Louise Brooks in Overland Stage Raiders (1938)
The only thing tragic about Louise Brooks’s appearance in Overland Stage Raiders (1938) is that it was her final film. No longer the icon of the silent screen, here she is unrecognisable. Her exoticism has turned to homeliness and her famous Pandora’s Box (1929) bob has been replaced with a shoulder length cut as Lulu meets rising star, John Wayne:
Available on a cheap 20-disc John Wayne DVD set.
Veronica Lake in Flesh Feast (1970)
The beautiful Veronica Lake starred in now-classic noirs such as This Gun For Hire (1942), The Glass Key (1942) and The Blue Dahlia (1946), and also sparkled in Sullivan’s Travels (1941), one of the finest films of the 1940s. Yet she went on to have a tragic life. Dropped from Paramount at the end of the 1940s, she failed to continue her career independent of a studio contract. Washed up, she wound up working in bars and turned to drink and eventually died at the age of 53. Her final acting appearance was in the cheap Flesh Feast (1970), a world away from her films of the forties.
Available on a schlocky DVD release.
Joan Crawford in Trog (1970)
By the 1940s Joan Crawford was giving some of the most stylised and unique performances of classic cinema. It felt like films such as Mildred Pierce (1945), Humoresque (1946) and Possessed (1947) were constructed around her image of a fragile yet powerful woman. Kicked out of the studio system and into the world of low budget horror, Crawford still attempts to hold some control through the mannered nature of her performance. But then again she was starring in films such as Straight-Jacket (1964) and Berserk (1967). Once an icon of refinement, here we see the surreal sight of the great Joan Crawford on the quest to discover a frozen monkey…. thing, in her final theatrically-released film, Trog (1970).
Amazingly this one was respectably released by Warner Bros. in the DVD boxset Cult Camp Classics vol. 2: Women in Peril.
Mae West in Sextette (1978)
Mae West, one of the true comediennes of the studio era, famously returned to the screen in the 1970s after a 30-year hiatus for the films Myra Breckinridge (1970) and Sextette (1978). As the name would suggest West continued to play a sex-kitten even though she was in her eighties.
Available on a now-expensive out-of-print DVD.
Bette Davis in Wicked Stepmother (1989)
Of course Bette Davis continued to work non-stop from the 1930s to the 1980s, eventually featuring in over 100 movies. Her final film was Wicked Stepmother (1980), an eighties ‘comedy’ that has come to be widely reviled, partly for its sense of exploiting a once-great star. Rumour has it that she even walked off the picture mid-production. Most shocking, however, is how frail Davis looks at the very end of her life. Yet even though she looks impossibly skeletal, she still seems tough as ever.
This one is currently unavailable and DVD, but can be found on an old VHS release.
If you know of any other final films as tragic, surreal or as shocking as these, please let me know.
The Classic Film Show 
17 comments
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January 20, 2010 at 2:01 am
Raquelle
How happy am I that you are back to blogging?! Very! I’ve missed your posts. This one left me flabbergasted. What a great idea. I wish I had thought of it.
January 20, 2010 at 2:32 am
Christian Hayes
I’m very glad you liked this one and it’s great to be back! Can you think of any other examples? There must be more out there. I think it would make a very interesting retrospective.
January 20, 2010 at 2:14 am
The Siren
What a great idea for a post. With regard to Brooks, all I can say is, I should be that homely no matter what my hair looks like. But it is spooky to see how false and mannered she is, compared to the Pabst films.
Her Cardboard Lover, Shearer’s last film, and Two-Faced Woman, Garbo’s finale, are both very sad. They’re still beautiful and still have what made them stars, but they are playing these wan, silly comedy scenes in an attempt to come down off the pedestal and be more human for the audience. But the audience didn’t want them to be human, let alone slapstick.
January 20, 2010 at 2:29 am
Christian Hayes
Those are two great suggestions – I’d like to get copies of those and take a closer look. It’s always interesting when stars just stop performing, Garbo being the most famous example. She seemed to make the right move by not compromising her earlier star image.
Stars are so dependent on the image that’s constructed by the films themselves, and which is so fragile. I think some of these selections, particularly Veronica Lake, comment on how women were treated by the studios. Even though they once made them a lot of money, the moment they were considered past their prime they were kicked out. It reminds me of that very cold scene in Mommie Dearest where Joan Crawford is fired by Louis B. Mayer and is asked to leave by the back entrance.
I saw Overland Stage Raiders on the big screen and it was actually pretty interesting as a B-picture, though Brooks did kind of fade into the background in her role.
