#Oscarssowhite? Probably no year was this a truer fact than 1946. An Al Jolson musical biopic got a bunch of nominations and we also have 2 performances in the Supporting Actress category that are just down right racist. One in blackface the other in yellow. Not to be outdone, Jennifer Jones also appears in dark makeup to play a half breed Native American. Aside from that, this is the year of The Best Years Of Our Lives, a terrific film about soldiers coming home from WWII. It's hard to imagine voting for anything else in 1946 but looking at the lineup now it's hard not to vote for It's A Wonderful Life, the Christmas classic that we watch every year.
You can see my GABBY winners and nominees HERE
You can see my GABBY winners and nominees HERE
BEST PICTURE
4. Henry V - Laurence Olivier in a Shakespeare adaptation. If you like Shakespeare there's really no better place to go than this, Kenneth Branagh's 1989 version is just as good, if not a little more inventively staged. Olivier will go on to win Actor, Director and Picture in two years for Hamlet. This is actually a better movie. Hamlet is a little too theatrical for me and looks more like a filmed play than a movie. This movie has terrific sets and costumes and horses and it's filmed in beautiful technicolor. I like this a lot better than Hamlet but knowing that Hamlet is going to win in 2 years, there's no way I could vote for this. Even if Olivier never got an Oscar I wouldn't vote for this. I have a weird thing about Shakespeare at the Oscars. I feel like Shakespeare was probably the first thing ever filmed and it's been done. Should we still be awarding Shakespeare adaptations in 1946? I'd rather give it to an original story. Give it all the technical Oscars you want but keep it out of the big categories.
3. The Yearling - A boy and his deer. I remember watching this as a kid and thinking it was the greatest movie ever made. I think it was the first time I had read a book and then seen the film adaptation so I was already familiar with the characters. Re-watching it, I was surprised to see how well it held up. It's very episodic but the characters are fully realized and the movie is colorful and beautiful. Claude Jarman Jr. is a young boy on a ranch with his parents played by Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman. The boy wants a pet, there's a bear fight, the mother is still solemn from the deaths of her previous sons, the boy's friend dies, he finds a young deer, the deer grows up and starts eating their crops so something has to be done. It also has some of the most impressive animal acting ever filmed. It's a movie dealing with loss, death and hardships through the eyes of a child and is really beautifully done.
2. The Best Years Of Our Lives - So World War II is over and now soldiers are coming back home. This movie follows 3 of our returning boys, Fredric March is married with children and has a bit of a drinking problem, Dana Andrews discovers that his girlfriend has been cheating on him and he has no idea what to do for work after the army and Harold Russell has had his hands blown off and now has to live with metal hooks. Andrews falls for March's daughter and they all go to Russell's wedding at the end. It's a really good movie, a little episodic as we keep cutting back and forth between stories but it's really effective at showing what life was like for these guys who fought for our country and then had to adapt to a life they had forgotten and thought they may never come back to.
1. It's A Wonderful Life - It's a Christmas classic now but the movie didn't do well when it came out, it also came out at the very end of the year to qualify for Oscar consideration and didn't open wide until January 1947. If it had been pushed to 1947 it would have had a better shot at winning some Oscars as Gentleman's Agreement was the Best Picture that year, up against 2 other Christmas classics The Bishop's Wife and Miracle On 34th Street, imagine if all 3 of those were competing against each other. Anyway, if you haven't seen the film it's about George Bailey and we see his life play out to present day where he is really having a rough time. He's about to jump off a bridge when he is visited by an angel who shows him what life would be if he was never born. He sees what his loved ones would be like if they never met him and he's extremely touched and is now so happy to be alive. It's one of the most uplifting movies of all time. People watch it at Christmas just because it's Christmas themed but it works no matter what the season is. It just makes you feel good.
There's no way It's A Wonderful Life could beat The Best Years Of Our Lives in 1946. Not only was Best Years the highest grossing movie of the year but it was about soldiers coming home from the war and dealing with everyday life. That's the exact story people wanted at the time. Weird thing about the 2 movies, It's A Wonderful Life is uplifting and tells you to cherish what you have, Best Years Of Our Lives is kind of depressing, three soldiers are having a really difficult time adjusting after the war and at the end you are left thinking that the real battle has just begun. I would think after a major war you would want some escapism but people flocked to the dark movie about PTSD. Best Years is a really good movie and holds up as an Oscar winner but there's no argument that It's A Wonderful Life has stood the test of time more. You've probably seen it more times than most movies. You're reading George Bailey's blog so you can probably guess that I've sat through it a few times.
