Why do people dislike Merle Oberon?
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TommyPman — 15 years ago(February 22, 2011 11:34 AM)
I've only see Merle in two movies, "Wuthering Heights" and "These Three" but I found her performance excellent in both. I thought her performance as Katherine was brilliant and in my opinion, the only reason people may have for wanting it to have been Vivien Leigh in the role is because they want to see the two on screen togther. That is a silly reason to not like a person in a role, Merle was excellent. I don't think Vivien could have done any better.
Guns don't kill people, metaphors kill people! -
HollyHop — 14 years ago(December 15, 2011 10:31 PM)
I'm so late for this board but I watched the film first today.
I had never heard about Merle before, I can't remember ever seeing her in any other films and I had no knowledge of Olivier's and Leight's affair.
While watching Wuthering Heights I couldn't help thinking how common she looked. She's not my cup of tea with her rounded face and short lips, I thought Geraldine Fitzgerald were better looking, and even though I'm a woman I felt more envious of Olivier's good looks, he were really lucky in that department.
I just thought that Heatcliff were so enthralled with Cathy because they had been close since childhood. She wasn't just a woman he had met but a long time friend.
I liked Merle's acting though.
Don't tell me, it's no use to me. Tell yourself if you want to but don't tell me. -
ClassicMovieholic — 11 years ago(June 15, 2014 04:34 PM)
I have always loved Merle Oberon, and you may read my particular reflection on the over-discussed Leigh/Merle casting debate in the "What's Wrong with Merle?" thread on this board.
For now, since we're talking about Merle and her career in general, suffice it to say I consider her one of the more interesting actresses of her generationcertainly one of the most beautiful. Even had she been neither a talent nor a beauty, she'd deserve an honorable mention as one of the first women of disputable ancestry to "pass" as white. Her supposed British/Eurasian/Ceylonese/Maori descent would make her an anomaly in movies even today, and that she was so successful at a time when in many parts of America Whites and people of color couldn't use the same drinking fountains (can't speak for the British Empirequalified people please feel free to chime in) is almost heroic. There are those who would criticize her hiding her origin as though it were her shame: those folks need a deeper sense of perspective of just how hostile the climate was for mixed-race people at that time, and how courageous it was of her to become a public figure at all!
Her beauty needs no defense. Anybody who is unconvinced should watch
The Scarlett Pimpernel
, 1934. A great thinking-man's swashbuckler and drawing room espionage thriller from a novel that would pave the way for the modern-day superherothis slick production also features some of the best of Leslie Howard in a dual role, as well as the two character legends Raymond Massy and Nigel Bruce. But the real show stealer is Merle, ravishing in an array of slick, 1930s meets Georgian costumes that give you an idea of how she might have been styled in
Wuthering Heights
had the filmmakers chosen to go with the original eighteenth-ceutury setting. When I imagine Helen of Troy of ancient legend, Merle Oberon in this film is the first face that comes to mind. It is clear, even when she is presented as pure European, that there is something indistinguishable in her looks that sets her apart from other British actresses of her timeand indeed had never appeared on Western screens before (at least not as a lead in a mainstream film).
As for her acting, Wuthering Heights is by far her most famous role, but many critics don't rate it one of her best. I, However, thought she was powerful and very beautiful in it. A few of my other favorites are
The Private Lifs of Henry VIII
(small but memorable role as Anne Boleyn that sets the tone for the piece),
The Scarlet Pimernel
,
The Divorce of Lady X
(she's sensational in this glamorous and witty comedy of manners with a vaguely feminist bent), and
A Song to Remember
(melodramatic and ahistorical, but powerhouse performance as a viperous George Sand),
Desiree
(later-career Oberon moves gracefully into supporting roles as discarded Empress Josephine, sensitive and tragic),
Hotel
(dull movie, but Merle proves she's still got it as a matured, but still glamorous grand-dame who precludes the jet-set Dowagers of the
Daynasty
generation. Many critics would probably also argue one or two of these are not among her best, but even among the lackluster films in the bunch, she proves herself interesting, and a consummate professional. -
ClassicMovieholic — 11 years ago(June 15, 2014 04:48 PM)
It would be interesting to see how her career might have been different if
I Claudius
had come off. It promised to be one of the biggest films of the 1930s, and Merle would have had one of the juiciest female roles of that decade.
Probably, though, it wouldn't have affected her career much. She still made top-notch features, and starred in some of the choicest female roles for twenty years. Possibly it would give modern critics and viewers a little extra meat to chew on, though?