January 20, 2010 at 6:56 pm
Irene
What about “Just a Gigolo”, Marlene Dietrich last performance? She was around her 80, and it was a sad one.
January 20, 2010 at 8:10 pm
Christian Hayes
Great suggestion. I was recently in Berlin at their incredible film museum which holds a lot of material on Dietrich, including a room of her costumes.
I haven’t seen Just a Gigolo yet (interesting to see Kim Novak’s in there too) but even the song the title’s based on has some resonance: ‘There will come a day when youth will pass away / What will they say about me? / When the end comes I know / They’ll say ‘Just a gigolo’ / Life goes on without me.’
January 20, 2010 at 10:58 pm
Irene
Wow, it must have been fascinating to see all this Dietrich stuff, her amazing costumes. She was amazing woman, and had her unique style.
I know that while the movie “Just a gigolo” was filmed in Germany, the episodes including Marlene were shot in Paris as she couldn’t walk after she broke her hip.
January 20, 2010 at 11:32 pm
Christian Hayes
Yes their Dietrich collection was pretty amazing. Beside the costumes themselves were the films that she wore them in, including a costume from Seven Sinners and her cameo in Paris When It Sizzles.
They also have all her luggage, the saw she played as an instrument, and also personal documents. This included signed photographs from people as varied as Jimmy Stewart, Joseph von Sternberg and Ernest Hemmingway. She is the prodigal daughter of Berlin and the city appears to be very proud of her.
January 21, 2010 at 12:23 am
Irene
The navy uniform from Seven Sinners is my absolute favorite and I don’t pass a day without the funny “The man’s in the navy” song.
By the way, have you seen “The Airport”, last Gloria Swanson performance ? ( I haven’t) and I wondered how was it. Another great actress whom I really love.
January 21, 2010 at 12:34 am
Christian Hayes
How about the gorilla costume in Blonde Venus? That was very surreal!
I’ve only seen part of that Airport film but would like to actually see the whole thing since there are so many old stars in there.
Gloria Swanson was truly one of the greats – I saw some of her silents on the big screen a couple of years ago and have some really poor quality copies of them at home. Of course in Sunset Boulevard is one of the great performances – so stylised and powerful.
January 21, 2010 at 8:21 pm
Irene
Oh yes the gorilla one was funny!
Indeed Swanson was one of the greatest stars. I’ve had an opportunity to see her unaccomplished movie “Queen Kelly” from 1929, and she was just great. I wish I could see more of her movies, but they’re really hard to find. I’ve seen some of Gloria interviews from the 70’s on Youtube, and I was amazed how well she looked and how clear and lovely were still her lovely blue eyes!!!!! Seems like her timeless beauty has accompanied her till her last day.
January 22, 2010 at 12:14 am
Christian Hayes
I also saw Queen Kelly once. The one I want to see most is Manhandled after seeing a great clip on Kevin Brownlow’s Hollywood series. I even ordered a copy from Grapevine Video but the image quality makes it hard to watch – perhaps I’ll have another go at it soon.
I’d also love to see more of her films – I think Sunset Boulevard is one of the most perfect post-silent movies for fans of the era.
And I’ve always liked that iconic portrait of her by Edward Steichen that was originally published in Vanity Fair: http://silentstoryteller.typepad.com/blog/2009/10/edward-steichen.html
January 22, 2010 at 8:45 pm
Irene
I really want to see some of Gloria’s early talkies, such as “Tonight or never” (1931), Perfect Understanding (1933), Music in the Air (1934), and before a 9 years break-up – Father Takes a Wife (1941). Even if they weren’t her big success, she’s still looked gorgeous and her voice sounded lovely, so it surely would be a pleasure to watch. I wish I could find them, it’s quite a task!
Sunset Boulevard was a new page in Gloria’s life, it was a great comeback, from now on she was Norma Desmond. It was the perfect role for Gloria, and therefore Gloria was the perfect cast for this role.
The portrait you mentioned by Steichen is awesome! I remember I saw it for the first time , many years ago. Steichen has many great works, for example Garbo portrait.
January 22, 2010 at 10:46 pm
Irene
I’ve just found this discussion, related to our topic,
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/25543
January 23, 2010 at 12:09 am
Christian Hayes
That’s a very interesting list, particularly Swanson in Killer Bees and Joan Blondell in The Glove! Would be great to get these movies together for a retrospective.
And a Gloria Swanson retrospective is long overdue!
June 19, 2010 at 6:18 pm
feliz
What happened to the movie industrie? Why does everything now has to be sex – violence or stupidity?
March 11, 2011 at 9:24 am
siana
Nice videos. I Like specially the john Crawford.