Oscar Winner: The Best Years Of Our Lives
My Vote: It's A Wonderful Life
GABBY Winner: It's A Wonderful Life
BEST ACTOR
4. Gregory Peck - The Yearling - Peck had a more powerful voice than he had acting talent. His deep baritone provided gravitas to even the silliest of dialogue which made him perfect for playing fatherly figures. Here he plays Pa, and he's sort of like Atticus Finch on the prairie. He takes care of his family and looks after his son who he is trying to turn into a man by giving him more and more responsibilities. Peck is fine in the role but this isn't a performance that needed to be nominated. I would have preferred to see young Claude Jarman Jr. take this spot instead.
3. Laurence Olivier - Henry V - Olivier plays King Henry V and he is as good as you would imagine he would be. I don't like voting for Shakespeare because it just seems so dull. Is Olivier good as Henry V? Yes. Is he the best person to ever play the part? That's very debatable seeing as how the play was written in the late 16th century.
2. Fredric March - The Best Years Of Our Lives - March plays a returning soldier who comes back to his wife and family and he's a little lost in direction. He used to be a bank manager and returns to that job but starts giving loans to other veterans who have little to no collateral. They establish that he has a bit of a drinking problem, he wakes up with a bad hangover and gives a speech to a group of bank managers while drunk but it is never really resolved. In the final scene of the movie he still has a drink in his hands. Honestly, his is the least interesting story of the 3 returning soldiers, Harold Russell has no hands, Dana Andrews is having flashback nightmares and March gets a little too drunk sometimes but decides to keep drinking.
1. James Stewart - It's A Wonderful Life - One of the first lines in the film is "I like George Bailey". That's Clarence the angel talking and you like George Bailey too because of Jimmy Stewart's performance. He's just an incredibly likable guy. The movie starts with George as a little kid, we see him save his younger brother's life and save the job of his drunk employer, then when Stewart takes over he's a young idealist who wants to travel the world. He falls in love and gets married and has kids, takes a job he doesn't want and then realizes that all his old dreams have been replaced by taking care of his kids and looking out for his work and family obligations. He gets so lost in a life he never knew he wanted that he almost throws it all away but is reminded by an angel that he does indeed have a wonderful life. It's a terrific performance, one of Stewart's best, he is incredibly charismatic when he's courting Donna Reed and makes you cry when he's contemplating suicide.
There's only 2 actors here who warrant consideration. There's no way I would vote for Larry Parks lip-syncing in blackface, Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier would win later for better performances. So that leaves Jimmy Stewart and Fredric March, both have won before, Stewart more recently but like I said before, Fredric March is the least interesting character in his film. If only Dana Andrews had been nominated instead I would have easily voted for him but since it's between Stewart and March for a 2nd win, I gotta go with Stewart. Based on who should have 2 Oscars, the vote is Stewart and based on performance alone, the vote is still Stewart. You can picture a number of actors in March's role but Stewart just makes George Bailey so likable when, if you really look at the film, he's not an incredibly likable character. He's going to kill himself because he's had a bad week and he kinda wants to leave his wife and family for a life he never had. Only Jimmy Stewart could make us root for a guy like that.
Oscar Winner: Fredric March
My Vote: James Stewart
GABBY Winner: James Stewart
BEST ACTRESS
4. Jane Wyman - The Yearling - You can only barely call this a lead role. Wyman plays the mother of a family, she looks a little dirty and keeps house, she is still mourning the deaths of her sons and because of that is a tad distant to her living son. While she's good, she doesn't do that much in the film. She really belonged in the supporting category. I'd definitely consider voting for her there but she's not substantial enough to win here. I feel like back in the day there was a stigma to the supporting categories. Now actors in lead roles try to get in to the supporting categories just to be nominated but back then a star would not stoop to be called a supporting actor. Jane Wyman is a leading lady, not some low level bit player.
3. Rosalind Russell - Sister Kenny - This is a biopic about an Australian nurse who treated children with polio. It's standard biopic fare, a woman fights against the system. She finds that a lot of children are suffering from "infantile paralysis" and all the male doctors say that there is nothing that can be done, just let the kid slowly die. She decides to treat the children and eventually becomes successful by seeing results. The movie only works because of Rosalind Russell, she's such a commanding screen presence. The movie is a little dull and Russell really only places 3rd here because she deserved an Oscar during her career, not really for this though.
