the Wax Museum.That has my favorite Fay Wray spoken line. "You fiiiend." Come to think of it--I have seen scandalously few Fay Wray, Bruce Cabot, or Robert Armstrong films despite King Kong being my favorite movie. Other than Son of Kong, the Most Dangerous Game and Mighty Joe Young, I haven't seen the three in anything separately except Bruce Cabot in Diamonds Are Forever and maybe an odd western I don't remember him from. |
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Post by Doghouse6 on Jan 19, 2018 1:25:47 GMT
I'd judge his best work to be in the light entertainment of 1933's The Death Kiss, a serio-comic whodunit in which he displays both energy and a casual, breezy charm not apparent in most of the others. A bit annoying in The Death Kiss but he seemed to have a good time with his role. I guess I was too busy being annoyed by Vince Barnett to notice! I'm guessing that, given his very early departure from the film world, it was merely a case of being crowded out. In the 60 years since they were first installed, many names have been quietly "retired" to accommodate those coming along later. |
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Post by MiketheMechanic on Jan 19, 2018 1:40:36 GMT
I guess I was too busy being annoyed by Vince Barnett to notice! Vince Barnett seems to play the same role in each of his films. Never got his appeal. That makes sense, never thought about it, thanks! |
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Post by Doghouse6 on Jan 19, 2018 1:45:06 GMT
Few actors have rolled as many Rs in a single, brief scene as Gordon did in that one. He displayed some of the "zip" of which you speak as the rich, ne'er-do-well playboy suspected of murder in Mystery Of the Wax Museum.That has my favorite Fay Wray spoken line. "You fiiiend." Come to think of it--I have seen scandalously few Fay Wray, Bruce Cabot, or Robert Armstrong films despite King Kong being my favorite movie. Other than Son of Kong, the Most Dangerous Game and Mighty Joe Young, I haven't seen the three in anything separately except Bruce Cabot in Diamonds Are Forever and maybe an odd western I don't remember him from. Speaking of favorite lines, Cabot has one of mine in King Kong: "Hey... I guess I love you."Like Armstrong, he got better as he got older, and did some of his best work in supporting roles with gray in the hair, lines on the face and mileage on the frame. |
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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Jan 19, 2018 2:45:03 GMT
Every time I see the title of this thread, I misread it as:
Was David Manners a blind leading man?
Damn it, my brain needs more caffeine....
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