Alternate Best Supporting 1948: Results

5. Lionel Barrymore in Key Largo- Barrymore gives a good performance who brings appropriate weight to the situations of his film.

Best Scene: Temple literally stands up to Rocco. 

4. Robert Ryan in Act of Violence- A limited but effective turn of man filled with hate but also haunted by horrors.

Best Scene: Joe tells about his connection with Frank. 

3. James Stewart in Rope- Although he was miscast Stewart though still gives it his all and manages to still deliver an effective turn.

Best Scene: Cadell sees what his theories has created. 

2. Edward G. Robinson in Key Largo- The role fits like a glove and Robinson properly delivers as the villainous gangster.

Best Scene: Rocco tries to ignore the hurricane. 

1. Alec Guinness in Oliver Twist- Guinness is almost invisible in his role as Fagin through his natural depiction of the character's age and particular manner. He only adds to through his ability to be warm and charming while being an evil schemer.

Best Scene: Fagin catches Oliver looking at his treasure chest. 

Overall Rank:

1. Walter Huston in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
2. Alec Guinness in Oliver Twist
3. Edward G. Robinson in Key Largo
4. James Stewart in Rope
5. Robert Ryan in Act of Violence
6. Lionel Barrymore in Key Largo
7. Ward Bond in Fort Apache
8. Enzo Staiola in Bicycle Thieves
9. Cecil Kellaway in The Luck of the Irish
10. Richard Conte in Call Northside 777
11. Lon Chaney Jr. in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
12. Bela Lugosi in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
13. Richard Haydn in Sitting Pretty
14. Dan O'Herlihy in Macbeth
15. Denis O'Dea in The Fallen Idol
16. Jack Hawkins in The Fallen Idol
17. Basil Sydney in Hamlet 
18. Leo Genn in The Snake Pit  
19. Reisaburo Yamamoto in Drunken Angel
20. Charles Bickford in Johnny Belinda
21. Walter Brennan in Red River
22. Henry Stephenson in Oliver Twist
23. Stanley Holloway in Hamlet
24. Thomas Gomez in Key Largo  
25. Bruce Bennett in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
26. Marius Goring in The Red Shoes
27. Victor McLaglen in Fort Apache
28. Lee J. Cobb in Call Northside 777
29. Cedric Hardwicke in Rope 
30. Terence Morgan in Hamlet
31. Anthony Newley in Oliver Twist
32. Burt Lancaster in Sorry Wrong Number
33. Robert Newton in Oliver Twist
34. Felix Aylmer in Hamlet
35. Walter Burke in The Naked City
36. Francis L. Sullivan in Oliver Twist
37. Roddy McDowall in Macbeth
38. Norman Wooland in Hamlet
39. Berry Kroeger in Act of Violence
40. Stephen McNally in Johnny Belinda 
41. Harry Lewis in Key Largo
42. Alfonso Bodoya in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
43. Alan Napier in Johnny Belinda
44. John Rodney in Key Largo
45. Ed Begley in Sorry Wrong Number
46. Barton MacLane in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
47. John Ireland in Red River
48. Monte Blue in Key Largo
49. Oskar Homolka in I Remember Mama
50. Jose Ferrer in Joan of Arc
51. John Agar in Fort Apache
52. Mark Stevens in The Snake Pit
53. Glenn Strange in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
54. Douglas Dick in Rope
55. Frank Ferguson in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

Next Year: 1963 lead

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Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1948: Lionel Barrymore in Key Largo

Lionel Barrymore did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying James Temple in Key Largo.

Key Largo is an effective thriller about a group of people being held captive by a small group of gangsters inside a hotel while a hurricane rages outside.

Lionel Barrymore is probably best known for his portrayal of the town miser Mr. Potter in It's A Wonderful Life, but throughout his career he played both warm and cold characters. In Key Largo as the handicapped hotel owner he stands as the moral good of the film. He is the man who only wishes to do right and wants to see the evil men punished. At first we me just meet him as he greets his late son's old army superior Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart). In these relatively brief scenes Barrymore establishes James as a man with a warm heart as he expresses the appropriate sadness over his son's death but as well a honest sense of the love he had for his son as he hears the stories from Frank.

The good times do not last and all the people are left to be terrorized by the gangster and his crew of thugs. Barrymore serves two roles and serves them very well in these scenes. Even though he mostly has only quick reactionary moments he makes an impact with each. On one side he brings the weight of the situation to life through showing that James takes every evil that the gangsters commit to heart, and it is only made worse when he is blamed for some of the gangsters actions. His somber expression for these scenes and he shows that the accusations and the evil caused hurts James on a personal level.

Barrymore is given that of the moral high ground as James Temple and he uses it quite well. As seen in It's A Wonderful Life as well Barrymore is very adept at confrontational moments. He terrific here giving the snide but earnest remarks throughout their situation that basically tells the gangsters just how low they are. Barrymore gives each line a strong punch and he makes that despite being confined to his wheel chair he is able to a more harm to the gangsters than some of the able bodied men they face against. Also an actor being brave is a word too often used but one does have to give some respect to Barrymore for the one scene he stands which made especially powerful knowing Barrymore was actually confined to his wheel chair.

Barrymore's performance is not the most complex of the male supporting performances in this film, I will be getting to that performance very soon, but he still makes his mark on the film. Honestly James Temple could have been a very big throwaway part of just the old man who is a doormat for the gangsters and nothing else. I could easily have seen some of the character actors from the period giving such a performance.  Barrymore though makes the most of what he is given and succeeds in being the moral outrage of the film. He is both the face of the real agony caused by the gangsters as well as the voice of reason against the gangster's selfishness and cruelty.

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Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1948

And the Nominees Were Not:

Robert Ryan in Act of Violence

Alec Guinness in Oliver Twist

James Stewart in Rope

Edward G. Robinson in Key Largo

Lionel Barrymore in Key Largo

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