2. Olivia de Havilland - To Each His Own - I love Olivia de Havilland and think she deserved as many Oscars as they wanted to give her. This movie though, I could just not get into. It's a typical 1940s melodrama and if you like soap opera-like plots this may connect with you but I was just very bored. The movie is told in flashback and we see Olivia as she's being courted by various soldiers during World War I. She spends a night with one soldier before he goes off to battle and she ends up pregnant. She ends up needing an operation that will result in her losing the baby, she agrees but then finds out that the army guy has been killed so she risks her life to have his child. An out of wedlock baby would cause a scandal though so she devises a scheme to adopt the baby by placing it on someone's porch who already has a lot of children. They'll find the baby, decide they can't care for it and give it back to Olivia who will raise it as her own, even though it is. The plan backfires and the family adopts the child. Now Olivia has to look after her son from afar and never tell him that she is his mother. The whole movie is building towards a tearful reconciliation that eventually comes with no surprise. Olivia is terrific in the film, because she's Olivia de Havilland, but it's hard for me to vote for a movie I find it hard to sit through.
1. Celia Johnson - Brief Encounter - This is an early David Lean film before he started making big epics like Lawrence Of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago and it's a really great movie. It's very interesting to watch for Lean as a director. This movie has no huge sets, no stars in cameo roles, it's just about 2 people and their emotions, and it's beautiful. Johnson plays a married woman with children who is a bit dissatisfied with her life and at the train station she meets Trevor Howard, who is also married and living an aimless life. They start talking and eventually, over a few meetings start to realize that they are falling in love. They realize that their relationship is approaching infidelity so they slow things down and eventually decide to part ways. They are robbed a proper goodbye when one of Johnson's friends interrupts their final meeting and Howard leaves on a train and she goes back to her husband. Both Johnson and Howard are perfect in this movie and you completely buy their relationship and the fact that they want to be together but can't. Johnson is exceptionally heartbreaking especially in her final scenes when she realizes her almost affair is over and she is left no choice but to go back to a life she doesn't love.
Like I said, I love Olivia de Havilland. As of writing this she is still alive too. She's 101 years old and can still be called one of the greatest living actresses despite not appearing in a film since the 1970s. Giving her the win here feels like they're just giving it to her though. The movie is very sappy and melodramatic and isn't a great display of her talents. She would go on to win for The Heiress, a much better film and performance and get nominated for The Snake Pit, an insanely good performance. It's not a bad win historically because out of all the actresses nominated this year Olivia deserved an Oscar the most, but knowing that she would go on to win another and she was in The Snake Pit where she deserved to win makes me want to vote for the best performance. Even though Celia Johnson never went on to become a household name she deserved to win here because she gave the best performance and she was in the best movie.
Oscar Winner: Olivia de Havilland
My Vote: Celia Johnson
GABBY Winner: Celia Johnson
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
3. William Demarest - The Jolson Story - Oh, how I love William Demarest, I grew up watching him as grumpy Uncle Charley on My Three Sons and grew to love him in the comedies of Preston Sturges. Unfortunately, his only Oscar nomination came for the blackface musical. He's actually the best part of the movie. He plays a vaudeville entertainer who discovers Al Jolson in the crowd and takes him on the road with him. Jolson has a bunch of ideas on how to make the act better but Demarest doesn't listen until Jolson goes on stage in blackface because the usual blackface guy is drunk. Demarest sees Jolson for the star he is and sacrifices his own career to jump start Al's. He then becomes Jolson's manager and stays in the background for the rest of the movie. If William Demarest didn't play this part then there is no way I would consider voting for it for a second but he does bring a certain charm to the part even though he gets sidelined for the last hour of the film.
2. Harold Russell - The Best Years Of Our Lives - Russell is the most sympathetic character in The Best Years Of Our Lives. He is coming back from WWII without his hands, he has hook prosthesis that he uses. He is in love with his girlfriend but is having trouble re-adjusting to his former life because people see him as a monster or an oddity. Harold Russell was not an actor. He actually lost his hands in WWII and was cast because of that fact. He's really good in the movie, playing a character that closely resembles himself. He was actually given a special Oscar this year for "bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans". They gave him that because they didn't think he'd win this category, but he did and became the only actor to receive 2 Oscars for the same performance.
