Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1942: Joseph Cotten in The Magnificent Ambersons and Results

Joseph Cotten did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Eugene Morgan in The Magnificent Ambersons.

Joseph Cotten once again collaborates with Orson Welles in the role of Eugene Morgan a wealthy industrial whose life is very much intertwined with the the lives of those Magnificent Ambersons. As I wrote in my review of Holt's performance as the Amberson heir George, Welles, in the early scenes of the film, purposefully creates a false golden age as we first meet the characters. Cotten, unlike Holt, gives a fairly natural portrayal of the golden age for his character though. In his portrayal Cotten gives just enough charm to his role to make his character likable enough as well as with the right warmth to establish that Eugene certainly cares for his daughter Lucy (Anne Baxter), and in general just wants to see everyone happy in the simplest of ways. It's technically relatively simple, but Cotten never makes it seems as there is nothing, and just makes Eugene honestly a kind man.

Problems arise though when it becomes obvious that Eugene and George's mother Isabel have been in love for some time, and Eugene's presence is because of his desire to pursue this relationship once more after the death of George's father. Although George reacts quite harshly to this revelation Eugene's behavior is nothing to get in arms about. Cotten portrays in a wholly humble and fairly sweet fashion creating the needed sympathy for Eugene while showing George to be a word I won't write here. Anyway though George puts an end to it all by throwing a tantrum leaving Eugene alone. Cotten is moving enough showing Eugene basically just accepting this result in a quiet and somber fashion. The film keeps it fairly simple and short though but Cotten certainly makes us understand and care for his character's plight.

Cotten is consistently good here with some standout moments throughout, particularly his monologue about automobiles, but the material never allows Cotten do anything that notable with the role. He definitely is never bad in anyway, and he definitely steals every scene he shares with Tim Holt but that's not too much of challenge. Whenever he is on screen Cotten realizes Eugene properly as character, and he certainly allows you to understand and empathize with his character. The film is a brief one and the story of Eugene's love and loss seems to be one of the aspects of the film that was perhaps cut a little too short leaving Cotten's impact somewhat diminished. Cotten does solid work in every regard there just is not enough here to allow him to truly make something memorable with the role of Eugene Morgan.

Other Performances:

Roddy McDowall in The Pied Piper - Good Child actors are sometimes hard to come by and bad ones can almost ruin a film like say those atrocious ones in Watch on the Rhine. Luckily The Pied Piper has two of the best from the period with McDowall and Peggy Ann Garner. McDowall plays the overly smart type kid character with a few too many comebacks, which could spell disaster for most. McDowall though does it with such a considerable amount of charm and grace. I particularly found his chemistry with Woolley very endearing and they played off each other in such a wonderful and rather funny fashion. My major complaint with the film is later developments in the plot pushes McDowall to the background and there really is something lost there. The only problem with this performance is how little there is of it, the film never seemed to notice the gold they had with McDowall and Woolley.

Laird Cregar in This Gun For Hire - The more I see of him the more I think perhaps Cregar should be mentioned along with the likes of John Cazale when speaking of a great actor whose career was tragically cut short. Cregar has such a tremendous screen presence which he makes of great use as the liaison between Alan Ladd's hit man and a business man. Cregar has such a unique style about himself and he's one of those actors who is just fun to watch acting. This works well for the role of the weasel he plays here who is quite timid about death even though he is the man who hands out the money to cause death. Cregar makes it that, so you can't help but be a little sorry for his overly gentle fool, who is almost positively petrified by how black everything gets around them. Cregar has a very Peter Ustinov like quality about himself as the way he moves and deliveries his lines as the coward just has the perfect comedic tinge to it. Cregar made me enjoy his performance so much I actually was rather sad to see what happens to his character at the end of the film. It's a nice bit of work and shows his range as he manages to proves himself capable of playing a commanding character through his portrayal of Henry Morgan also in 1942.

