Swarthy Scenery Swallowers
Some kind of ridiculous fever got into the systems of certain fair-skinned actors of yore when they applied face-paint and pretended to be ferocious African or Middle-Eastern or Indian warlord types. I’m thinking of Laurence Olivier as the Madhi in Khartoum, Herbert Lom as General Ben Yusuf in El Cid, and Eduardo Cianelli‘s Thuggee “guru” in Gunga Din.
Their performances were campy and racist in a kind of minstrel-show way, but they were so outlandish their performances went beyond the mere chewing of scenery. They didn’t inhabit the realms of excess and absurdity — they feasted on them. They made demonic possession almost into a form of comedy…but not quite.
Many of today’s boomer-aged neocons probably received their first images of aggressive Islamic fundamentalist wackjobbery from Olivier and Lom’s brown-skinned messengers of Allah.
I’m not sure when white actors began to think better of playing African or Middle-Eastern guys, but I think it was sometime in the late ’70s. The last time a major actor dared to pull it off was when Sean Connery played Mulai Ahmed er Raisuli in The Wind and the Lion (’75). I do recall that Alec Guiness‘s portrayal of an Indian wise man named Godbole in A Passage to India (’84) was seen as fairly ridiculous.
So THAT’S why they hate us! Good job, Inspector Jeff.
Olivier is terrific in KHARTOUM, a personal favorite…and not so far off from his much-acclaimed Othello. Actually all these guys had fun with these parts, but that was then. Now whatever the race of the actor the over-the-top portrayal come off as embarrassing, as in TRUE LIES.
Tropic Thunder.
Hugh Griffith won a trophy for darkening in BEN-HUR, but he was a good guy.
Oddly enough, I actually believe Eduardo Cianelli gave a very frightening and passionate performance in Gunga Din, which I remember very well from early childhood when I first saw it, the least comedic performance in the entire film. You could believe that he saw himself as someone bent on removing the British presence from India by any means, even if it meant sacrificing himself to do it. His final act was oddly moving, even to the foursome who were holding him. That the film came out prior to India actually achieving it’s independence by nonviolent protest was ironic. That said, the film was obviously a product of it’s times when colonialism was still very much a part of the world and white guys were still being presented as purveyors of good.
Jessica Alba played a black chick in HONEY.
Like fully black. Black father, Vonetta McGee for a mother black.
Mark Strong did it recently in Body of Lies. And the entire damn cast of ‘Prince of Persia’.
Full marks, Krillian. You got there first – Hugh Griffith was nothing short of marvelous.
No mention of Ben Kingsley’s Oscar winning turn in Gandhi?