POOR MAKE-UP

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 637, 13 April 1929, Page 25

POOR MAKE-UP

Many English Stars Prepare Carelessly “TOUCHED UP WITH SOOT” INEMA. -patrons comment j freely on the -unattractive I I appearance of many actors and. | actresses in English pictures, j They detect immediately what | 1 the directors ought to have j f seen and remedied 'while the film was in the making . i

IN some of the latest English productions, photographic good looks have heen supported by clever makeup and lighting. Carl Brisson, in “The Ring,” Jameson Thomas in “Piccadilly,” and Anny Ondra in “The Manxman,” were cases in point; but in others the artists appear to have been plastered w i t. h white distemper mr and touched tip under the eyes with her o£ pictures Bar- JtmW p trade-shown re- fllP from the same Pf Tfc „ ' | blemishes, says an ' English writer. ' There are many lessons our film makers could still learn from intelligent observation of American pictures such as “Our Dancing Daughters” or “The Awakening.” Take the latter. When Walter Byron arrived in Hollywood he spent days being tested for make-up. His uniforms, his haircut, the amount of light to be thrown up on the face or down on the brow were studied by the studio experts. They did not rest until they had achieved the maximum attractiveness. Make-up alone is not enough: lighting plays an even more important part. Stars like Norma Talmadge have the lighting of a particular close-up of their world-famous faces adjusted and readjusted for hours. The producers know that those famous faces are the fortune of everyone concerned. The potential popularity of our English actors, and consequently of the films they play in, is being injured by lack of care. Make-up does fiot mean, as some of our players think —because no one has told them otherwise —a thick plaster of grease-paint. Some of the most photographically attractive film stars in the world use no grease-paint at all, but will sit before a mirror patiently patting in a special powder with a thick puff for an hour at a time to achieve the requisite texture of skin to charm the camera. Every kind of lighting necessitates an adjustment of make-up. It is the business of actors and experts alike to see perfection is achieved.