MovieChat Forums > All the King's Men Discussion > JOANNE DRU

JOANNE DRU

posted 14 years ago by snsurone
6 replies | jump to latest

Joanne Dru never made it beyond leading-lady status to top stardom.
If her performance in this movie is any indication, it's easy to see why!
Her Ann Stanton was wooden as a landing dock, and the scenes at the end where she was supposed to display great emotion were so ineptly played as to be laughable.
Her mere prescence seemed to lower every scene she was in. It's incredible how anyone could ever be in love with her!

Joanne Dru's best "performances" were as a player on her brother Peter Marshall's quiz show HOLLYWOOD SQUARES.

[–] A_Fistful_of_Pennies 14 years ago

I was actually planning on coming on here and posting a thread about this, but I saw you already posted one. Her performance alone brought the movie down from a great movie to a good one. It didn't seem natural at all, it was very forced. It was very over-the-top as well. I know people might say that was the acting style at the time, but look at the other performances in the film. Most of them are very realistic.

I just think she was trying too hard to make everything as dramatic as possible but it just came off as awkward. Too bad, it really is the only weak performance but it's enough to bring this movie down a notch.

[–] MuleDeer 8 years ago

Her performance alone brought the movie down from a great movie to a good one. It didn't seem natural at all, it was very forced. It was very over-the-top as well. I know people might say that was the acting style at the time, but look at the other performances in the film. Most of them are very realistic.

I agree, although I would add the sudden, rushed ending didn't help.

I thought she was also bad in "Red River" (which also included John Ireland).

Also agree about performances of that era. Watch Bogart movies. He is completely natural-acting in his films. Occasionally he had to deliver some awkward lines, but that wasn't his fault. Most of the time, he is so natural it could pass for contemporary. If you study his movies, he is the essence of the "every-man," which is probably why he had such great appeal.

[–] dgz78 12 years ago

It was like the movie went to slow motion when she talked. Made you wonder what Jack and Willie saw in her.

In the book she was sophisticated and beautiful while always being a challenge for Jack.

[–] spookyrat1 11 years ago

I thought she was quite good playing an alluring, ambitious, but shallow - principled person. Compared to Broderick Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge, I agree she didn't stand out, but then those two were fire crackers in this film.

I would have thought if we were talking wooden, we'd have to mention John Ireland, who IMO was the definition of blandness, yet apparently deserving of a supporting actor Oscar nomination.

[–] luverofmovies 11 years ago

Joanne Dru was a very beautiful women. However, I agree that this wasn't a good performance. Maybe it was the directing. Every highly emotional scene, from beginning to end, consisted of her when being confronted having her head tilted back and her hair tossing from side to side again and again. On last viewing I think I saw this hair thing about six or seven times. I believe this may have been the director's input (who knows), but it was over used.

Joanne Dru and John Ireland were either engaged or already married when this picture was filmed. I thought John Ireland was wonderful in his part, and John and Joanne made a striking couple.

[–] 11 years ago

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