1. Claude Rains - Notorious - Notorious is an Alfred Hitchcock suspense thriller about Nazi hunting. That sentence should probably get you to watch the film if you haven't already. Cary Grant is spying on Nazis and enlists Ingrid Bergman's help to sniff out Claude Rains. Grant and Bergman are in love with each other but both are playing it cool and during the spy operation Rains proposes marriage to Bergman. Grant of course doesn't stop it and acts like it's all part of the job so Bergman assumes that he doesn't have feelings for her and you get a nice little romance involved in this spy thriller. Rains plays a Nazi who begins to suspect that his new bride is a spy so he starts to slowly poison her. Rains is terrific as always, he's always a solid villain. This is not the greatest of his 4 nominated performances (that would be Casablanca) but it is good enough to warrant a career achievement type win and considering this was his last nomination, I found who I'm voting for.
It's hard not to cast a vote for Harold Russell. He's great in the movie, so much so that you wish the movie was about him. The only problem is, Claude Rains never won an Oscar and he was an actual actor, and a great one. So if you were to ask me "Who deserves an Oscar more Claude Rains or a guy who only appeared in 3 movies in 51 years?" The answer is obviously Claude Rains. If I was voting in 1946 it would be really hard not to vote for Russell. It's not a terrible Oscar decision as Russell was great but it really stinks that Rains never won.
Oscar Winner: Harold Russell
My Vote: Claude Rains
GABBY Winner: Lionel Barrymore for It's A Wonderful Life
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
5. The Razor's Edge - This is an adaptation of a novel written by W. Somerset Maughn. I've never read the book or seen the Bill Murray version but I have seen this film and can safely say that it is probably a better book than it could ever be a movie. Tyrone Power, a pretty uncharismatic actor, plays the lead. He is disillusioned with life after fighting in WWI. He doesn't know what to do with his life now and assumes that there must be something more. He leaves his high society life and goes to India and then when he returns he sees the people he left and how their lives have changed. Kind of like It's A Wonderful Life but instead of the main character never being born he was just gone for a couple of years. There's always one movie every year that I just find hard to sit through. As soon as this movie started I was bored and then continued to be bored. It picked up in a few places but never came together as a full film.
4. Henry V - Laurence Olivier in a Shakespeare adaptation. If you like Shakespeare there's really no better place to go than this, Kenneth Branagh's 1989 version is just as good, if not a little more inventively staged. Olivier will go on to win Actor, Director and Picture in two years for Hamlet. This is actually a better movie. Hamlet is a little too theatrical for me and looks more like a filmed play than a movie. This movie has terrific sets and costumes and horses and it's filmed in beautiful technicolor. I like this a lot better than Hamlet but knowing that Hamlet is going to win in 2 years, there's no way I could vote for this. Even if Olivier never got an Oscar I wouldn't vote for this. I have a weird thing about Shakespeare at the Oscars. I feel like Shakespeare was probably the first thing ever filmed and it's been done. Should we still be awarding Shakespeare adaptations in 1946? I'd rather give it to an original story. Give it all the technical Oscars you want but keep it out of the big categories.
2. The Best Years Of Our Lives - So World War II is over and now soldiers are coming back home. This movie follows 3 of our returning boys, Fredric March is married with children and has a bit of a drinking problem, Dana Andrews discovers that his girlfriend has been cheating on him and he has no idea what to do for work after the army and Harold Russell has had his hands blown off and now has to live with metal hooks. Andrews falls for March's daughter and they all go to Russell's wedding at the end. It's a really good movie, a little episodic as we keep cutting back and forth between stories but it's really effective at showing what life was like for these guys who fought for our country and then had to adapt to a life they had forgotten and thought they may never come back to.
1. It's A Wonderful Life - It's a Christmas classic now but the movie didn't do well when it came out, it also came out at the very end of the year to qualify for Oscar consideration and didn't open wide until January 1947. If it had been pushed to 1947 it would have had a better shot at winning some Oscars as Gentleman's Agreement was the Best Picture that year, up against 2 other Christmas classics The Bishop's Wife and Miracle On 34th Street, imagine if all 3 of those were competing against each other. Anyway, if you haven't seen the film it's about George Bailey and we see his life play out to present day where he is really having a rough time. He's about to jump off a bridge when he is visited by an angel who shows him what life would be if he was never born. He sees what his loved ones would be like if they never met him and he's extremely touched and is now so happy to be alive. It's one of the most uplifting movies of all time. People watch it at Christmas just because it's Christmas themed but it works no matter what the season is. It just makes you feel good.
