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: Kirk Douglas in A Letter To Three Wives

Kirk Douglas did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying George Phipps in A Letter to Three Wives.

A Letter to Three Wives tells the story of the turmoil three women suffer after receiving a letter from their mutual friend that she has run off with one of their husbands, although she does not say which one. This is a decent enough film that is rather forgotten despite winning Best Director for Joseph L. Mankiewicz, although William Wyler, William Wellman, and Carol Reed would have been better choices.

The three husbands include Jeffrey Lynn who is quite a dullard, Paul Douglas who is the standard rich guy whose performance is pretty uninteresting although he is pretty good in his last scene. Kirk Douglas is the most interesting of the husbands mostly because he is played by Kirk Douglas. Each of the husbands have some sort of trouble with their wives George Phipps's problems is he feels somewhat emasculated that he makes less that his money than his radio writer drama wife (Ann Sothern), and also becomes rather annoyed by his wife bowing down to the whims of the rather unscrupulous advertisers for the radio.

Douglas gives the best performance in the film which isn't saying too much really, but here he does show his ability to steal scenes in a film in a supporting role in a similar fashion to the way he does it in a leading role. Douglas relies as usual on his ample amount of intensity he has in his possession that he can turn on and off in a matter of seconds but still make it seem entirely believable within his character. He does that here quite well when his character bashes the radio advertisers in particularly brutal fashion which Douglas handles with a delightful energy which gives life to the film well establishes properly the conflict in his character.

Of course Kirk Douglas's whole performance is not intense and he has a few scenes of being just his charming old self which he does so well, and due to his ability to switch from intensity to charm so effective and naturally it really makes the revelations of his character work out properly. This is a good performance by Kirk Douglas but not a great one as his role is very limited, and more importantly he and Sothern really do not have that much chemistry. This luckily is not that much of a problem as they are suppose to be not getting along for most of the film, but it leaves the ending of the film having a fairly minor impact. Entirely on his own though Douglas gives a good efficient performance.

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

Alternate Best Actor 1951: Results

5. Farley Granger in Strangers on a Train- Granger gives a good performance that is likable well never avoiding the weaker aspects of the character. The film belongs to his co-star though.

Best Scene: Guy meets Bruno. 

4. James Mason in the Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel- Mason gives a strong assured performance despite being in a somewhat thankless role.

Best Scene: Rommel gives his final goodbye to his family.

3. Kirk Douglas in Ace in the Hole- Douglas gives a slick and sharp performance that succeeds in portraying both his character's immorality and the eventual conscience he gains.

Best Scene: Chuck finally gains morality. 

2. Robert Walker in Strangers on a Train- Walker gives an amazing villianous turn in this film that is both chilling and a delight to watch.

Best Scene: Bruno stalks Guy's wife. 

1. Alastair Sim in Scrooge- Good Prediction Koook160, and Michael Patison. Sim gives a great performance as the often played Ebenezer Scrooge. He succeeds in every aspect of the role from the cold business man through his transformation than finally an exuberant man who has found a new lease on life. This really is just a matter of having to put someone in first place at the moment. I am not one hundred percent sure of this decision, as each time I think of Walker's performance I feel like I should give him the win. Although this is hardly my final decision the win goes to Sim for the moment.

Best Scene: Scrooge takes up his Nephew's invitation after all. 

Overall Rank:

1. Alastair Sim in Scrooge
2. Robert Walker in Strangers on a Train
3. Montgomery Clift in A Place in The Sun
4. Alec Guinness in The Lavender Hill Mob
5. Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire
6. Kirk Douglas in Ace in the Hole
7. James Mason in The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel
8. Alec Guinness in The Man in the White Suit
9. Kirk Douglas in Detective Story
10. James Mason in Pandora and the Flying Dutchman
11. Arthur Kennedy in Bright Victory
12. Masayuki Mori in The Idiot
13. Farley Granger in Strangers on a Train
14. Humphrey Bogart in The Enforcer
15. James Cagney in Come Fill The Cup
16. Cary Grant in People Will Talk
17. Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen
18. Gene Kelly in An American in Paris
19. Fredric March in Death of a Salesman
20. Robert Taylor in Quo Vadis

Next Year: 1951 Supporting

Read More

Alternate Best Actor 1951: Kirk Douglas in Ace in the Hole

Kirk Douglas did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Chuck Tatum in Ace in the Hole.

Ace in the Hole is a brilliant film about a former big time journalist who tries to make it big again by exploiting a man who has found himself stuck in a cave.

Kirk Douglas is a great actor and delivered not one but two performances worth mentioning in 1951. He was probably closer to being Oscar nominated for his performance in Detective Story as a hardworking but perhaps over zealous detective who goes off the deep end. He portrays the part very well, and even manages to sell the somewhat melodramatic breakdown his character suffers at the end of the film. His even more remarkable performance though comes in Ace in a Hole as Chuck Tatum a news paper man who is rather unscrupulous in his efforts to get a big story.

Douglas early on the film knows how to make Chuck a reporter with a lot of intense ambition in him that probably does not have too many positive aspects to it. Douglas from the start shows Chuck to be a restless man, and clearly some sort of axe to grin and it is clear from the start he will not have too many scrupulous feelings when it comes to desire to make it big again. It would be easy for Chuck Tatum to be just far too unlikable in the way he seems to be so uncomfortable in fairly reasonable surroundings, but Douglas just has so much charisma and energy in the part that he pretty much overrides the inherit problems within Chuck's personality.

Chuck finds his story of a man named Leo who has accidentally gotten stuck in a cave. Chuck seizes this opportunity to its fullest making a literal circus of the tragic event in every way possible and along with Leo's wife tries to take every single profit he can possible take from Leo's poor predicament. Chuck even goes so far as to bribe the local sheriff, and force the rescue effort to take a slow approach to saving Leo to make it so the story lasts even longer. Douglas takes on this immorality with a big smile on his face, and absolutely sells this idea of his careless drive in Chuck that makes him think of only his own profit despite a man's life being in danger.

Douglas is perfectly unabashed in his delivery of Chuck's ambition, and he knows exactly how to do it that he throws himself so much into this that he even brings the audience along in his tireless escapade. Douglas makes just how far Chuck goes believable so far that he even forces Leo's flirtatious wife to play the part of the caring spouse. Douglas just has the right forceful intensity, and joy that shows just how much Chuck loves to build the story up that sets the course of going too far. Importantly Kirk Douglas in the scenes where Chuck talks to Leo has subtle moments of morality which Douglas brings to his performance to just the right degree to build to the conclusion of his performance properly.

Near the end of the film when appears Leo may die due to Chuck forcing the delayed rescue Chuck has a moral revelation. Douglas is quite powerful as Chuck quickly breaks down at seeing just what he has created, and sees how low he has fallen. He loses the joy but the intensity stays now in a hatred. A hatred not only of those others who have profited from it like Leo's wife, but as well a hatred of himself due to his behavior. He absolutely delivers in these pivotal scenes showing just how much Leo's fate really does weight on Chuck by the end. It would have been easy to make Chuck to sanctimonious here, or seem out of character. Douglas finds just the right way to play this end to Chuck by never forgetting the self loathing as well as brilliantly building to this point through his subtle moments beforehand. This a strong slick performance by Douglas which knows exactly how to bring the most out of Billy Wilder's script.

Read More

Alternate Best Actor 1951

And the Nominees Were Not:

Kirk Douglas in Ace in the Hole

James Mason in The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel 

Alastair Sim in Scrooge

Robert Walker in Strangers on a Train

Farley Granger in Strangers on a Train

Read More