Claude Rains in Now Voyager - Claude Rains, a noted player of villains, plays quite against that type as the doctor who plans on helping Bette Davis's character who is about to suffer a nervous breakdown because of controlling behavior of her cold mother. Rains does not have a huge role in the film showing up in various key turning points in the film basically to facilitate the best out of Davis's character. Rains, despite being such an expert at playing viscous could men, is quite adept a playing a warm one. Rains is performance is really quite strong here because it is not just the tender way he speaks that makes his character such a comforting factor. No Rains goes further than that with his performance as through his body language he conveys perfectly always a strong sense of empathy. When Davis character first appears the way Rains interacts and moves with the right delicacy and care.  The doctor just wants to help her get better, succeeding in doing so, and that is extremely easy to believe as Rains is so good at making the doctor so genuinely good. I liked every moment he appeared in the film, and like the other performances mentioned thus far I certainly could have gone for more of him.

I'm sure there's someone who's going to like this ranking.

Overall Rank:

1. Claude Rains in Casablanca
2. Claude Rains in Now Voyager
3. Laird Cregar in This Gun For Hire
4. Claude Rains in Kings Row
5. Claude Rains in Moontide
6. Laird Cregar in The Black Swan 
7. Otto Kruger in Saboteur
8. Pierre Larquey in The Murderer Lives At Number 23
9. Noel Roquevert in The Murderer Lives At Number 23  
10. Jean Tissier in The Murderer Lives At Number 23
11. Roddy McDowall in The Pied Piper
12. George Sanders in The Black Swan
13. Walter Huston in Yankee Doodle Dandy
14. Peter Lorre in Casablanca
15. Joseph Cotten in The Magnificent Ambersons
16. William Demarest in The Palm Beach Story
17. Alexander Knox in This Above All 
18. Walter Brennan in The Pride of the Yankees
19. Otto Preminger in The Pied Piper
20. Tully Marshall in This Gun For Hire
21. Norman Lloyd in Saboteur
22. Sydney Greenstreet in Casablanca
23. William Bendix in Wake Island
24. Paul Henreid in Casablanca
25. Thomas Mitchell in This Above All
26. Charles Coburn in Kings Row
27. Bernard Miles in In Which We Serve
28. Stanley Ridges in To Be Or Not To Be
29. Thomas Mitchell in Moontide
30. Henry Travers in Mrs. Miniver
31. Robert Preston in Wake Island
32. Paul Henreid in Now Voyager
33. Rudy Valee in The Palm Beach Story
34. S.Z. Sakall in Casablanca
35. Thomas Mitchell in The Black Swan
36. Frank Morgan in Tortilla Flat
37. Jimmy Durante in The Man Who Came to Dinner
38. Robert Stack in To Be Or Not To Be
39. Ray Collins in The Magnificent Ambersons 
40. Anthony Quinn in The Black Swan
41. Philip Dorn in Random Harvest
42. Brian Donlevy in Wake Island 
43. S.Z. Sakall in Yankee Doodle Dandy
44. Anthony Quinn in Road to Morocco
45. Robert Preston in This Gun For Hire
46. Sheldon Leonard in Tortilla Flat
47. Reginald Owen in Mrs. Miniver
48. Donald Meek in Tortilla Flat
49. Richard Travis in The Man Whho Came To Dinner
50. Richard Ney in Mrs. Miniver
51. Richard Whorf in Yankee Doodle Dandy
52. Akim Tamiroff in Tortilla Flat

Next Year: 1997 lead

Read More

Alternate Best Actor 1943: Results

5. Claude Rains in The Phantom of the Opera- Rains is held back by his film but he manages to be both rather sympathetic, and effectively evil in this film.

Best Scene: The Phantom's Face is revealed.

4. Henry Fonda in The Ox-Bow Incident- Fonda is overshadowed by other elements in his film, but he is consistently solid and exceptional in one scene.

Best Scene: Gil reads Donald Martin's letter.

3. Charles Laughton in This Land is Mine- Laughton gives a strong performance that makes the transition from cowardice to bravery believable.

Best Scene: Albert watches as his friend is executed.

2. Roger Livesey in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp- Livesey's performance is one of the finest examples of portraying the progression of a character over time and through experiences.

Best Scene: Candy reunites with Theo.

1. Joseph Cotten in Shadow of a Doubt- Good Prediction Psifonian feel free to name a request. Cotten easily wins this year with his incredible charming and chilling performance as a man with dark secret he wants to hide.

Best Scene: Uncle Charlie tells young Charlie about the true nature of the world.