There's no way It's A Wonderful Life could beat The Best Years Of Our Lives in 1946. Not only was Best Years the highest grossing movie of the year but it was about soldiers coming home from the war and dealing with everyday life. That's the exact story people wanted at the time. Weird thing about the 2 movies, It's A Wonderful Life is uplifting and tells you to cherish what you have, Best Years Of Our Lives is kind of depressing, three soldiers are having a really difficult time adjusting after the war and at the end you are left thinking that the real battle has just begun. I would think after a major war you would want some escapism but people flocked to the dark movie about PTSD. Best Years is a really good movie and holds up as an Oscar winner but there's no argument that It's A Wonderful Life has stood the test of time more. You've probably seen it more times than most movies. You're reading George Bailey's blog so you can probably guess that I've sat through it a few times.
Oscar Winner: The Best Years Of Our Lives
My Vote: It's A Wonderful Life
GABBY Winner: It's A Wonderful Life
BEST ACTOR
5. Larry Parks - The Jolson Story - So this is a musical biopic about Al Jolson, the guy who was famous for his minstrel shows. It's hard to watch this movie and not think, half of this movie is a guy in blackface, this is racist. There's never a moment where Al Jolson goes, hey maybe I shouldn't do all this racist blackface stuff. He gets famous by performing in blackface and is applauded for it. OK, so it was a different time then so let's not put modern day racial politics into this and just watch it as a musical biopic. It's completely run of the mill for the time period. We start with Jolson as a young man, see him struggling, he succeeds and he's a great guy. This is far from a "warts and all" biopic and really just paints a picture of Jolson as a great entertainer. As for Larry Parks's performance, he's not incredibly charismatic. His best moments in the movie are when he's singing, you think, wow, this guy sounds exactly like Al Jolson, thing is, he's just lip-syncing to Jolson's recordings, so no for a vote and no for a nomination.
4. Gregory Peck - The Yearling - Peck had a more powerful voice than he had acting talent. His deep baritone provided gravitas to even the silliest of dialogue which made him perfect for playing fatherly figures. Here he plays Pa, and he's sort of like Atticus Finch on the prairie. He takes care of his family and looks after his son who he is trying to turn into a man by giving him more and more responsibilities. Peck is fine in the role but this isn't a performance that needed to be nominated. I would have preferred to see young Claude Jarman Jr. take this spot instead.
3. Laurence Olivier - Henry V - Olivier plays King Henry V and he is as good as you would imagine he would be. I don't like voting for Shakespeare because it just seems so dull. Is Olivier good as Henry V? Yes. Is he the best person to ever play the part? That's very debatable seeing as how the play was written in the late 16th century.
2. Fredric March - The Best Years Of Our Lives - March plays a returning soldier who comes back to his wife and family and he's a little lost in direction. He used to be a bank manager and returns to that job but starts giving loans to other veterans who have little to no collateral. They establish that he has a bit of a drinking problem, he wakes up with a bad hangover and gives a speech to a group of bank managers while drunk but it is never really resolved. In the final scene of the movie he still has a drink in his hands. Honestly, his is the least interesting story of the 3 returning soldiers, Harold Russell has no hands, Dana Andrews is having flashback nightmares and March gets a little too drunk sometimes but decides to keep drinking.
1. James Stewart - It's A Wonderful Life - One of the first lines in the film is "I like George Bailey". That's Clarence the angel talking and you like George Bailey too because of Jimmy Stewart's performance. He's just an incredibly likable guy. The movie starts with George as a little kid, we see him save his younger brother's life and save the job of his drunk employer, then when Stewart takes over he's a young idealist who wants to travel the world. He falls in love and gets married and has kids, takes a job he doesn't want and then realizes that all his old dreams have been replaced by taking care of his kids and looking out for his work and family obligations. He gets so lost in a life he never knew he wanted that he almost throws it all away but is reminded by an angel that he does indeed have a wonderful life. It's a terrific performance, one of Stewart's best, he is incredibly charismatic when he's courting Donna Reed and makes you cry when he's contemplating suicide.
There's only 2 actors here who warrant consideration. There's no way I would vote for Larry Parks lip-syncing in blackface, Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier would win later for better performances. So that leaves Jimmy Stewart and Fredric March, both have won before, Stewart more recently but like I said before, Fredric March is the least interesting character in his film. If only Dana Andrews had been nominated instead I would have easily voted for him but since it's between Stewart and March for a 2nd win, I gotta go with Stewart. Based on who should have 2 Oscars, the vote is Stewart and based on performance alone, the vote is still Stewart. You can picture a number of actors in March's role but Stewart just makes George Bailey so likable when, if you really look at the film, he's not an incredibly likable character. He's going to kill himself because he's had a bad week and he kinda wants to leave his wife and family for a life he never had. Only Jimmy Stewart could make us root for a guy like that.
