When he first sees Sally during the initial ticker tape parade is great. It's not over the top like a lot of comedic actors would have done as someone very attracted to a young woman. The look on his face when he's posing her for the tintype is amazing, very understated and expressive.
shareWhat I LOVE is how, when the crowd surrounds them, Sally is pressed up against him--she doesn't realize it but he, behind her, does--and he closes his eyes and just sort of DRINKS HER IN. It's one of the single most romantic moments ever captured on film, fully clothed, partially clothed, or unclothed. The closeup of his eyes as he composes the tintype is one of the most beautiful images ever...in any medium...just amazing. The man was a consummate artist!
shareI LOVE that scene! That and the one where he's watching her in the MGM office from behind his tintype camera: how soft, gentle and adoring his eyes are, with a slow, unhurried blink in between. *SIGH*
Many of today's "actors" could take a huge lesson from the likes of silent actors like Buster Keaton and others. Yes, they indeed "had FACES then"!
"Think slow, act fast." --Buster Keaton