Monday 17 November 2014

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1946

And the Nominees Were Not:

Henry Travers in It's A Wonderful Life

Lionel Barrymore in It's A Wonderful Life

Roger Livesey in A Matter of Life and Death

Finlay Currie in Great Expectations

William Bendix in The Blue Dahlia

27 comments:

Luke Higham said...

1. Barrymore
2. Travers
3. Bendix
4. Livesey
5. Currie

Louis: Your rating & thoughts on Alec Guinness in Great Expectations.

Michael Patison said...

1. Lionel Barrymore
2. Henry Travers
3. William Bendix
4. Roger Livesey
5. Finlay Currie

Barrymore and Travers are easy to see as the frontrunners, and ranking them against each other is also rather simple. Currie surely plays an iconic character, but I never felt he went anywhere beyond that really and would give him a 3.5 at best (though no lower than a 3). Bendix and Livesey are far more difficult to rank and they could go either way.

On an unrelated note, I have updated my Nightcrawler ratings, and Russo and Ahmed are now 4s as they each add quite well to the movie in their own particular way.

I was also dumb and failed to realize my paper wasn't due this Thursday, so I'll try to get up reviews of Interstellar, Nightcrawler, and Gone Girl early this week. I'll probably write a full one for one of them and then a combination of two short ones for the others (as with my reviews during the Christmas holidays last year).

Maciej said...

1.Barrymore
2.Travers
3.Livesey
4.Bendix
5.Currie

GetDonaldSutherlandAnOscar said...

1. Travers
2. Barrymore
3. Livesey
4. Currie
5. Bendix

I like to live life dangerously ;)

bondfan said...

1. Barrymore
2.Livesey
3. Currie
4. Bendix
5. Travers

moviefilm said...

1) Lionel Barrymore
2) Henry Travers
3) Roger Livesey
4) William Bendix
5) Finlay Currie

Anonymous said...

1. Travers
2. Barrymore
3. Livesey
4. Bendix
5. Currie
I liked but didn't love both Barrymore and Travers (I don't quite love the movie as some do, although it's terrific for sure and both Stewart and Reed are really fantastic, with Stewart in what might be his best performance).

RatedRStar said...

1) Lionel Barrymore
2) Henry Travers
3) William Bendix
4) Roger Livesey
5) Finlay Currie

Robert MacFarlane said...

1. Barrymore
2. Travers
3. Livesey
4. Bendix
5. Currie

GM said...

1. Barrymore
2. Travers
3. Bendix
4. Livesey
5. Currie

JackiBoyz said...

1) Lionel Barrymore
2) Henry Travers
3) Roger Livesey
4) William Bendix
5) Finlay Currie

Scott Gingold said...

1. Travers
2. Barrymore
3. Currie
4. Livesey
5. Bendix

Louis, what are your thoughts & ratings on Marlon Brando in:
1954 - Desiree
1955 - Guys and Dolls
1956 - The Teahouse of the August Moon
1960 - The Fugitive Kind
1961 - One Eyed Jacks
1962 - Mutiny on the Bounty
1963 - The Ugly American
1964 - Bedtime Story
1965 - Morituri
1966 - The Appaloosa
1966 - The Chase
1967 - A Countess from Hong Kong
1967 - Reflections in a Golden Eye
1968 - Candy
1968 - The Night of the Following Day
1969 - Burn!
1971 - The Nightcomers
1976 - The Missouri Breaks
1978 - Superman
1980 - The Formula
1990 - The Freshman
1992 - Christopher Columbus: The Discovery
1994 - Don Juan De Marco
1996 - The Island of Dr. Moreau
1998 - Free Money
2001 - The Score

Michael McCarthy said...

1. Lionel Barrymore
2. Henry Travers
3. Finlay Currie
4. William Bendix
5. Roger Livesey

mark said...

Travers Travers Travers without doubt.

Scott Gingold said...

I'd like to hear other people's thoughts and ratings as well on the above Brando films. I didn't include the ones Louis already reviewed/discussed and I also didn't include The Brave which hasn't gotten a US release yet and probably never will.

Anonymous said...

The only film from the one you mentioned that I've seen is Superman, for which I would probably would give him a 3. I thought he was rather effective in the role although I think the role itself is portrayed in the movie in a rather cold and distant fashion. I liked more the approach to his character in the new film, that was slightly more emotional. On an unrelated note, I've just seen Filth. James McAvoy is just brilliant, an amazing performance from a great actor, I just loved every minute of it. Hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time.

Scott Gingold said...

Thank you Anonymous about Superman. Anyone else on Brando?

Louis Morgan said...