Oscar Winner: Fredric March
My Vote: James Stewart
GABBY Winner: James Stewart
BEST ACTRESS
5. Jennifer Jones - Duel In The Sun - This is a very boring film but I can see why somebody might like it. It's a big bloated technicolor epic produced by David O. Selznick, it feels like Gone With The Wind in the west. There's just little substance and thinly drawn characters. The worst part of the movie is Jennifer Jones who plays a half breed Native American and you can not believe her in the part at all, mainly because they painted her face up so she looked brown. I like Jones as an actress but there's no way I could ever vote for this, or even nominate it.
4. Jane Wyman - The Yearling - You can only barely call this a lead role. Wyman plays the mother of a family, she looks a little dirty and keeps house, she is still mourning the deaths of her sons and because of that is a tad distant to her living son. While she's good, she doesn't do that much in the film. She really belonged in the supporting category. I'd definitely consider voting for her there but she's not substantial enough to win here. I feel like back in the day there was a stigma to the supporting categories. Now actors in lead roles try to get in to the supporting categories just to be nominated but back then a star would not stoop to be called a supporting actor. Jane Wyman is a leading lady, not some low level bit player.
3. Rosalind Russell - Sister Kenny - This is a biopic about an Australian nurse who treated children with polio. It's standard biopic fare, a woman fights against the system. She finds that a lot of children are suffering from "infantile paralysis" and all the male doctors say that there is nothing that can be done, just let the kid slowly die. She decides to treat the children and eventually becomes successful by seeing results. The movie only works because of Rosalind Russell, she's such a commanding screen presence. The movie is a little dull and Russell really only places 3rd here because she deserved an Oscar during her career, not really for this though.
2. Olivia de Havilland - To Each His Own - I love Olivia de Havilland and think she deserved as many Oscars as they wanted to give her. This movie though, I could just not get into. It's a typical 1940s melodrama and if you like soap opera-like plots this may connect with you but I was just very bored. The movie is told in flashback and we see Olivia as she's being courted by various soldiers during World War I. She spends a night with one soldier before he goes off to battle and she ends up pregnant. She ends up needing an operation that will result in her losing the baby, she agrees but then finds out that the army guy has been killed so she risks her life to have his child. An out of wedlock baby would cause a scandal though so she devises a scheme to adopt the baby by placing it on someone's porch who already has a lot of children. They'll find the baby, decide they can't care for it and give it back to Olivia who will raise it as her own, even though it is. The plan backfires and the family adopts the child. Now Olivia has to look after her son from afar and never tell him that she is his mother. The whole movie is building towards a tearful reconciliation that eventually comes with no surprise. Olivia is terrific in the film, because she's Olivia de Havilland, but it's hard for me to vote for a movie I find it hard to sit through.
1. Celia Johnson - Brief Encounter - This is an early David Lean film before he started making big epics like Lawrence Of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago and it's a really great movie. It's very interesting to watch for Lean as a director. This movie has no huge sets, no stars in cameo roles, it's just about 2 people and their emotions, and it's beautiful. Johnson plays a married woman with children who is a bit dissatisfied with her life and at the train station she meets Trevor Howard, who is also married and living an aimless life. They start talking and eventually, over a few meetings start to realize that they are falling in love. They realize that their relationship is approaching infidelity so they slow things down and eventually decide to part ways. They are robbed a proper goodbye when one of Johnson's friends interrupts their final meeting and Howard leaves on a train and she goes back to her husband. Both Johnson and Howard are perfect in this movie and you completely buy their relationship and the fact that they want to be together but can't. Johnson is exceptionally heartbreaking especially in her final scenes when she realizes her almost affair is over and she is left no choice but to go back to a life she doesn't love.
Like I said, I love Olivia de Havilland. As of writing this she is still alive too. She's 101 years old and can still be called one of the greatest living actresses despite not appearing in a film since the 1970s. Giving her the win here feels like they're just giving it to her though. The movie is very sappy and melodramatic and isn't a great display of her talents. She would go on to win for The Heiress, a much better film and performance and get nominated for The Snake Pit, an insanely good performance. It's not a bad win historically because out of all the actresses nominated this year Olivia deserved an Oscar the most, but knowing that she would go on to win another and she was in The Snake Pit where she deserved to win makes me want to vote for the best performance. Even though Celia Johnson never went on to become a household name she deserved to win here because she gave the best performance and she was in the best movie.
