I have been watching a lot of pre-code/30s/40s/50s films and made the following observations - obviously Hollywood favours a few certain looks so this isn’t surprising, and also these are just visual comparisons, no reflection on anyone’s acting.
1: Carole Lombard/Amber Valletta
1: Carole Lombard/Amber Valletta
7: Billie Burke/Patricia Clarkson (I can see someone else in her face but cannot put my finger on it!)
14: As she got older Loretta Young became very Allison Janney, but in the 1930s she was more Maggie Gyllenhaal
15: Theresa Harris/Sonja Sohn (Harris was woefully uncredited and under-utilised throughout her career but she is wonderful in 1933& #39;s Hold Your Man alongside Jean Harlow as a character with agency and story, though once again - no credit)
16: Dorothy Mackaill/Lea Seydoux (what wouldn& #39;t I give for lost silent film The Crystal Cup, where the suit picture comes from!)
17: I& #39;ve watched SO many Jean Harlow films, and her particular quality - engrossing, transformational between photos and the screen, yet tangibly human - doesn& #39;t translate to just anyone. The closest example I can think of with that vibe currently would be Elizabeth Moss.
18: Myrna Loy/Lorde (it took me a minute - I was like, is she a young Miranda Otto? Mary Steenburgen? But then it clicked and now this is all I can see)
I wanna circle back to Carole Lombard, something about her feels so late 90s/early 2000s - from her comic sensibility to her jawline. Put it this way, if there’s any pre-code actress I could picture wearing a dress over jeans on the red carpet in 2001, it’s Lombard.
22: By this point in the thread you might look at Virginia Bruce and say "isn& #39;t that just every symmetrical blonde actress" and, sure, but specifically I see the great Jean Smart in her performances.
24: Greta Garbo is hard to pin down but - not just visually but in terms of that ineffable quality - I think Laura Benanti gets the closest.
26: It may be the fact that they both played Elizabeth Bennet but I do see some Jennifer Ehle in Greer Garson& #39;s face!
33: now, Rosalind Russell and Lena Headey don’t look overly alike, but both of them have those eyebrows which know something you don’t know!