I know why Vidor chose to make Stella more unattractive by having Stanwyck wear the obvious padding under her dresses. But, I really don't think it was necessary. Stanwyck "played" the rough around the edges, socially ungraceful character just fine and convinced me that she was just that without the tricks to make her seem more unrefined. The padding was pretty distracting actually.
What a great film!
Stanwyck was incredible here as she was in so much.
shareI thought she was wearing padding but was not sure. I think they wanted her to look more frumpy as she aged.
shareTotally agree with you, jaygill-1! And how in the world did they make her ankles look so thick, too??? She had such lovely ankles (and that golden anklet!!) in Double Indemnity.
shareEven her nose looks bigger in this movie! I love Missy, but I don't ever recall noticing her nose in any other of her films.
Get me a bromide! And put some gin in it!
In an effort to make Stella look as blowsy as possible, they still didn't manage to take away her prettiness underneath. I'm glad they didn't completely destroy her character.
sharethe fat suit did not merely serve to make her look more matronly. it was also part of the theme where Stella overate to compensate for her unhappiness. The film was quite direct in showing her doing nothing other than lying in bed eating candies.
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