Evangelina

Watched the Milestone release of "Evangeline" (1929) with Delores Del Rio, Roland Drew, Alec B. Francis, Donald Reed, Paul McAllister, James A. Marcus, George F. Marion, and others. A beautiful film that captures the essence of the story of the Acadians' being driven from their land in Nova Scotia for not helping the British fight the French, the Acadians' native ancestry. I enjoyed the film very much. Much of the film is based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's eponymously named poem. One thing that struck me - and struck me hard, to be perfectly honest - was how much Del Rio was a method-style actress. There were a couple of scenes where Marlon Brando could have been substituted for Del Rio and the same things would have happened! I've always found her performances so very, very stylized, as though she's saying, "Look, Ma, I'm acting!" The camera loves her, but she's making love to the camera, too, and I don't wish to watch her make love to the camera! I've always also found her one of the most beautiful of all actresses of her era, but I've never liked her acting style. All of this was in evidence again last night for me. Gorgeous woman, magnificent film, but I still didn't like her acting style. Still - she was VERY watchable nevertheless. Last time I'd watched this was on an old VHS tape from the 80s. I bought this DVD version about five years ago on sale, but had never watched it. It's a treasure as far as direction and photography and mise-en-scene. It's fascinating to me, though, that this was photographed in California and Minnesota, and not in Nova Scotia...