Film Forum

Charles Laughton once described himself (at 44!) as a tired old ham; others called him an actor’s actor. At his lowest, he was indeed capable of sending up — often entertainingly — inferior material; with anything decent he was the most expert of character leads; with the greatest, he pulled from his guts monsters of repression, greed, lust so terrifying — and normal men of such realistic simplicity — as to make statements about not just the character, but in a way the whole human race.

SERIES PROGRAMMED BY BRUCE GOLDSTEIN

Reviews

“THE MERYL STREEP OF HIS DAY! A universally acclaimed actor — many thought him the finest of his generation — with the most varied and fulsome technique, he played seemingly everything, from kings to bums. And, like Streep, when he was good, he was very, very good.”
– David Noh, Gay City News
Click here to read the full feature

“Too ungainly and fearsome to be contained by the screen, the great Laughton was a much creature as actor.”
– New York Review of Books

“[Laughton] doesn't so much star in a film as take up magisterial residency in it, at times filling the frame to bursting.”
– Stephanie Zacharek, The Village Voice

Click here to read the Self-Styled Siren’s feature on Charles Laughton

Films in this Series