#ruan lingyu

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Ruan Lingyu (The Goddess, New Women, Love and Duty)—icon of chinese silent cinema known for her luminous beauty, her exceptional acting talent, and her tragic life story

Barbara Stanwyck (Ball of Fire, The Lady Eve, Double Indemnity)—I hope someone else has submitted better propaganda than I because I don't want my girl's prospects to rest on me just yelling PLEASE VOTE FOR MY TERRIBLE HOT GIRLFRIEND. She is a delight in everything! She is often a sexy jerk! (It's most of the plot of Baby Face!) Even when she plays a "good girl" (as an example, Christmas in Connecticut, which more people should see) she's still kind of a jerk and I love her for it! She won't take men's shit and she sure wouldn't take mine!

This is round 3 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Ruan Lingyu:

silent era chinese actress who had a subtlety in her acting ability that was way ahead of her time. huge star but her career and life was sadly cut short by damaging publicity

Widely considered one of the best actresses of Chinese silent film

Ruan Lingyu had an eight year movie career, starting at 16 and ending with her suicide at only 24. Despite this, she made some of the most widely acclaimed films of early Chinese cinema and the BBC called her "China's Greta Garbo." In "Love and Duty," she plays her character as a teen, a young mother, and an older woman beaten down by life AND her teen daughter in an early application of split-screen technology. Lingyu is absolutely unrecognizable as the older woman, yet emotionally the transition is seamless because she does such a good job. Lingyu had a hard life and killed herself after ination [sic] of media scorn and private problems. Her funeral was three days long, the procession was allegedly four miles long, and three women killed themselves during her funeral. The New York Times called it "the most spectacular funeral of the century." I'm adding this to show what kind of hold she had over the public at the time, much like Rudolph Valentino's raucous funeral. I would rather she had lived.

Barbara Stanwyck:

"THE leading lady of the golden age of hollywood. One of the only actresses to work independent of a studio, making short-term contracts that enabled her to make movies wherever she wanted. She had so much range, and could act in basically any genre. She's been rumored to be a lesbian literally since she was active in Hollywood; most notable is the rumor that she had a long time on-and-off relationship with famously bi Joan Crawford, her "best friend" for decades (They lived right next door to one another). She also lived with Helen Ferguson, her "live-in publicist" for many years. She was the quintessential femme fatale in Double Indemnity, and really pushed sexual boundaries in her pre-code films like Baby Face, and the famous screwball The Lady Eve, where she plays basically a downlow domme. Allegedly, when a journalist asked her if she was a lesbian, she straight up threw him out of her house. She even played a lesbian in Walk on the Wild Side"

"THE queen of screwball comedies. I adore her, I'd kill for her, I will cry if she's not gonna win this poll."

"listen ok she had awful politics she was a mccarthyist right wing wacko BUT she's so incredibly hot that i've deluded myself into believing i could fix her. if you see her onscreen she carries herself in a way that's just so effortlessly sexy AND she has just a stunning face. imo she was at her hottest in the 1940s but even as early as the late 1920s she had a rly captivating screen presence and just a beautiful face, and then post-1950 she was just irresistibly milfy so really she was just always incredibly hot. she was also an incredibly talented actress who was equally stellar in melodrama, film noir, and unhinged screwball comedy. the blonde wig they made her wear in double indemnity is notoriously silly looking but she still looks sexy in it so that's gotta count for something. i've watched so many terrible movies just for a chance at seeing her that i think her estate should be paying me damages."

"Not often thought of for her sultriness, Barbara Stanwyck was incredible in that she could actually choose to be hot if the role called for it, and then have a glow-down to look ordinary for another role. She wasn't the most beautiful or effervescent, but damn did she have rizz. Watch her with Gary Cooper in Ball of Fire teaching him about "yum-yum" or with Henry Fonda in The Lady Eve whispering huskily into his ear."

"She is always the smartest woman in the room. Watching her play Henry Fonda like a befuddled fiddle in The Lady Eve was a highlight of my life. Femme fatale in Double Indemnity, comedy queen in Ball of Fire. She can do anything."

"She was part of my gay awakening"

"SHE'S A PRE-CODE QUEEN. She did everything, drama, comedy. The most beautiful woman in the world to watch weep. Beg for to step on you with those legs. Fun Babs story: Ginger Rogers was offered the role in Ball of Fire but said, “Oh, I would never play that part, she’s too common.” So they called Barbara Stanwyck and they said “We offered this to Ginger Rogers but she’s turned it down, would you be interested?” And she read the script and she said; “You bet! I LOVE playing common broads. [link]"

[davidhudson]

Ruan Lingyu, April 26, 1910 – March 8, 1935.

