I'm glad I got to see "Nell Gwyn" from the Kansas Silent Film Festival. The recording is somewhat dark and surely from a reduction print, but it's better than an almost-unwatchable copy that I've had for years but never got around to finishing. Dorothy Gish in the titular role is a delight, and it's one of the sexier silent films I remember seeing. One begins to suspect early on that the British production may've been something of a joke on the American Gish as a semi-exotic sex kitten to be objectified but a poor actress. Indeed, she plays an impoverished wannabe theatrical actress in this one, based on a true story though it is. Such suspicions are quickly swept away, however, by her commanding performance in a mostly humorous and light romp of a historical costume drama involving a dying king and a brief love triangle. Instead, Gish is even employed to mock the stereotypical stuffiness of British royalty and aristocracy. The play-within-the-play of her mocking a rival countess' hat with a ridiculously-sized one of her own is a hilarious highlight here.
Lillian Gish may've been the greatest actress, but the other Gish sister, Dorothy was the more bubbly and a fine actress in her own right and with a good sense of comedy. I love her eyes and facial expressions in this one. She was a scene stealer in her supporting part in the Lillian-starring "Hearts of the World" (1918). This, though, is some of the best I've seen from her. Although, near the top of my wish list for lost film discoveries would be Dorothy starring under the direction of Lillian, her only film as director, in "Remodeling Her Husband" (1920), but, alas.
The sexual playfulness is evident early on, with cleavage galore as Gish's dress is perpetually practically slipping off her and including in the opening scene her appearing to begin juggling the oranges she sells before she realizes her male friends may be enjoying the spectacle for her bouncing breasts instead. Her Nell Gwyn embraces her sexuality, though, from groping her bosom after a first kiss from the king, showing off her legs more than a new pair of shoes at another moment, discovering the uses of soap during a bath scene, doesn't mind the king blatantly gazing down her blouse, and the picture is quite obvious in its fade to Gish in bed post-coital that sex is a part of her and the king's relationship.
Besides Gish, the reflexivity of her playing an actress, and the sex appeal, "Nell Gwyn" also features costumes well. It's not just that it's a period piece with elaborate 17th-century attire, either. Clothing is prominently placed in the narrative. Gish's Gwyn complains about the poor state of what she wears from the beginning, and her new clothes and footwear recognize her blossoming relationship with the king and her rags-to-riches Cinderella story. Plus, there's her more boyish, swashbuckler outfit she puts on for one party where she slides down a staircase bannister and duels while pretending to ride a costume horse and, of course, that hat scene. Odd that I also reviewed today "Those Awful Hats" (1909), from Gish's former director D.W. Griffith, but there are worse ways to spend the day than laughing at hats.
