Stella Dallas (1937)

She totally nails that role. A lot of actresses at that time would have done it in that breathless, mannered way they 'acted' back then. But Babs rolls up her sleeves and becomes the slatternly (yet good-hearted) Stella.

Brooklyn accent on overtime! Stanwyck NEVER overplayed parts, and she never had those Davis-Hepburn over mannerisms either.

Eyes are the greatest tool in film. Mr. Capra taught me that. Sure, it's nice to say very good dialogue, if you can get it. But great movie acting - watch the eyes!

One of the greatest, if not THE greatest female performances ever filmed. I was just about to reference that train scene, R3! Thanks for posting. Also love the scene where Stella goes to see Mrs. Morrison to suggest that her daughter love with her. And the scene where she nearly gets a train ticket to join the family for Christmas until Ed Munn makes an unexpected appearance. I worship Stanwyck, and this is her personal best - a master class in acting.

TCM had mercy on us this year - they ran this back to back with MILDRED PIERCE for Mother's Day; they usually run it back to back with DL fave IMITATION OF LIFE. For years, whenever this movie came on, I would call my mother after it was over, and when she'd pick up, she'd say, "Did you watch it?" RIP Mom - she taught me early on to appreciate great actresses like Stanwyck and Bette Davis (who she always called "Bet", as if she knew her personally) We did not always get along, but now that she is gone, I would give everything I own to have thirty minutes with her. That train scene goes straight to my heart. Thank you, Stanwyck!

Particularly notable was that Stanwyck was only 29 years old when she played Stella Dallas, and was wonderfully capable of pulling both the young fun loving Stella Dallas, as well as the more mature, yet still vulgar mother Dallas.

From some book I had years ago....

"Stanwyck may never have been as good as Davis at her best, but she was never as bad as Davis at her worst. In fact she never gave a bad performance."

R4, many called Bette "Bet," including my grandmother, because they didn't know it was pronounced "Betty." This includes Bette Midler's mother - she was named after Bette Davis.

In his afterword on Sunday, Ben Mankiewicz talked about how the film's director, King Vidor was concerned about the performances going over the top, as the material was so schmaltzy, but he need not have worried because Stanwyck's handling of the role was so masterful. She was amazing.

Why have my gays forsaken me?

This guy gets it right - hopefully link will work.

Mrs Morrison was played by DL fave Barbara O'Neill, aka Ellen O'Hara two years later...

Oh, I think Barbara Stanwyck and Bette Davis are both terrific actresses, though Stanwyck really doesn't have the kinds of mannerisms that Davis and Hepburn could be easily imitated by drag queens. Stanwyck does tend to exude some toughness and Brooklynese in her roles, but that is natural, given her difficult upbringing.

R6, I love Bette Davis no matter what, but I do think that Barbara Stanwyck was at least as good as the best Davis, & often even better.

How the FUCK did Missy NOT win an Oscar for this?!

Stanwyck had a quality that the other actresses who were a notch above her in the firmament didn't have. She had a method vibe, an authenticity made her seem the opposite of stagey. She could hit her marks, carry the weight, drive the narrative and provide thrilling moments, but it almost always seemed "real."

She could do comedy and tear-jerkers, hardboiled bitches and true-hearts. But she didn't do clown and she didn't do grand (even in BIG VALLEY), although she had authority in nearly everything. Even though she was A list, there was something B movie about her in a good way. Gritty capability.

Davis was Davis. Crawford never wanted anyone to forget she was IT, except in some of the scenes in BABY JANE, some of her very best work in a more realistic vein. You can pigeon-hole almost all the big stars, of course, because their personalities were what made them stars. But Stanwyck was different. Paulette Goddard, less of an actress, could convey authenticity, too, but with her you could tell she didn't really care about or respect the job. Stanwyck always was committed 100%.

Wow that trailer at R9 seems like a satire. It doesn't help that Bette looked about 40 when she got pregnant and it was not set in the 30's, so there would not have been as much of an issue of her raising her daughter alone. It also does not help her daughter looks 30 when she is trying to get her father and wife to adopt her.

Stanwyck, being a freelance actress, never stayed with a studio long enough to get them behind her. So no one would push for her to win an Oscar, why would they when she'd only sign up for three picture deals and not the long term seven year contracts that Bette Davis had? Did any freelancers win Oscars back then?

Dead DL fave Luise Rainier stole that Oscar from Stanwyck in 1937 - Stanwyck was expected to win for STELLA DALLAS, however Rainier won for THE GOOD EARTH, in which she played a not very convincing Chinese woman opposite an even less convincing Paul Muni. And to make matters worse, it was her second Oscar, as she had won the year before for her vacuous performance in THE GREAT ZIEGFELD. Unbelievably, Stanwyck was not recognized by the Academy until 1982 when she was given an "honorary Oscar" for her body of work. She should have told them to shove it up their asses. The Oscars have ALWAYS been fucked up, one way or another.

