Celebrating Femme Fatales Of Yesteryears

Ever wondered why the de riguer femme fatales of yesteryears’ movies have almost vanished from the screen. Some believe the dearth of old-style glamour could be one reason. Others think women were avid cinema-goers in the Forties, and maybe later, and these remarkable roles of vamps were created to spark their fantasies.

Next month sees a monster celebration of the femme fatale in all her guises in Britain, reports The Independent. “Screened as part of the Birds Eye View women’s film festival, some 30 movies will commemorate the vamp in silent cinema – the glorious likes of Louise Brooks and Theda Bara – and in later films up to today. A parallel event, at the BFI Mediatheque at QUAD, in Derby, highlights wicked ladies in British film and TV in archive material that will be available to view…

“The writer and critic Anne Billson cites changing (cinema) audiences, reports The Independent. ‘Today the target demographic is a 16-year-old boy, whose idea of what a woman consists of is not very sophisticated’. The result is the comic-book S&M of Sin City (2005): ‘An adolescent wet dream in which all the women in the world wear strippers’ costumes’.

“Mary Harron is one of few high-profile female film-makers working in the US: her films include American Psycho and The Notorious Bettie Page. She links the decline of the screen temptress to the rise of celebrity culture. ‘You know so much about stars now; there’s such a relentless uncovering of everything in Hollywood,” says the director, who’s giving a masterclass at the Birds Eye View festival. ‘Actors have become kind of everyday. And the femme fatale is about mystery’.

“The femme fatale had her greatest moment in the film noir of the Forties: it’s claimed that she signified male fears of women liberated by their part in the war. This period is well represented by Double Indemnity (1944), Gilda (1946) and other greats. The season’s centrepiece is the re-release of a neglected B classic: Joseph H Lewis’s sweaty, throbbing Gun Crazy (1949), the ragged blueprint for Godard’s early films and for Bonnie and Clyde.” More here…

Indian cinema, too, had its own share of unforgettable vamps, such as London-born Helen Richardson and Nadira (born Farhat Ezekiel Nadira, to a Baghdadi Jewish family).

Photo above: Rita Hayworth in ‘Gilda’