Oscar Winner: Olivia de Havilland
My Vote: Celia Johnson
GABBY Winner: Celia Johnson
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
5. Clifton Webb - The Razor's Edge - Clifton Webb was a pretty fascinating character actor of the 40s. He specialized in playing slightly effeminate, stuffy, high society types in movies like Laura, Sitting Pretty and this film. He was an old queen who was obviously gay but since this was the 40s, nobody mentioned that. Today these roles would be played by David Hyde-Pierce or Ian McKellen. In The Razor's Edge he plays Uncle Elliott, a high society type who loves big cocktail soirees. He's one of the only good things about the film and has a very good final scene. If the movie were better I would consider voting for him but he's up against 4 actors in movies I liked a little more.
4. Charles Coburn - The Green Years - The Green Years is a coming of age story about a young Irish orphan who goes to live with his Scottish grandparents. His great grandfather also lives in the house, played by Coburn, and he likes to drink and tell tall tales and becomes a father figure to the boy. The movie isn't that exciting it's just a portrait of this boy growing up but it is all the more enjoyable because of Coburn. He's the entire show here and was actually top billed in the film, he was the biggest star of the movie, but got nominated in the Supporting Actor category. That actually happened 3 times with Coburn. He played the titular "Devil" in The Devil And Miss Jones and is arguably the lead in The More The Merrier but got nominated for supporting, winning for the latter. He would be a strong contender here for his performance but places 4th just because he's the only guy here who's already won, he actually beat out Claude Rains for Casablanca in 1943.
2. Harold Russell - The Best Years Of Our Lives - Russell is the most sympathetic character in The Best Years Of Our Lives. He is coming back from WWII without his hands, he has hook prosthesis that he uses. He is in love with his girlfriend but is having trouble re-adjusting to his former life because people see him as a monster or an oddity. Harold Russell was not an actor. He actually lost his hands in WWII and was cast because of that fact. He's really good in the movie, playing a character that closely resembles himself. He was actually given a special Oscar this year for "bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans". They gave him that because they didn't think he'd win this category, but he did and became the only actor to receive 2 Oscars for the same performance.
1. Claude Rains - Notorious - Notorious is an Alfred Hitchcock suspense thriller about Nazi hunting. That sentence should probably get you to watch the film if you haven't already. Cary Grant is spying on Nazis and enlists Ingrid Bergman's help to sniff out Claude Rains. Grant and Bergman are in love with each other but both are playing it cool and during the spy operation Rains proposes marriage to Bergman. Grant of course doesn't stop it and acts like it's all part of the job so Bergman assumes that he doesn't have feelings for her and you get a nice little romance involved in this spy thriller. Rains plays a Nazi who begins to suspect that his new bride is a spy so he starts to slowly poison her. Rains is terrific as always, he's always a solid villain. This is not the greatest of his 4 nominated performances (that would be Casablanca) but it is good enough to warrant a career achievement type win and considering this was his last nomination, I found who I'm voting for.
It's hard not to cast a vote for Harold Russell. He's great in the movie, so much so that you wish the movie was about him. The only problem is, Claude Rains never won an Oscar and he was an actual actor, and a great one. So if you were to ask me "Who deserves an Oscar more Claude Rains or a guy who only appeared in 3 movies in 51 years?" The answer is obviously Claude Rains. If I was voting in 1946 it would be really hard not to vote for Russell. It's not a terrible Oscar decision as Russell was great but it really stinks that Rains never won.
Oscar Winner: Harold Russell
My Vote: Claude Rains
GABBY Winner: Lionel Barrymore for It's A Wonderful Life
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
5. Flora Robson - Saratoga Trunk - DaFuh? Notice anything weird about the above picture? You might think, oh, a woman of color was nominated for an Oscar, how progressive of the Academy. Nope, in the same year that the Al Jolson biopic was a huge hit there was also a movie starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman where Bergman has a Haitian maid and a dwarf man servant. The maid role was going to go to either Ethel Waters or Lena Horne but instead they cast British Flora Robson and painted her face black. No god damn way I can vote for this, we're in 1946 not 1927.
4. Gale Sondergaard - Anna And The King Of Siam - Hey, speaking of blackface. We also get Gale Sondergaard in yellowface playing the king of Siam's wife. This is only slightly less racist as this movie also has Rex Harrison playing the king. Robson is the only person playing a different race in her film while here everybody is Charlie Chan-ing it up. Still, no god damn way I'm considering voting for this.
