A brief essay about some of the most acclaimed faces seen on the screen during the 1930s and 40s.

For those readers who appreciate beauty in the flesh and to get away a bit from some of the more sinister and tragic topics in current events, I'd like to talk about some outstanding faces of screen history. Garbo's face sort of demands that we begin with it. It is easy to see why when you study different shots. All is perfection--the jawline, the nose, brows and forehead. Maybe the imperfections(She WAS human.) begin, however few, below the neck. It's a beautiful neck, too. Of course, talking of this epoch, Dietrich was also beautiful, but when you are looking simultaneously from Garbo to Dietrich, back to Garbo, and so on, Dietrich has a certain degree of inferiority in her beauty, there is less class to it, and, more importantly I'd say, there is absolutely no evocation of the word 'angelic' as there is in Garbo's case. Mind you, we are merely looking at stills. There is no movement nor are we taking into account any part of the actress's off-screen life. For all I know about their real lives, Garbo could have been the devil and Dietrich somewhat saintlier, though stills of their faces don't suggest this idea. Another extraordinary face of the same era but unfamiliar to many "anglo" movie-goers is that of Mexico's María Felix. I would place her face next to Garbo's for that generation. To me it's superior to that of Dietrich's. Of course, we know or have heard that Dietrich had that insuperable voice. Was it baritone or bass? Other noteworthy faces to appear shortly after the abovementioned(or in the same decade) were those of Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Robert Taylor, Laurence Olivier, Cary Grant, Rita Hayworth, Gary Cooper, Robert Donat and Buster Crabbe's. I don't mention pretty Carole Lombard, Jean Harlow, Merle Oberon, Olivia de Havilland or some of the other actresses because acting isn't being discussed, only sheer facial beauty/power. And high-powered ones only. I think Katharine Hepburn goes between pretty and beautiful. She certainly was a few notches higher than Harlow. Additionally, I don't think many people would take Harlow out of the pretty class altogether(see photos from "China Seas"). Crabbe's face was so babyish in "Flash Gordon". Who will say it wasn't way above average? I found it hard NOT to list it here, although his and Gary Cooper's are certainly in different categories(Cooper's being higher). Going back to the actresses, I would place Vivien Leigh's face third in line, after María Felix's. This leaves Dietrich fourth at the moment and possibly tied with Hayworth. Now to the forties. Here the tables turn, but I think it's safe to say that Leigh's beauty continues to dominate the decade. She's sharing the limelight now with Ingrid Bergman and Hedy Lamarr. Lamarr's face in "Samson and Delilah" just can't be beat. Personally, I now have to move Dietrich from position number 4 to number 6, after Bergman and Lamarr. She just can't top Lamarr's lips and eyes or Bergman's chin and forehead. Poor Dietrich. She may keep sliding if we keep going. As far as which one is now number 4 and which number 5, who cares? Aren't the two beauties each spectacular? Other notable actresses with above-average beauty for this decade, and in the pretty or pretty-plus category, are Jane Russell, Lana Turner, Claire Trevor(something special about her), Joan Crawford and Barbara Stanwyck. Stanwyck could possibly be replaced by Loretta Young, but their category remains the same(not first string). Even youthful, there is a hard edge to Crawford's face. Actually, age improved her face, contrary to the norm. As for the actors, we continue along with the same ones, basically. There are many new faces now, but their fame(such as Bogart's) lies in their acting, not looks alone. This includes Jimmy Stewart, whom a huge audience adored and who was very handsome(boyish face) in his own way. Who's going to head the list for male actors much as Garbo heads the women's list? Let's look back at some names. Hard as it is to top Cooper's face, a special beauty, two actors come close. One has been mentioned--Robert Taylor. The other is Tyrone Power, whose father was Tyrone Power and son is Tyrone Power, Jr. All three have had something to do with acting. Power wasn't mentioned in the 30s here because they were almost gone by the time he really gained fame("In Old Chicago", 1938), so he's basically a forties' and fifties' actor. So Power and Taylor sort of run neck-to-neck where male beauty is the issue and it's a similar situation to that of Bergman and Lamarr--such spectacular looks that only some kind of thin line separates the 2 guys. I'm going to choose, however, and I choose Power as the greatest male beauty ever to appear on screen up to 1949, followed by Cooper and Taylor, then Garbo as the greatest female beauty. Remember we're talking strictly faces and nothing else. Since I don't like long essays, speeches or meetings, this essay has to end here. Later decades will have to be dealt with in the next one. I hope you liked this one and thanks for reading this far. Ciao.