Luke:

Guinness - 3.5(He's not given all that much to do as he only really has one scene that focuses largely on him. Guinness though, as always, is still good at making an impact between the lines though. He's great though in his one scene though where he releases much exposition while pocket at the same time points out Pip's problematic manners. Guinness not only makes this seem natural enough in coming out of someone's mouth but also just quite an enjoyable scene)

Scott:

One-Eyed Jacks - 3(I thought he had some solid moments here and there and altogether I never thought he was bad. As whole though he failed to make that much an impact with the character and it was surprising how much Karl Malden overshadowed him)

Superman - 3(It could easily be looked at as phoning it in but his detached otherworldly approach does work here. There is a definite gravitas he brings to Jor-El monologues, and his performances works. His best scene as Jor-El though is actually in the Donner Cut of Superman II where it is the one scene where he and Christopher Reeve share a scene together)

RatedRStar said...

Brando in Mutiny On The Bounty (2) I think that in the great film year of 1962, one dog turd stands out, and that is the remake of Mutiny, Brando looks like he doesnt care, his british accent is so bad lol its actually painful "YOU BLOADY FOOL", worse than that, he has no chemistry with anyone on screen including his love interest, and WORSE THAN THAT, he isnt even likable at all, he is actually a complete dick, a complete 180 from the performances that Gable (who was classic Gable) and Gibson (who was fiery passionate) gave.

Anonymous said...

Louis, who would you pick for Best Supporting Actress 1978, Angela Lansbury in Death on the Nile or Maggie Smith in California Suite?

Louis Morgan said...

Lansbury

Luke Higham said...

RatedRStar: I just saw Nightcrawler and I thought Gyllenhaal gave the best performance of his career so far and quite possibly the best I've seen this year. So can I have your thoughts on his performance.

Louis: Apart from Interstellar, can I have recent film viewings from the past week and a half.

Louis Morgan said...

St. Vincent
Guardians of the Galaxy

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Thoughts on the films and ratings and thoughts for the casts.

Louis Morgan said...

St. Vincent - (Extremely predictable to be sure, but I did enjoy it well enough due to the leading performance. It never becomes anything great, but I certainly did not mind watching it)

Murray - 4(Murray is most essential to the film's success since he keeps it from becoming pure schmaltz. He does his crude old guy routine in his own way and carefully avoids the pitfalls of this sort of role. Importantly he is actually funny, but he also manages to very much earns the heartfelt scenes involving his character by never making them feel too easy)

Lieberher - 2.5(As child performances go I have seen much worse, but I have also seen much better as well. He's not terrible in the usual kid performance sort of way, but he's just never that good either)

McCarthy - 3.5(This is probably my only exposure to McCarthy so far, but I rather liked her performance. She brought a natural warmth in her scenes with Lieberher, but was also effective in suggesting the weaknesses of her own character)

Watts - 3.5(She actually does the same exact Russian accent that Tina Fey did in The Muppets Most Wanted, although they are both comically absurd performances so I guess that's fine actually as long as I enjoyed Watts's performance, which I did)

O'Dowd - 3(He does not get to do too much but I thought he was pretty good within those limitations)

Guardians of the Galaxy - (I loved it as it was just an enjoyable film from beginning to end. It's one that when someone complains about a plot hole or something I could not care less since it's just such a fun romp)

Pratt - 3.5(Pratt does a good job of standing out among the marvel heroes as he gives a mostly comic performance. He does a great job of being rather funny while leaving just enough room to make the emotions of the few dramatic moments work)

Saldana - 2.5(For the most part I thought she was fine but very much overshadowed by the rest of the Guardians)

Bautista - 3.5(Well I'm glad his casting actually paid off since he's surprisingly good. He does his excessively literal man with the right rather humorous straight face yet he still managed to bring some weight to the moments when Drax mentioned his motivations)

Diesel - (Perfection)

Cooper - 3.5(I really liked his voice work here since I thought it fully disappeared into Rocket as a character rather feeling like an obvious celebrity voice over. He brought the right vicious sardonic quality, and he's also very funny)

Pace - 2.5(He's menacing enough I suppose in that he serves his purpose, but I did not think his performance was that special for the most part. His reaction though at the end though was pure gold, and I'm tempted to move him up to a three just for that)

Rooker - 3.5(I thoroughly loved every moment that he showed up in. He did the rough bounty hunter thing well with the right comic tinge, yet with perhaps just enough warmth beneath that blue skin)

Gillan - 1(The only part of the film I genuinely disliked. If you're going to be one note you better at least be good at that one note. Her note was a cold menace but there wasn't anything even slightly menacing about her performance)

Hounsou - 2.5(A lot like Pace in that I thought he served his purpose and did go beyond for one scene. For Hounsou it was when Ronan was turning on Thanos and Hounsou's reaction was rather funny)

Reilly - 2.5(I don't think his casting was necessary exactly in that the miniscule nature of the role made it slightly questionable. I did enjoy his talking to the Guardians about committing crimes though)

Close - 2(A role like this isn't asking for a lot but I did not feel that Close even brought that)

del Toro - 2.5(I would not have minded if the Collector had gotten a little more screen time since he seemed a character who could have been worthy of it. I did enjoy his weirdness, but he just did not have the material for it to amount to much)

Louis Morgan said...

Oh and Nightcrawler

Scott Gingold said...

Thank you Louis & RatedRStar for the Brando thoughts.