Wu Yonggang’s The Goddess (1934).

[perioddramapolls]

Period dramas dresses tournament: Green dresses Round 1- Group A: Ruan Lingyu, Center stage vs Mary Crawley, Downton abbey (gifset)

[letsmakefingerfive]

LINGLONG MAGAZINE, 1931.

photo sources

[love1kimono]

Ruan Lingyu, 1934

Scanned from the book "Art Deco 1910-1939", edited by Charlotte Benton, Tim Benton and Ghislaine Wood.

"Portrait of the Chinese actress Ruan Lingyu. Dian Ying Nu Ming Xing Zhao Xiang Ji, Ruan Ling-yu, Shanghai. Private collection.

[nicolekaptan]

New Women (1935) dir. Cai Chusheng

[picturessnatcher]

Táo huā qì xuě jì [The Peach Girl] (Bu Wàncāng , 1931)

[toezier]

ruan lingyu in the goddess (1934)

[cinematic-explorations]

“ The film that confirmed Maggie Cheung as one of the leading lights in 90s and 00s Hong Kong cinema, Stanley Kwan's biopic of 1930s silent film star Ruan Ling Yu is a thoughtful, tasteful and psychologically ambitious period piece. “

(via SCREEN ON SCREEN: HIDDEN TREASURES - CENTRE STAGE, ENTER THE VOID, SITA SINGS THE BLUES)

[csarracenian]

So, here's Qi Dandan smoking after I finished watching a few Ruan Lingyu movies. She doesn't actually like smoking but she does it anyway, you know how it is.

Apparently, my roommate's mum called today saying "wow Aleksis sure has been drawing some chicks on IG".

God, I've been marked. I'm "the chick drawer" now.

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Eleanor Powell (Born to Dance, Broadway Melody of 1940)— shes in here right

Ruan Lingyu (The Goddess, New Women, Love and Duty)—Ruan Lingyu had an eight year movie career, starting at 16 and ending with her suicide at only 24. Despite this, she made some of the most widely acclaimed films of early Chinese cinema and the BBC called her "China's Greta Garbo." In "Love and Duty," she plays her character as a teen, a young mother, and an older woman beaten down by life AND her teen daughter in an early application of split-screen technology. Lingyu is absolutely unrecognizable as the older woman, yet emotionally the transition is seamless because she does such a good job. Lingyu had a hard life and killed herself after ination [sic] of media scorn and private problems. Her funeral was three days long, the procession was allegedly four miles long, and three women killed themselves during her funeral. The New York Times called it "the most spectacular funeral of the century." I'm adding this to show what kind of hold she had over the public at the time, much like Rudolph Valentino's raucous funeral. I would rather she had lived.

This is round 1 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut]

Ruan Lingyu:

silent era chinese actress who had a subtlety in her acting ability that was way ahead of her time. huge star but her career and life was sadly cut short by damaging publicity

Widely considered one of the best actresses of Chinese silent film

icon of chinese silent cinema known for her luminous beauty, her exceptional acting talent, and her tragic life story

Ruan Lingyu is a movie queen of China’s pre-war era, she mysteriously poisoned herself at age 24, leaving behind a note with the words "gossip is a fearful thing". Her funeral procession was reportedly 3 miles long, with three women committing suicide during the event. The New York Times called it "the most spectacular funeral of the century". It's hard not to believe how iconic and influencial she was after watching her movies, her acting was so nuanced and magnetic, i personally have never seen anything like it before.

Eleanor Powell:

[editor's note: this is unusual, but I feel so terrifically bad about the lack of propaganda for Eleanor Powell, who was known as one of the best dancers on the lot at MGM in the 30s and 40s, that I am making a rare exception to my "I don't post propaganda" rule to include one dance number of hers. It feels unjust to post a dancer and not even let you see them dance.]

[oncanvas]

Ruan Lingyu No.2, Liu Ye, 2002

Acrylic on canvas 23 ⅝ x 17 ¾ in. (60 x 45 cm)

[davidhudson]

Ruan Lingyu, April 26, 1910 – March 8, 1935.

Bu Wancang’s Love and Duty (1931).

[romanceyourdemons]

if i had a nickel for every chinese actress who starred in a biopic about a controversial actress who committed high-profile suicide and then committed suicide herself shortly afterward, i'd have two nickels (ai xia/ruan lingyu and pauline chan/crystal suen). which is not a lot, but it's definitely enough to get me superstitious

[magicwingslisten]

Ruan Lingyu 

神女 (The Goddess) 1934

[ronnymerchant]

Chinese Actress Lingyu Ruan

1910-1935. She commited suicide.