Barbara Stanwyck was so independent. And it was both good and bad for her career. Paramount and Warner's begged for for a seven year contract; she did some of her best work for those studios. But she didn't like being tied down, a reaction to her years in foster care IMO. She was not a diva like her peers. Had she been, she would have fought tooth and nail for the lead role in MILDRED PIERCE instead of letting Joan Crawford fuck and suck her way to the role. Her only demand was to have Edith Head make her wardrobe for all her films, as she was the only designer who could make her long waisted frame look good on camera. I think she was just grateful to be able to work steadily and she wasn't a complainer. Being a squeakier wheel might have gotten her that Oscar that she certainly deserved.

"But she didn't like being tied down, a reaction to her years in foster care"

OR perhaps she felt being tied to one studio for seven years would limit her career choices? They'd change her nose, dye her premature gray, make her get rid of the Brooklyn accent and force her to play the same kind of role over and over. Not every major decision a person makes is formed by their childhood.

I am not a fan of "Stella Dallas". But I love Stanwyck's performance, especially at the end. Although I love Davis and Hepburn, no one was equal to Stanwyck. Even in a bad film she is interesting to watch. And she is very real. There is no method bullshit in her. Streep is more like Stanwyck than any of the others when she has a good role. Stanwyck wants you to read her face, take notice of her body movements, her tone changes. A perfect example is the scene in " The Lady Eve" when she is coming over to meet Fonda and he knows she is a con artist. The way she walks and looks tells you she is really in love and really wants him. And just like in real life when he crushes her there is real pain in her voice and her eyes. She is amazing to watch. No tricks or camera angles or music is needed to enhance her performance. She is music and light enough.

I own the original movie poster from this film:). Love Stanwyck, love this film.

Do you ever wonder what the other female stars thought of Stanwyk's work in a film like Stella Dallas? Did Davis or Hepburn or Crawford get a tear in the eye at the climax when Stanwyk was walking away with those glistening tears in her eyes?

Could they just appreciate a fine performance without chewing out their managers for not getting them that role?

God, those last 10 seconds of the train scene just stab you in the heart.

"There is no method bullshit in her. "

I understand what you mean, R20. But method acting was not used by Stanwyck's contemporaries.

I've wondered how much she thought of her own mother, who died when Stanwyck was an infant, when doing that role. She wasn't much of a mother to her adopted son, but was a very loyal friend. When she was in the South with her black maid, she refused to stay at a hotel that wouldn't take the maid. SD was based on a novel by Olive Higgins Prouty (yes), who also wrote the novel that was the basis for "Now, Voyager," with its monster mother.

That wasn't in the South, R25, the hotel was in Illinois or Indiana.

She really should have won that Oscar.

Greatest actresses (in no order): Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Shirley Booth. Also love Lana Turner and Mary Wicke s. And the incomparable Dame Maggie Smith.

Barbara Stanwyck is divine and much underrated next to Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. The Lady Eve is one of my favourite films of hers but my absolute favourite is one where she was standing up against religious fundamentalism and it was made around 1930.Brain fog is stopping me recall its name!

Shirley "Hazel" Booth?? Ha ha ha

The Miracle woman made in 1931 was the Stanwyck film I was having trouble remembering! Definitely a film I recommend dataloungers check out .

She's very good in "The Miracle Woman", looks so young.

Very pretty in her heyday [R32] I believe she started out as a model when she was called Ruby Stevens .

Stanwyk is a goddess, if only for her performance in Double Indemnity.

Stanwyck, goddamnit!

Stanwyck is not second tier as stated by some bloggers here. Don't compare her to Davis. They are evenly matched.

I would add Greta Garbo to your list; her beauty and presence were pretty incomparable, but she was a really fine actress.

Crawford doesn't come close to Stanwyck, Davis and Hepburn. Sorry, Gays.

I usually don't have a favorite anything but The Lady Eve is my favorite comedy. Has anyone read Blue-Steel? It's the first part of a major Stanwyck biography that ends in 1941.

Henry Fonda is hilarious in The Lady Eve.

R39, the book is called STEEL TRUE. Blue Steel is a crime movie starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Ron Silver.

Bad actress.

Crawford could have knocked the role of Stella Dallas out of the fuckin' PARK!

Seriously, Joan, Babs and Bett were coevals but Stanwyck owned that role. Joan could have done it well, but there would be that thing of her wondering how she looked in her close-up in the train sequence. Bette could have done okay with it too but she'd have milked every second of it for the pathos, always gunning for that elusive third Oscar (which she never got).

Lana might have been interesting in a technicolored, glamorized version by Ross Hunter circa 1967, just as the bottom dropped out of women's films during that icky, smelly "counterculture" era.

It would have been Davis's 2nd Oscar.

R33, I don't think she was a model (too short). She started as a chorusgirl & she always moved like a natural dancer.

She should of won the Oscar for that.