Here’s what Lauren Bacall had: smoke.
The sad passing of Lauren Bacall has caused this author – as well as many other journalists, fans, and people in general – to look back over her body of work, and to peruse famous photographs of her undeniably foxy visage. In this glut of memorial consideration, I think we can all come to the same conclusion: Lauren Bacall had smoke. Not just in her sultry eyes, her playful beauty, or her dazzling smile that was somehow both warmly girlish and aggressively man-devouring. But also in her talent. When Lauren Bacall was on screen – in any film, from any decade of her massively long career – you could not take your eyes off of her. We critics and commentators talk a lot about how certain modern day movie stars have a good screen presence, or possess that wondrous “it” quality that sets them apart from mere actors. Lauren Bacall had “it” in spades.
Related: R.I.P. Lauren Bacall (1924-2014)
In many ways, Bacall represents the Golden Age of Hollywood better than anyone else. She and Humphrey Bogart were essentially the central couple of the Old Hollywood firmament. Bacall was, then, perhaps one of the final old-world, all-capital-letters MOVIE STARS we had. Her passing was a pang for all cinema fans everywhere.
Bacall’s career was varied and extensive, showing off her dazzling talents each time. Here are eight notable Lauren Bacall performances that can sum up her career the best.
Witney Seibold is a contributor to the CraveOnline Film Channel, and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. You can read his weekly Trolling articles here on Crave, and follow him on “Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.
Eight Classic Lauren Bacall Movies
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To Have and Have Not (1944)
Although she was only 19 in her screen debut, Lauren Bacall was already a womanly goddess of sorts. Howard Hawks' To Have and Have Not, based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway, played a lot like a sultrier version of Casablanca. It was from this film that Bacall's famous “You do know how to whistle” speech came from. In an era not known for its sex, Lauren Bacall radiated it in this film. Watch the famous scene and you'll see what I'm talking about.
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The Big Sleep (1946)
Often considered the best – and sometimes the only worthy – film rendition of Raymond Chandler's awesome crime novel, Hawks' The Big Sleep (co-written by William Faulkner!) often stands as one of the essential noir films in cinema history. In the novel, the character Bacall plays is something of a tipsy shrinking violet. Bacall was a more knowing, fun, sexy screen presence. She took a boilerplate, stock noir character, and gave her... well, character. The scattershot Chandler dialogue feels so natural in Bacall's mouth.
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Dark Passage (1947)
Bogey and Bacall were on fire in the 1940s, and Delmer Daves' Dark Passage, also one of the better noirs of the period, could perhaps be seen as the third part in their four-part starring vehicle. If you've ever seen the famous still of Humphrey Bogart wrapped in scary facial bandages, it comes from Dark Passage. In the film, Bogart plays a prison escapee who holes up with Bacall, forcing her to prove his innocence. The power play is complex and odd and dynamic. Is this a love story? A power play? Something far more twisted? Can't it be all of those things?
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Key Largo (1948)
Gangsters, hot weather, corrupt hotel owners, and a climactic hurricane mark John Huston's famous Bogey & Bacall vehicle Key Largo. There's something sweaty and claustrophobic about Key Largo, and it doesn't help that Bacall's smokiness and intensity (as the widow of the hotel owner) ratchets up the romantic/sexual tension in the room. Hostages are taken, guns are pulled, and violence is eventually committed. The first four films on this list should, perhaps, be watched in rapid succession, as to fully appreciate not only the chemistry between Bogey and Bacall, but also because they are all excellent crime movies.
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Written on the Wind (1956)
Brassy Technicolor melodrama was never handled better than when under the capable control of master director Douglas Sirk. In Written on the Wind – a definite prelude to every soap opera that followed – Lauren Bacall plays an unhappily married woman who achingly longs for the handsome Rock Hudson. Bacall had a natural playfulness in most of her screen roles, but Written on the Wind displays her strengths at high drama as well.
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Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
I wouldn't count Sidney Lumet's near-comic Hercule Poirot mystery Murder on the Orient Express as a great noir film, but it's certainly one of the more impeccably made crime movies of the 1970s. In Orient, Bacall plays an aging stage actress with a whiff of reality. Bacall projects the subtle confidence of someone who has been on stage most of her life... and Bacall was involved in many stage productions by 1974. I don't want to say too much more about her role in this film, as it may reveal hints as to who actually dunnit, but I will say that she's wonderful in this movie.
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The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996)
Bacall was only nominated for one Academy Award in her career, and it was for this 1996 romance starring and directed by Barbara Streisand. In it, Bacall played Streisand's doting, vain mother who was subtly and unknowingly undermining her daughter's self-esteem. Streisand eventually learns to feel beautiful despite her mother's smothering, but when she tells off Bacall, you can't help but feel for her. We really do feel that she was doing what she felt was natural and expected. Bacall was a mean character who didn't realize she was mean. I love that.
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Dogville (2003)
Lars Von Trier's stirring damnation of America, of Christian values, and of all notions of kindness and decency revealed Bacall's most heartless and unsettling performance. Her role is small, but as Ma Ginger, a steel-eyed matriarch, Bacall feeds into the coldness of the small Colorado town wherein Nicole Kidman is attempting to hide. The small town, in true Von Trier fashion, turns out to be an abusive and evil place.