Overall Rank:

1. Joseph Cotten in Shadow of A Doubt
2. Roger Livesey in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
3. Paul Lukas in Watch on the Rhine
4. Charles Laughton in This Land is Mine
5. Joel McCrea in The More the Merrier 
6. Mickey Rooney in The Human Comedy
7. Henry Fonda in The Ox-Bow Incident
8. Claude Rains in Phantom of the Opera
9. Humphrey Bogart in Sahara
10. Franchot Tone in Five Graves to Cairo
11. Susumu Fujita in Sanshiro Sugata
12. Don Ameche in Heaven Can Wait
13. Gary Cooper in For Whom The Bell Tolls
14. Walter Pidgeon in in Madame Curie

Next Year: 1943 Supporting

Read More

Alternate Best Actor 1943: Claude Rains in Phantom of the Opera

Claude Rains did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Erique Claudin the titular character of Phantom of the Opera.

This version of the classic story about mysterious man who hides in an opera house and tries to help a young upcoming singer is a particularly weak version. Almost every character is dull, the love triangle of the film (which doesn't consist the Phantom) is very poorly done.

I say almost every character is dull because there is just one character who is not played by the always competent Mr. Rains. This version of the phantom begins as a violinist at the Paris Opera house. He is a career performer who finds his talent fading when he begins to suffer a physical ailment in his hand. He is fired, and has no money because he has funded the musical training of the young singer Christine. Rains is really good in these early scenes at being just a sympathetic fellow. He is so unassuming but charming, and the scene where he plays his lullaby is beautiful as Rains reflects the love Claudin has for his art. He shows that he is a perfectly honest man who and his helping of Christine is entirely pure.

Rains makes us feel sorry for Claudin effectively, and honestly I think I would have preferred if this film followed the musician down an inspiring path. This is not the case as Rains returns to his Universal monster roots in this film after Claudin finds a man is trying to steal his music which results in him killing the man, and someone else scarring him with acid. This is all probably a bit too sudden for its own good making it so Rains has to turn up to 11 a little too fast. He does as well as he probably could in portraying the sudden insanity in Claudin because he set up how passionate Claudin was about the music. It still seems a bit too far, but Rains does not fail in this despite the extreme limitations put upon him by the story.

Once he becomes the Phantom we don't see all that much of Rains and not just because he is wearing a mask. The film is too busy spending time with the downright boring characters. When Rains does show up he manages to lighten up the picture a bit with the energetic evil he has in the role of Phantom, although even this is a bit limited since the film spends very little time with his villainous deeds. He gets to do more in the climax of the film when the Phantom kidnaps Christine. The film fails in that it did not create a pseudo romantic, or even mentor type relationship between the two beforehand, but Rains gives it the good old Thespis try to make up for the film's inadequacies.

In the climax Rains tries hard to bring some conviction to his part, and does have one very good scene when he plays the piano with Christie singing. Rains's expression of sheer glee is a pretty brilliant way of showing how Claudin's pure love for music has turned into the phantom's deranged perverse obsession. Anyway this far too short scene is interrupted by Christine removing his mask. Rains is rather moving once again seeing the defeated Phantom with nothing left, and makes him the tragic figure he should be. The film again quickly ends as there is a cave in and the Phantom appears to have died. Rains is lead, but very limited by the grasp of the film. Rains does give a solid performance through the little he has, and is easily the best part of the film even though that is not saying all that much.

Read More

Alternate Best Actor 1943

And the Nominees Were Not:

Henry Fonda in The Ox-Bow Incident

Roger Livesey in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Joseph Cotten in Shadow of a Doubt

Charles Laughton in This Land is Mine

Claude Rains in Phantom of the Opera

Read More

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1938: Basil Rathbone in The Adventures of Robin Hood, Pat O'Brien in Angels With Dirty Faces, Edward Arnold in You Can't Take It With You, and Results

Basil Rathbone did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Sir Guy of Gisbourne in The Adventures of Robin Hood.

One must really question what the academy is thinking sometimes like in 1938 when they nominated Basil Rathbone for his performance in If I Were King instead of his performance in The Adventures of Robin Hood which was nominated for best picture. Rathbone's performance in If I Were King is a rather strange one playing the scheming King of the film like a kooky old man for some reason. Rathbone in The Adventures of Robin Hood, as the main physical threat to Robin Hood, gives the much stronger performance then in his Oscar nominated turn.

