Abstract

The article is concerned with Elsa Lanchester as an anti-star figure in British Cinema in the 1920s. It makes a comparison with the performance style of Alexandra Khokhlova in films made with the Kuleshov Workshop in Russia, suggesting that both actresses drew on a similar range of sources (notably, Bode, Duncan, Jaques-Dalcroze and Chaplin). While both seem willing to parodize themselves, embracing ugliness, their eccentrism simultaneously provides something of an ironic commentary on the ideal feminine “types” presented by Hollywood and Hollywood’s commodification of particular notions of feminine beauty.