Friday 10 December 2010

Best Actor 1947: Results

5. Gregory Peck in Gentleman's Agreement- All Phil Green does is make speech after speech about antisemitism, or give disapproving looks. No actor could really have made these constant speeches interesting. The only other part of his performance are his romantic scenes with Dorothy McGuire which lack chemistry.
4. Michael Redgrave in Mourning Becomes Electra- Orin is very difficult character and Redgrave gives his best go at it. He mixes his performance with both a little subtlety that works fairly well, and theatrics which are interesting but are not always entirely convincing.
3. John Garfield in Body and Soul- Garfield gives a a good performance throughout but his character is a little too simple for most of the film. When he does get a chance to do more he does, it is shame his character was not more fully written for the whole film.

2. William Powell in Life With Father- Poor Powell always second place. Powell last Oscar nomination is a nice funny performance, it is not that much but certainly an entertaining performance.

1. Ronald Colman in A Double Life- A good prediction Dinasztie Colman gives a terrific performance interspersing subtlety of Anthony John with the insanity of Othello especially well. It is a risky performance for sure but one that succeeds very well. He was last Lead Actor winner I saw and I am glad the last I saw was a great one.

5 comments:

joe burns said...

This looks like a weak year...



But do you like 40's movies in general?

dinasztie said...

I'm so embarassed lately that I realise that I have so much to see. I'm really interested in A Double Life. I'm sad tad Peck is last as I liked him. But to each his own. :-)

dinasztie said...

I hope you do 1982 very soon. I can't wait to read your thoughts about Hoffman and Newman.

Anonymous said...

Ronald Colman was a fantastic winner - totally unappreciated.

Louis Morgan said...

Joe: I like 40's movies, certainly more than most 90's and 00's movies.

Dinasztie: I'll keep that year in mind to do fairly soon.

Sage: Yes, one of the most unappreciated winning performances.