Category: Best Acting

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The Picture of Dorian Grey (1945)

Encouraged by the random musings of George Sanders, beautiful Hurd Hatfield wishes that his newly painted portrait could take on the aspects of aging while he remains attractive and youthful. His wish comes true and he is, at least for a time, allowed to engage in his every whim while not exhibiting any of the physical deterioration caused by such. Similar to the messaging of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Hatfield lets his ‘evil’ side out while still being able to initially pass as a ‘good person’ and he does so convincingly. My favorite part of the film is the few uses of color to show off the painting in both its original and later forms.  Supernatural  Horror

Oscar Win: Best Cinematography, Black-and-White

Oscar Nominations: Best Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White

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The Story of Adele H. (1975)

Victor Hugo’s daughter Adele, portrayed by Isabelle Adjani, travelled from the Channel Islands where her father was exiled to Halifax, following a British army officer who had spurned her renewed interest in him. The infatuation was spurred on by an apparent mental illness. Adjani’s performance is particularly strong, capturing a young adult on the brink of womanhood, running toward the natural inclinations for independence and desire for love while being devoured by obsession.

Oscar Nomination: Best Actress in a Leading Role

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The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

In this English language version of the popular Stieg Larsson novel, disgraced journalist Daniel Craig is hired by Christopher Plummer to investigate the disappearance of his niece forty years ago. He’s aided by misanthropic hacker Rooney Mara. I’ve long put off watching this adaptation since I really enjoyed the Swedish language series. While I’ve never read the source material, I’d say the two films are surprisingly fairly equal in their portrayals though the rape scenes in this one are particularly brutal that I had to speed through them. Though its weird having non-Swedes, other than Stellan Skarsgård, feigning Swedish accents, the acting is solid particularly with the two leads and it’s really surprising the series wasn’t continued with them.  Mystery  Thriller

Oscar Win: Best Achievement in Film Editing

Oscar Nominations: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role; Best Achievement in Cinematography; Best Achievement in Sound Mixing; Best Achievement in Sound Editing

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The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)

Plagued by bad luck, desperate farmer James Craig makes a deal with a devilish Walter Huston to trade his soul for seven years of prosperity. When Huston comes back to collect, Daniel Webster, in the form of Edward Arnold, lends his oratory skills to try to win the soul back. It’s a Faustian tale set firmly on American soil, especially with the role of Webster, placing the famed orator’s inability to succeed in presidential elections firmly on his own unwillingness to make a similar deal. Along with Arnold’s robust portrayal, it’s obvious Huston is having a fabulous time in his role, but that’s about all there is to recommend the film. The farmer’s goody two shoes family members become so sanctimonious that the devil’s deal seems worth it to get away from them.  Fantasy

Oscar Win: Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture

Oscar Nomination: Best Actor in a Leading Role

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Nashville (1975)

Nashville’s sweetheart Ronee Blakley comes to town after recovering from an alleged burn accident at the same time a cadre of individuals also descend on the city for various reasons. It’s in most ways a typical sprawling Altman ensemble film with quirky characters and a narrative that goes in many directions while also coming together at points, especially the political rally climax . More than any of his other works, it feels like it is a mirror of the United States in all its highs and lows, particularly at that particularly time period at the cusp of its 200th birthday.   Best Picture Nomination  Music

Oscar Win: Best Music, Original Song

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Actress in a Supporting Role (2); Best Director

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Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)

In 1933, retired schoolteacher Robert Donat falls asleep reminiscing about the last fifty plus years he served at an all-boys British public school. I generally don’t get a lot out of inspirational educator stories, but pleasantly this focuses more on Mr. Chips’s life and how he is affected by events more than being a motivational teacher. The aspects of aging Donat’s character through so many years with makeup and Donat’s own acting is quite well done. Donat’s relationship with Greer Garson is sweet and would have made a cute romance story on its own. It is clever how the same young actors were used to play generations and generations of each family, representing the constants and the changes a teacher experiences being at the same institution for years on end.   Best Picture Nomination

Oscar Win: Best Actor in a Leading Role

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Actress in a Leading Role; Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay; Best Sound, Recording; Best Film Editing

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The Collector (1965)

After coming into a large sum of money, socially awkward, amateur entomologist Terrence Stamp buys a country estate and abducts Samantha Eggar, a young London art student who has caught his eye. The film disorientingly begins from Stamp’s perspective, providing a chance for the viewer to sympathize with the lonely and traumatized young man only to turn that sympathy into realization of what that trauma has created. It’s very claustrophobic and demanding with solid performances from the two leads. I’m fascinated by old homes with secret hideaways, such as priest holes.  Horror

Oscar Nominations: Best Actress in a Leading Role; Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium

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Breaking the Waves (1996)

After he is rendered paralyzed in an oil rig accident, Stellan Skarsgård implores his simple-minded, religious wife Emily Watson to find other men to have sex with. Despite her misgivings, her love for her Danish outsider husband pushes her to fulfill his desire, bringing down the judgment of her conservative Scottish community and leading herself to more and more danger. If someone is familiar with Lars von Trier’s work, they won’t be surprised with the direction this film takes. Similar to Björk in Dancer in the Dark, the beautiful innocence portrayed by Watson is too much to take at times. The Scottish isles are gorgeously stark making a perfect complement to the hostilities of most of its residents.

Oscar Nomination: Best Actress in a Leading Role

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Kiss of Death (1947)

When his gang fails to look after his wife and family while he’s in prison, Victor Mature turns stool pigeon and agrees to work with the police to take the gang down. His gang, particularly enforcer Richard Widmark, are a particularly brutish lot, so it’s not quite as bothersome to root for the snitch in this case. The part that is a bit off-putting in this otherwise diverting piece of crime drama with a nondescript name is the fact that the love interest of the flick is young baby-sitter of Mature’s children.   Crime  Noir

Oscar Nominations: Best Actor in a Supporting Role; Best Writing, Original Story

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Pinky (1949)

Jeanne Crain portrays the title character, a light-skinned Black woman sent to the North by her grandmother to attend nursing school where she managed to pass for white and fell in love with a doctor. Now returned to the South, she must come to terms with her heritage and the decisions she made. It’s very strange that a white actor was cast to play Pinky when there were multiple light-skinned Black actresses clamoring for the role, but even beyond that Pinky as a character feels completely removed from all parts of her background sans a loyalty to her dedicated grandmother Ethel Waters. Waters also remains a one-dimensional character; her kindheartedness, especially as shown to the white woman whose shadow she lives under, being her one overlying trait. Regardless the film does not offer a positive view of the South where a white woman is to be protected but a Black woman is to be attacked and disbelieved.

Oscar nominations: Best Actress in a Leading Role; Best Actress in a Supporting Role (2)

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