Sir Guy actually is not the most complex of parts, as he is the bad guy who definitely wants to kill Robin Hood, and at least at first wishes to marry the Maid Marian for himself. There technically is not too much more of him so the rest is really left to Rathbone. Firstly Rathbone is the right physical presence for the role. When he fights he has that right menace to seem the appropriate threat to Robin Hood. More than that though Rathbone plays off Errol Flynn well by counteracting the pleasure Flynn shows in his role, with pleasure in Guy when he tries to kill Robin Hood, a different kind of pleasure though a sadistic pleasure.

Past the action scenes though Rathbone handles Guy well particularly in his relationship to Maid Marian. Although at first Rathbone shows an interest in her as more of for a prize more than anything else, but this soon changes to brief frustration then quickly suspicion when Robin Hood seems to be having a little too much help. Rathbone is very good in his portraying the cunning in Guy as he figures out what Marian is doing, and he does well to make Guy more than just the man who Robin constantly gets the upper hand on.

Rathbone plays the straight villain quite well here while leaving Claude Rains to play the much more flamboyant role of King John. Rathbone does well not to try to attempt to one up Rains in any way instead while Rains takes the high road Rathbone takes the low road. He allows Rains to be the villain who just loves being a villain while he acts the far more serious threat who actually attempts to figure out way to kill Robin Hood. Rathbone stands well within the film allowing Flynn and Rains to be the more lively presences, but all the while making his own impact as the real threat in the film.

Pat O'Brien did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Fr. Jerry Connolly in Angels With Dirty Faces.

Pat O'Brien plays the adults of one of two boys who committed small time crimes when they were young. There difference came in that Jerry was able to outrun the police whereas Rocky (James Cagney) was not able to get away. This created their paths in life with Rocky only becoming more hardened in prison, and slowly becoming a man deeper into the life of crime, whereas Jerry took a very different path becoming a priest who only wishes to do good to help his community particularly the neighborhood boys who could either take the right path or fall into crime as Rocky did.

O'Brien actually has a rather similar role to Spencer Tracy's Oscar winning role in Boys Town. O'Brien's performance and the role though are far more complex than Tracy's work though. One of the best parts of Angels with Dirty Faces is the fact that the good priest and the bad criminal are friends in the film. This might not have worked so well but O'Brien and Cagney, who were best friends in real life, have terrific chemistry together. They just have such a natural warmth to one another and both Cagney and O'Brien suggest the past with one another incredibly well, and O'Brien does well to suggest that Jerry does have a certain nostalgia for his days as a juvenile delinquent along with Rocky.

Jerry and Rocky due come into conflict due to Rocky still engaging in criminal activities well Jerry is trying to stop the criminal activity in the neighborhood. O'Brien is excellent in portraying the humble conviction in Jerry as he tries to stop Rocky from corrupting the boys who idolizes him. The reason O'Brien is so effective though is that within his strong passion for his cause he does as well express his friendship with Rocky. O'Brien suggests that to a certain extent that pressing Rocky in this way does pain Jerry. O'Brien is very genuine as he shows that although he hates what Rocky stands for, he cannot ever forget his strong friendship with him.

O'Brien by always being genuine in portraying how he feels about Rocky gives a true power to his character, and never for a moment does he make Jerry seem the least bit sanctimonious. Near the end of the film Jerry asks Rocky to swallow his pride and do something good with his final moments by pretending to yellow before he is executed that way the boys will not look up to Rocky. This is a difficult scene for O'Brien as Jerry is asking Rocky for a lot in what is his final moments. O'Brien though absolutely earns the moment though because O'Brien is able to express the heartbreak in the scene as it is not just anyone he is asking to go out like coward, its his best friend.

O'Brien performance is essential to the film as one could easily be distracted by all the gangster half of the picture, and actually forget about O'Brien part. O'Brien does not allow that instead he and Cagney make the dynamic between the lives of Jerry and Rocky the best part of the picture. O'Brien's Jerry acts as the perfect anchor to Cagney's Rocky, as he takes the high flying action of the mob dealings and takes it down with the true weight of what those actions bring. The very best moment of O'Brien's performance comes at the end when he asks to boys to pray for the boy who could not run as fast he could. O'Brien gives the line the true poignancy it deserves and makes the conclusion of the film truly heartbreaking.

