What horseshit.
What about Bresson and his models (he never referred to them as actors since he did not want them to act)? Each of his films is filled with perfect performances that fit nowhere in McNulty's scheme.
What about Hanna Shygulla and Fassbinder where he purposely told her to remove all affect from her voice and mannerisms? (Reminder: BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ is playing April 10-15 at MoMA in NYC. Contact me offlist if you want to go. Those who saw it in Berlin have told me that it looks spectacular now that they were able to restore it to what Fassbinder had intended, but could not achieve due to the technology of the time. Do not let the 15 1/2 running time scare you off. Lbo-talk will be here once the screenings are over).
What about Mizoghuchi and Tanaka?
See:
http://www.latrobe.edu.au/screeningthepast/firstrelease/fr1201/ckfr13a.htm
The only question is whether or not the performances have been intergrated into a film's mise en scene. There is no way to judge a performance outside of the film it is a part of (well there is, but it is idiotic).
A note on Mankiewicz's JULIUS CAESAR:
JLM deliberately had Brutus and Cassius played by British actors and Caesar and Mark Antony played by American ones. The film was one of the earliest responses to the blacklist and McCarthyism (only preceded by Mankiewicz's own PEOPLE WILL TALK in 1951). Nicholas Ray's JOHNNY GUITAR comes a year later and more films will follow after that.
Brando made tapes for JLM with his recordings of all Antony's speeches. Mank says when he heard them, Brando sounded like June Allyson doing Shakespeare. Through hard work, the two of them were able to achieve Brando's performance in the film.
Brian