Beauty vs Beast: Political Animals
Monday, October 16, 2017 at 5:30PM Jason from MNPP here with this week's "Beauty vs Beast" where we are wishing the grand Dame Angela Lansbury a happy 92nd birthday today! It's difficult to believe we still have an entire year before Rob Marshall's Mary Poppins Returns film comes out (Xmas 2018) but we're still hoping, as we did when she was cast, that Landsbury's got something lovely to work with in the film - we don't get to see her on-screen nearly as often as we'd like to.
But she's such a legend... how could I possibly find someone to compete? Well "somebody" already had the gumption to do it herself - in 2004 a working actress by the name of Meryl Streep tackled Lansbury's still delightfully against-type turn in the remake of The Manchurian Candidate. So let's put these two ladies in a room and see which one walks out...
PREVIOUSLY Did everybody watch Mindhunter over the weekend? I did not so don't say anything if you did. But feel free to share your thoughts on last week's decision on David Fincher's original serial-killer vision Se7en, in which y'all chose Brad Pitt over Kevin Spacey 57 to 42%. That needs explaining! Said Huh:
"Spacey gets a lot of hate nowadays but anyone who thinks Brad’s performance here is better and adds more to the film than Spacey’s is nuts."
Reader Comments (35)
Yeah, Lansbury's portrayal is pretty great but I love Streep's interpretation more. There's more substance to hers, and by that I don't mean a more apparent style of acting, her performance feels more alive to me, a mind of its own, flawed, agile, dangerous, passionate, absurd and much more real in that.
Angela Lansbury's performance in The Manchurian Candidate is the best performance by an actress in a supporting role. Ever. Period end of sentence/story.
I'm pretty positive even Meryl would choose Angela here. And I'm one of those who thinks Streep made the role her own and is pretty fabulous in it.
Lansbury should have gotten an Oscar
Streep is sublime here but Lansbury is a different beast she is all under the surface fierce Streep's ripping the role to shreds I slightly prefer The Dame more.
I am surprised this never came up before. I voted for Meryl because Angela will get more votes, and I love both performances. The Demme version is kind of underrated - everyone in it is uniformly great. But the original with Angela is impeccable.
I can’t choose. The two are excellent in the film, although the first film is better.
I'm a fan of Meryl but Angela Lansbury is inimitable here and simply owns the role.
Funny that you say this is an against type role for her. How perception has changed, throughout most of her career up until Mame then Murder, She Wrote elevated her she had a very snug reputation for playing either boorish overbearing women or cold calculating ones with the rare sympathetic lady thrown in.
Both are great!
And Angela should have won the Oscar !
I always thought that Meryl based on Hillary her performances here and also in Rendition.
wait...who is the beauty and who is the beast?
Everything is better in 1962 The Manchurian Candidate.
Everything is better in 1962 The Manchurian Candidate.
About Huh's comment about the Se7en poll, I thought we were voting for favorite character, not best performance?
JA: Not going to go into details on Mindhunter, but: Remember when David Fincher was a daring filmmaker who skirted the edge of cartoony as opposed to committing to a slightly generic form of competence? Those were the days. Oh, and by the way, Dave: If you're going to blast Marvel for "soulless or overly mechanical filmmaking", maybe back out of Pepsi Zombies 2. Seriously, man, that's not a good look.
This is one of the best Streep "small" performances, but Lansbury should have gotten the Oscar! Shame!
par - They're both Beauty & Beasts this time, I'd say
Happy Birthday Dame Angela!
This is a good and fun choice for Beauty vs. Beast. For the record, though, you could've done her vs. either of the leads from Gaslight, or vs. Judy Garland in The Harvey Girls. (As joel pointed out, she played her fair share of heavies earlier in her career.)
Angela Lansbury all the way.
I have to admit Meryl was more memorable for me. Ice crunching, Hillary bravado, and creepy scene with Liev in bathroom. One of Denzel's great performances.
Angela all the way.
This is actually one of my least favorite performances of Meryl. A bit overcooked, I think. It doesn't help that Meryl's movie is not as good as the original.
Mindhunter is brilliant, thought provoking stuff. He's still a great filmmaker.
Dame Angela all the way - I also agree with everyone who pointed out that, in fact, it was Murder She Wrote that was the most "against-type" performance of her career.
Has any other actress switched from "cold and steely" to "warm and loveable" in the public perception?
Maybe Catherine Zeta-Jones needs a long-running family series as a prickly matriarch!
Lansbury. Hands down. No question. Undeniably. Unequivocally. Without a doubt. There's no comparison in my mind. I don't know what Streep was going for in her performance, and part of me thinks that she didn't either.
Troy H -- i absolutely agree. I don't actually think Streep is good at playing villainy. One of the few things she can't reliably get right ;) because it comes off too forced. There's something about her that's too earthy and warm I think which is why if she's going to play someone *bad* she needs lots of nuance and psychology to make it work (like August Osage County).
Obviously the rules are different for comedy because she's brilliant in Death Becomes Her / Devil Wears Prada
Nathaniel, I've never thought about that, but you may be on to something.
Kermit, CZJ could use a People vs. O.J. Simpson or Big Little Lies, something to get back her mojo.
I'm praying for the day when the film industry allows people who aren't Marshall, Condon, and Shankman to make musical adaptations. I don't have any faith that MPR will be good, and if it does turn out that way, it most likely will be in spite of and not because of the director.
Lansbury is absolutely sublime here – what a shame THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE didn’t garner a later release, so she could steamroll over Dame Margaret and the TOM JONES gals. I consider this her finest feature film performance, by far.
Streep, on the other hand, doesn’t much thrill me. The remake, Liev Schreiber’s fine performance aside, is stodgy and flat and where Lansbury was genuinely terrifying, Streep’s turn is frustratingly workmanlike and devoid of surprise. I was pleased to see her receive minimal traction that awards season.
This is one of Meryl's best performances (and probably her most underrated), yet it's Lansbury's best. Is it the best Oscar nomination in the supporting actress category? If not, top 5.
This is a completely unfair fight as Lansbury is in the pantheon of Horrific Mothers with this performance and this is a miss for Streep as she overcooks this meal till the whole house smells.
TroyH Sorry I disagree,She had to do a different take than Lansbury,she's a smart one Streep,I think she knew exactly what she was doing,Go big then Bigger and for me it worked but Lansbury is the pinnacle of evil misguided mother roles.
Nathaniel,
Interesting point about Streep's difficulty around "villain" characters in her dramatic films. I'm curious if her A Cry in the Dark performance works for you...since it is one of her few performances where I don't feel like her natural warmth and earthiness shines through. I've always admired how steadfastly committed she is to keeping this woman's ice cold exterior intact and her complicated inner experiences simmering just below the surface.
I don't think Meryl is bad at playing a villain, just serviceable at best. I thought she was an annoying, stubborn bitch in Cry in the Dark. But yes, I do agree that she's not as adept in
conjuring that 'bitchy persona' as the likes of Angeline Jolie, Cate Blanchett, etc.
Meryl is great at playing every single thing, period.
Angela Lansbury's performance in 'The Manchurian Candidate' was instantly legendary...that hasn't happened with Streep's version...
10/24/2017 is the 55th anniversary of a movie once considered outlandish, but now what passes for reality!
My review here: http://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-manchurian-candidate-1962.html
The original Manchurian Candidate is one of my favorite films and Lansbury's performance is one of the reasons why.