Shame I missed this thread..some great images. Can't help truly admiring 'babes' from 40s to 60s (mostly, to try and focus a bit) and wondering about what constitutes 'beauty' when looking at women considered 'hot' in 80s flicks and thinking 'nah' (the hair! the shoulder pads! the make-up! no, no, no). Whereas any 'hot' woman from the eras I've mentioned just looks superb (as many of you have demonstrated).
No idea about today not being an avid follower of modern film (old fart, I know). - but the ones I see who may be beautiful are often busting out all over the shop thus negating aspects I treasure such as sophistication and subtlety - admittedly these were imposed by censorship in days of old, thus the aesthetic I treasure evolved (I'm no fan of the big, blonde and busty types of the 50s either).
To me there's a beauty in, say, Veronica Lake, that can't easily be defined...a kind of mystique, if you like. Anna K as presented by that pretentious bastard/lover JLG I could watch forever...not lustily...just...(rendered speechless).
Someone mentioned clothes? (did they?). Everyone looks a mess today - fact. Men and women - no class...bus it down Oxford Street from the top deck and look for style that isn't lazy street 'chic' or plain boring.
I'm so unhip (?) I think the clothes maketh the movie stars of old as much as their faces/figures - whereas today's vulgarians seem to have to show a lot more, have bigger lips'n'tits...yawn.