Edward Arnold did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Anthony P. Kirby in You Can't Take it With You.

You Can't Take it With You is a nicely handled film by Frank Capra about the clash between a family of free spirits the Vanderhoffs and rich stuffy family.

Edward Arnold plays the head of the rich family who is on the verge of a take over. Arnold is a bit of an underrated character actor of the period who often plays rich and powerful types. Arnold when given the opportunity could do more with his roles than just be commanding in his presence, even though he could be commanding with ease to. At the beginning of this film he plays mostly the rich man who does not seem to care too much about anything other than making more money even if that means walking over his colleagues or demolishing peoples homes if they interfere with his plans.

Arnold is always good at being the rich Scrooge type with his strong forceful personality. Where many actors might have been just only been the rich man, Arnold does bring some nice bits of humanity in the part. Importantly they are short rather subtle moments so no one would think he isn't a ruthless business man, but Arnold does bring these short little moments to establish that there is another man in there trying to get out. These short reactions are very well handled by Arnold such as when shows that Kirby does enjoy some of the antics of Vanderhoff family while his wife is completely appalled by their behavior.

Where every other character in the film is pretty much set in their various roles, Arnold has the one role that changes throughout the course of the film. The change is played out in Arnold's performance in an almost exclusively silently fashion. Arnold therefore has to carry most it himself and he does not disappoint in this regard. He conveys the internal struggle in Kirby in brief little moments that are very well handled. He shows so much in just the way Kirby looks as the harmonic he got from the Vanderhoff's home, and he expresses just how much Kirby honestly wishes to break out of his life.

When Kirby does have its turn around it not only is moving, but it is as well entirely believable because Arnold plants the seeds of the change earlier in the film. Arnold carefully does not go to far with the moments beforehand and does make Kirby the hard shell he should be as well. He earns this change in Kirby, and enables to to have the impact on the film it should. He is the one that makes the very last scene as heartwarming as it is because he only ever portrayed an honest transition from a man who only cares about money to a man who wants to enjoy life for all that its worth.

Other Performances:

Claude Rains in The Adventures of Robin Hood- As I said in Rathbone review Rains gives the flamboyant villain turn in the film, and actually gives the performance Rathbone should have given in If I Were King. Rains is no stranger in playing evil characters, and Rains usually finds a one to make one evil baddie at least a little different from another. As Prince John Rains plays him as a man who was always a spoiled brat. He does this rather well and is quite good in showing his tyrannical behavior mostly comes from childlike selfish sensibility. Rains is very good in taking the limited role and making entertaining by adding this little eccentricity. It also adds much more to his character by showing why exactly Prince John would act the way he does. Prince John could have been a one note jerk. Rains does more than that though by playing him as a fancy boy, and giving a fairly entertaining performance.

Lew Ayres in Holiday- Lew Ayres plays Katherine Hepburn's brother Ned who is both a musician and a drunkard. Ayers basically does two things in this role saying cynical lines that refute his father's view of the world or cynical lines that support Cary Grant's character's views. Ayres does this rather well actually as always the somber, but not sober source of wisdom. There is not a whole lot for him to do, and unfortunately he doesn't really get to get on the more comedic moments of the film. He does fulfill his part of the story rather well though.

Overall Rank:

