themakeupgallery | disguise | wigs

updated: 06/01/2006

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wig & makeup disguises: pre-1980 movies

Der Dritte Generation
Revenge of the Pink Panther
Sumuru
Arabella
Our Man Flint
Gambit
Le Scandale
Marnie
The Avengers
Vertigo
Witness for the Prosecution

These are disguises that reply on a change wig/hairstyle, and different makeup. They have been used by characters in comedies, caper movies, thrillers, Film Noir, TV mini-series, and just about every other movie and TV genre.

Some of them are good but often they leave you with a belief problem: why didn’t he notice she was wearing a wig when he ran his fingers through her hair? why didn’t her husband recognise her? This is not so much a criticism of the makeup as of the storyline: a more complex makeup would often just beg a different set of questions. However Snake Eyes is a good illustration on the amount of work that goes into designing what seems to be a simple and straightforward disguise.

These images are mostly taken from movies and TV programmes from the 1980s: there are separate thumbnail pages from 1980s movies, 1990s movies, and recent movies.