ABSTRACT
Scholarly considerations of film acting invariably begin by asserting that screen acting has been and still remains a neglected area of film scholarship, but this is really not the case anymore. There have been several book-length considerations of film acting, 1 some important anthologies, 2 a significant number of journal articles on film acting, and an abundance of collections of actor interviews. 3 I would still agree with Scott McDonald, however, who asserts that “film studies has yet to provide any sustained inquiry into film acting,” 4 and I would add that the work of the film actress has been particularly ignored. This chapter considers at some length why this is the case. It seeks to move beyond the mere assertion that screen acting, and in particular the study of the film actress, is neglected, to examine a number of problems involved in the study of acting in film and the screen actress in particular.