1. Pat O'Brien in Angels With Dirty Faces
2. Edward Arnold in You Can't Take It With You
3. Basil Rathbone in The Adventures of Robin Hood
4. Claude Rains in The Adventures of Robin Hood
5. Walter Brennan in Kentucky
6. Robert Morley in Marie Antoinette
7. James Stewart in You Can't Take It With You 
8. Lew Ayres in Holiday
9. Ralph Richardson in The Citadel 
10. Paul Lukas in The Lady Vanishes
11. Humphrey Bogart in Angels With Dirty Faces
12. Ralph Richardson in The Divorce of Lady X
13. Basil Radford in The Lady Vanishes
14. Gene Lockhart in A Christman Carol
15. Naunton Wayne in The Lady Vanishes
16. Wilfrid Lawson in Pygmalion
17. Billy Halop in Angels With Dirty Faces
18. Harry Davenport in You Can't Take It With You
19. Fernard Ledoux in The Human Beast
20. Joseph Schildkraut in Marie Antoinette
21. Edward Everette Horton in Holiday
22. Walter Catlett in Bringing Up Baby
23. James Finlayson in Block-Heads
24. Cecil Parker in The Lady Vanishes 
25. Rex Harrison in The Citadel
26. Claude Rains in Four Daughters
27. Cecil Parker in The Citadel
28. Billy Gilbert in Block-Heads
29. Leo Gorcey in Angels With Dirty Faces
30. Eugene Palette in The Adventures of Robin Hood
31. Misha Auer in You Can't Take It With You
32. Nikolay Okhlopkov in Alexander Nevsky
33. Charles Ruggles in Bringing Up Baby
34. George Bancroft in Angels With Dirty Faces 
35. Barry Fitzgerald in Bringing Up Baby
36. Andrei Abrikosov in Alexander Nevsky
37. Joseph Calleia in Algiers
38. Ian Hunter in The Adventures of Robin Hood
39. Frank McHugh in Four Daughters
40. Gene Lockhart in Algiers
41. Donald Meek in You Can't Take It With You
42. Herbert Mundin in The Adventures of Robin Hood
43. Samuel S. Hinds in You Can't Take It With You
44. Leo G. Carroll in A Christmas Carol
45. Melville Cooper in The  Adventures of Robin Hood
46. Henry Kolker in Holiday
47. John Garfield in Four Daughters
48. Barry MacKay in A Christmas Carol
49. John Barrymore in Marie Antoinette
50. Basil Rathbone in If I Were King
51. Tyrone Power in Marie Antoinette
52. Terry Kilburn in A Christmas Carol

Next Year: 1994 lead

Read More

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1949: Results

5. Kirk Douglas in A Letter To Three Wives- Douglas is effective as usual with his natural charm and intensity. His role though is rather limited, and he lacks that needed chemistry with his on screen wife.

Best Scene: George dissects radio advertisements. 

4. Edmond O'Brien in White Heat- O'Brien's role is overshadowed by Cagney's but he serves his part well as the man of two faces one a loyal gangster and the other a humane face within all the insanity.

Best Scene: Fallon is found out. 

3. Claude Rains in The Passionate Friends- Rains is terrific here taking a thankless role and with it stealing the entire film through his genuine portrayal.

Best Scene: Howard stops Mary's suicide attempt. 

2. Orson Welles in The Third Man- Welles appearance in this film is brief yet he makes a tremendous impact through very memorable portrayal of the slick yet slimy Harry Lime.

Best Scene: Lime's intro.

1. Alec Guinness in Kind Hearts and Coronets- Good Prediction RatedRStar, George Woolf, and Michael Patison. This was a very close choice between Welles and Guinness as there roles are very different. Where Welles plays one short role brilliantly, Guinness portrays eight different roles. Guinness succeeds incredibly in his roles as he manages to be both visible and invisible at the same time. He does something individual and special for each character leaving a very memorable impression.

Best Scene: The Parson indulges in a drink. 

Overall Rank:

1. Alec Guinness in Kind Hearts and Coronets
2. Orson Welles in The Third Man
3. Ralph Richardson in The Heiress
4. Claude Rains in The Passionate Friends
5. James Mason in The Reckless Moment
6. Trevor Howard in The Third Man
7. Edmond O'Brien in White Heat
8. James Whitmore in Battleground
9. Kirk Douglas in A Letter To Three Wives
10. Bing Crosby in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
11. Takashi Shimura in The Quiet Duel
12. Ricardo Montalban in Battleground
13. Bernard Lee in The Third Man
14. Victor McLaglen in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
15. Paul Horbiger in The Third Man
16. Isao Kimura in Stray Dog 
17. Ernest Deutsch in The Third Man
18. Arthur Kennedy in Champion
19. Gen Shimizu in Stray Dog 
20. Shepperd Strudwick in All the King's Men 
21. Shemp Howard in Africa Screams
22. Arthur Shields in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
23. Erich Ponto in The Third Man
24. Paul Douglas in A Letter to Three Wives
25. Kenjiro Uemura in The Quiet Duel
26. Ben Johnson in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
27. Siegfried Breuer in The Third Man
28. Steven Cochran in White Heat
29. Fred Clark in White Heat
30. Paul Stewart in Champion
31. Roy Roberts in The Reckless Moment
32. Dean Jagger in Twelve O'Clock High
33. John Agar in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
34. Harry Carey Jr. in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
35. John Agar in Sands of Iwo Jima
36. John Derek in All the King's Men
37. Raymond Greenleaf in All the King's Men
38. Jules Munshin in On the Town
39. Jeffrey Lynn in A Letter to Three Wives

Next Year: Either 1935 or a special set of nominees. I haven't decided yet. 