3. Ethel Barrymore - The Spiral Staircase - I really liked The Spiral Staircase. It's just your standard killer targeting women movie but it's so interestingly shot that it keeps you interested. When the killer attacks we see close ups of his eyes and then the reflection of the death in his eyeballs. The movie revolves around a mute girl who is taking care of an elderly woman while there is a killer on the loose. The killer seems to be targeting disabled women so everyone is worried that this girl is next. Barrymore plays the old woman who lays in a bed the whole movie and spouts cryptic messages. She keeps telling the mute girl to get out of the house but everyone thinks she's demented. It's a bit over the top and Ethel already had a win so I'm not voting for her here but it's a fun nomination for a cool flick. Glad she got in the mix and the movie got some recognition.
2. Lillian Gish - Duel In The Sun - I did not like Duel In The Sun, nor did I much care for Lillian Gish's performance. The only reason she's #2 here is because Barrymore has already won and the other 2 performances are racist. Also Lillian Gish had been in movies for almost their entire existence. The lady was in Birth Of A Nation and was still making movies in the late 80's. She plays a cousin to Jennifer Jones who lets her stay on her farm. She doesn't do much in the film. This is a nomination for Lillian Gish, not her performance.
1. Anne Baxter - The Razor's Edge - I did not like The Razor's Edge, until Anne Baxter shows up. We first see her at the beginning of the film, she's so happy to be getting married. Then Tyrone Power leaves the country, when he comes back he visits her in the hospital. She has been in a car accident which killed her husband and child. Then we see her in a saloon and she's a big dirty drunk. Power feels sorry for her so he gets her sober and marries her but she falls off the wagon again when tempted by the jealous ex of Power. She's the best part of the movie and is really a breath of fresh air in a boring film.
OK, so obviously Robson and Sondergaard are out. That leaves Anne Baxter against two old ladies. Ethel Barrymore already has a win so we can take her out of the equation. Anne Baxter is the best part of her movie and Lillian Gish didn't do enough in her film to warrant a veteran win, she should have been nominated for The Night Of The Hunter in 1955 and, much later for The Whales Of August in 1987, both of those performances are worthy of that Don Ameche-like "Let's vote for the oldest nominee" type win. Here, I gotta vote for Baxter. It's not a performance I would normally nominate just because I didn't like the movie but in this field she gave the best performance and looking ahead, she was also great in All About Eve so her winning here means we don't have to consider her there. Lillian Gish should have an Oscar but not for this movie.
Oscar Winner: Anne Baxter
My Vote: Anne Baxter
GABBY Winner: Teresa Wright for The Best Years Of Our Lives
Best Director
William Wyler wins his 2nd of 3 Oscars in this category for The Best Years Of Our Lives. A pretty good decision, Frank Capra was also nominated but already won 3 times so he didn't need a win here. Robert Siodmak would have been a good choice as he was nominated for The Killers but also directed The Spiral Staircase this same year, 2 great genre films.
Best Original Screenplay/Adapted Screenplay/Story
I've never seen The Seventh Veil which won in the original category but I'm pretty sure I would like fellow nominees The Blue Dahlia, Notorious and Road To Utopia better. The Best Years Of Our Lives wins adapted which is good considering that It's A Wonderful Life wasn't even nominated. Then there's the Best Story category which I don't understand what that means. Vacation From Marriage wins, which is whatever.
Best Dramatic Or Comedy Score/Musical Score/Song
I didn't remember the musical score of The Best Years Of Our Lives which won so I had to lookup the soundtrack and it's a worthy winner. The Jolson Story wins in the musical category which is fine as the songs are the best part of that movie. Best Song goes to The Harvey Girls and the tune "On The Atchison, Topeka And The Santa Fe".
Best Sound Recording
The Jolson Story wins over It's A Wonderful Life and The Best Years Of Our Lives. Like I've established in other Oscar Watch blogs, musicals tend to win the Sound categories when nominated.
Best Art Direction - Black And White/Color
Anna And The King Of Siam wins for black and white and The Yearling wins for color. Not sure why this category is divided by color and also not sure why Notorious and The Spiral Staircase were left off the nominees.
Best Cinematography - Black And White
Again, Anna And The King Of Siam wins for black and white and The Yearling wins for color. Again, they are fine winners but only 2 nominees in both categories and no mentions of The Spiral Staircase, Notorious, The Killers, Henry V, Duel In The Sun, The Best Years Of Our Lives or It's A Wonderful Life.
Best Film Editing
The Best Years Of Our Lives wins which is an obvious vote for the Best Picture winner. Nothing very inventive about the editing in the film, I would have picked The Killers.
Best Special Effects
Some ghosts in Blithe Spirit beat out Bette Davis twins in A Stolen Life
Up Next
1959
No comments:
Post a Comment