Tuesday 14 January 2014

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1970: Trevor Howard in Ryan's Daughter

Trevor Howard did not receive an Oscar nomination, despite being nominated for a Golden Globe, for portraying Father Hugh Collins in Ryan's Daughter.

Trevor Howard plays the role of the priest of a small Irish village. The role was written for Alec Guinness and it is easy to see him in the role. Guinness turned it down though and Trevor Howard was cast instead. Alec Guinness is not an anagram for genuine class for nothing, Trevor Howard on the other hand name is not an anagram for vow rot harder for nothing either. What I mean by that nonsense is that, while I'm sure Guinness would have been great in the role, Howard's casting offers a rather interesting take on the character of the priest. Howard has a natural roughness to him making him far from a genial man which tend to be the nature of most supportive priest characters.

Howard keeps his usual gruff personality in his portrayal of Father Hugh who does his best to be the moral compass of the village, and basically goes about checking to make sure everything is going as it should be. Howard's performance is a rather effective one because he balances between his natural roughness and the good nature of his character. Howard does not tone down anything about rough side to portray Father Hugh. Howard brings a power to his character through the roughness actually by making him a man who will speak his mind, and speak his mind without reservation either. The way everyone seems slightly weary of Father Hugh is made believable because Howard makes him a force to be reckoned with.

Even though Howard makes Father Hugh gruff he does not forget to convey the morality of the character. Howard actually in part uses the gruffness to add to the righteousness of the man. There is no sense of falseness of his morality because Howard shows that Father Hugh is a character who could never even think of even having the slightest pretension. Howard makes Father Hugh a man who knows what is right and will not hesitate just to speak his mind quickly when he sees someone is at fault. When Father Hugh sees the bad or sometimes rather evil actions of the towns people, Howard is terrific in getting right to the point with his fierce moral indignation that he conveys from the priest.

Howard importantly brings the proper nuance to Father Hugh when he talking to someone he thinks deserves more than a slap in the face. Howard is very warm in his scenes with Sarah Miles as Rosy the titular character. In these scenes Howard is able to convey the importance of his beliefs strongly, and as something more than just a reason to cut sinners down to size. Howard gives the role the appropriate heart needed whenever the Father tries to talk to Rosy gently about her ideas of romance, or later when he tries his best to mend thing after Rosy has an affair of her marriage with a British soldier. Howard carefully shows that although Father Hugh will condemn when necessary, that there is a large heart behind his somewhat coarse exterior.

It is rather odd that the academy decided to ignore Howard's performance here, but I guess they felt they rewarded the film enough by recognizing John Mills's Oscar winning performance as the village idiot Michael (a performance that I will continue to defend, as I do believe he was the best of the truly supporting performances nominated). The academy though should have also recognized Trevor Howard as well as he very much excels with his performance as Father Hugh Collins. Howard succeeds in giving the local priest that large personality that makes him in a way one of the commanding forces of the island,  but Trevor as well well still brings the right tenderness there should be in a man who wants his congregation to be moral and thrive as they should.

26 comments:

RatedRStar said...

I actually quite like this film, it felt very relaxing, its kinda like Local Hero, or In Bruges in a nice way, where after you see the film you want to go on holiday to the place lol.

Do people usually have a problem with Mills's win? I always thought he was great, I liked him in the film adaptation of Cats as well Louis lol.

As for Trevor, he is usually good in anything, he is actually quite a resepcted icon in Britain if you can believe it lol.

RatedRStar said...

I know Jack requested Lancaster in Local Hero, um Local Hero is very, scottish =D and very nice, so if you like very nice films Louis, then I am sure you will enjoy it very much =D.

Louis Morgan said...

I really like Ryan's Daughter as film, and I think it's a shame it was bashed so much when it was originally released.

RatedRStar said...

Heres an unusual question for you Louis, what are the top 5 places in films you would like to have gone on holiday to.

Anonymous said...

What did you make of the rest of the unnominated cast.

Louis Morgan said...

RatedRStar: Bruges, most of the locations in The Quiet Man just for two easy ones.

Anonymous: Mitchum was solid and surprisingly good at playing the shy and retiring sort.

Christopher Jones though is lackluster for the most part, and I think the affair is the least interesting part of the film because of him.

Leo McKern is very good in portraying his character's arc throughout the film.

Barry Foster also is really good even with his limited screen time, and I think a whole film could have been about his character

Anonymous said...

I just red that Marlon Brando was going to play Jones part, that would have been great casting lol, I actually think Robert Mitchum would make a very charming romantic character lol.

Mark said...

Finding out that Alec Guinness is an anagram for "genuine class" blew my mind.

RatedRStar said...

vow rot harder? lol haha.

RatedRStar said...

Sounds like a line that Oskar Werner or Christoph Waltz would say lol.

JackiBoyz said...

I think it sounds like the line for a German porno haha.

RatedRStar said...

@JackiBoyz: What lol?


Also Louis, is it normal to feel a bit nervous knowing the Oscar Nominations are very soon, I am having horrible flashbacks about my crazed reaction to seeing Joaquin Phoenixs name appearing on the nominations screen lol.

Louis Morgan said...

I think you'll probably many who follow the race closely have similar feelings around this time.

JackiBoyz said...

Louis I think I know what would set Daniel Thornton (RatedRStar) off, if Forest Whitaker gets nominated and Daniel Bruhl doesnt lol.

Anonymous said...

Seems like the likelihood of that happening is slim though.

Robert MacFarlane said...

I'm making some rather... bold predictions this year. I'm calling that both Streep AND Dench will be snubbed in favor of Amy Adams and Brie Larson/Adele Exarchopoulos. So in other words, I've lost my goddamn mind. I'm also predicting Cooper getting snubbed in favor of a posthumous nod for Gandolfini, but I have sane reasoning for that one.

Michael Patison said...

I'm going for Gandolfini over Cooper, too.

JackiBoyz said...

I think Adams is possible, Adele is still possible but I think usually only one surprise actress nomination happens as opposed to 2.

Michael McCarthy said...

I think it'll be Adams over Streep. If Brie Larson gets nominated I think it'll be in place of Emma Thompson, not Judi Dench.

Matt Mustin said...

I hope Gandolfini gets nominated. I haven't seen Enough Said, I just don't want Cooper to get nominated.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: What is your rating and thoughts on Sarah Miles.

Louis Morgan said...

Either a high 4 or a low 4.5. She good in portraying the constantly changing feelings and overly emotional characteristics of her character although she is held back by Christopher Jones, and little bit overshadowed by Howard and Mills.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Is Dicaprio Nomination Worthy in The Wolf of Wall Street.

Louis Morgan said...

Yes.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Have you seen either Inside llewyn Davis or Nebraska yet.

Louis Morgan said...

No.