Read More

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1949: Claude Rains in The Passionate Friends

Claude Rains did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Howard Justin in The Passionate Friends.

The Passionate Friends is a film that, despite its well worn love triangle story for its basis, does manage to have a few surprises up its sleeve. The most notable being Howard Justin and Claude Rains's portrayal of the character. In this film Claude Rains portrays the husband of Mary (Ann Todd) who refused to marry her true love Steven (Trevor Howard) despite the fact she still holds strong feelings for him. Rains brilliantly portrayed the unlucky part of a triangle similar to this in Notorious. There is a considerable difference though in this case, one being he is not playing an evil Nazi, the other being the way things turn out by the end of the film.

The forgotten husband can sometimes be a thankless part, but Claude Rains knows exactly how to handle this type of thankless part by instead turning such a role into the best part of the film. Early on in the film we see Howard and Mary together. Their chemistry is of course not all like Mary's and Steven's. Rains though importantly shows that Howard very much does care for his wife in an understated but still very affectionate fashion. Although their marriage may have been of convenience at one time Rains portrays an appropriate earnestness in Howard that supports the idea that Howard very much likes being married to wife despite how they may have started off their marriage initially.

A big part of his performance of course comes in his suspicions that Mary and Steven may start their relationship anew. Rains near the beginning has a quick moment where he describes Steven as an enemy before changing to saying he was a friend. Rains is excellent in just this short moment from early in the film because of the playfulness he puts in the statement. Rains shows that there is indeed a concern, but more importantly than anything since Howard is just a normal man he tries to act as appropriately about the situation at first as possible. So Rains properly portrays Howard as basically just trying to laugh off his suspicious.

Of course Howard's suspicions stop being a laughing matter quickly as the signs appear quite quickly that it is a very serious problems. Rains is very effective in his reactionary moments where he notices one particular lie that Mary has told him and Rains carries a great emotional power similar to that found in his performance in Notorious. Of course in this case Rains does not portray it as a defeat as he did so in Notorious as Howard is not nearly as much of defeatist, instead he conveys the heartbreak in Howard properly but behind it a stern resolution to do something about it directly.Rains pretty much steals the entire film once Howard resolves to not put up with being brushed off so easily.

Rains is terrific in all of the scenes where he directly confronts either Steven or Mary over the affair. Rains is excellent in portraying the intensity of Howard's disgust in the way they have been trying to deceive him. He has this great distaste which Rains brings across quite effectively because he does not portray at all like villain, but instead really a righteous man. Rains is so great here because he portrays Howard's disgust not of hate but that of disappointment and sadness over his wife's behavior. The scene where he basically says he never wants to see his wife again. Rains is absolutely heartbreaking because he is able to bring out the conflicting emotions of anger and the love he does hold underneath so beautifully. 

This is such a brilliant performance by Rains that I ended up caring more about Howard then Steven and Mary despite being the sort of character that usually gets the short end of the stick in films like this. This film is different though and Rains makes the most of it especially in his last scene where he both saves Mary's life and offers reconciliation. Rains is terrific in just how much tenderness he brings out in Howard as he shows his forgiveness to only be entirely genuine through the warmth he expresses so well in his performance. Its a very moving scene due to Rains's sympathetic portrayal, and this is particularly interesting to watch considering his knack for playing villains. This is a outstanding performance from the great Rains, and I must say I quite enjoyed seeing Rains get the girl for once.

Read More

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1949

And the Nominees Were Not:

Alec Guinness in Kind Hearts and Coronets

Claude Rains in The Passionate Friends

Orson Welles in The Third Man

Edmond O'Brien in White Heat

Kirk Douglas in A Letter to Three Wives

Read More