Monday 4 May 2015

Alternate Best Actor 1936

And the Nominees Were Not:

Edward Arnold in Come and Get It

Charles Laughton in Rembrandt

Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times

Spencer Tracy in Fury

Jean Gabin in The Lower Depths

20 comments:

Luke Higham said...

1. Laughton
2. Chaplin
3. Gabin
4. Arnold
5. Tracy

Robert MacFarlane said...

1. Chaplin
2. Arnold
3. Gabin
4. Laughton
5. Tracy

Michael Patison said...

I have no idea whatsoever:
1. Charlie Chaplin
2. Charles Laughton
3. Edward Arnold
4. Jean Gabin
5. Spencer Tracy

Michael Patison said...

Who are people's favorite narrative voices with American accents around right now (Canadians work too)? My 2 favorites:
Donald Sutherland
Tom Selleck

Matt Mustin said...

Michael: I don't understand the question.

Anonymous said...

1. Arnold
2. Tracy (I've heard it's one of his best performances)
3. Chaplin (the only performance I've seen from this line-up, it's great and fun and I hope he wins but I don't know, Louis might not love him)
4. Gabin
5. Laughton

GetDonaldSutherlandAnOscar said...

1. Laughton (he is GREAT)
2. Arnold (damn, I forgot to recommend him, anyway he is amazing too)
3. Chaplin (also great)
4. Tracy
5. Gabin (this is tricky actually, since I haven't seen either of them)

Thoughts and ratings on William Powell in The Great Ziegfield? On a separate note, Cagney in Ceiling Zero and Karloff in The Man Who Changed His Mind would be two performances to hold onto for potential future bonus reviews, I don't know if you'll like them as much as me but they are both solid 5's in my book, 1936 is a pretty strong year actually.

Michael: Obviously Donald :) I would add Christopher Plummer in there too.

Anonymous said...

Louis I suggest you to see Camille from 1936. It's not an amazing movie and Robert Taylor's leading performance is not good at all, but Greta Garbo delivers a fantastic and heartbreaking performance.

Anonymous said...

Louis, what are your ratings and thoughts on Bette Midler in The Rose?

RatedRStar said...

1)Arnold
2)Laughton
3)Chaplin
4)Gabin
5)Tracy

GM said...

1. Laughton
2. Arnold
3. Chaplin
4. Gabin
5. Tracy

JackiBoyz said...

1. Laughton
2. Arnold
3. Chaplin
4. Gabin
5. Tracy

Maciej said...

1. Laughton
2. Chaplin
3. Arnold
4. Tracy
5. Gabin

Matt Mustin said...

Louis, what's your rating and thoughts on William Sylvester in 2001?

Luke Higham said...

1. Laughton
2. Arnold
3. Chaplin
4. Gabin
5. Tracy

Michael Patison said...

I'll rephrase the question: If you were making a documentary, who, with an American accent, would you get to narrate it?

Robert MacFarlane said...

I'm gonna go outside the box and say Danny Huston to that question. He's sounds more and more like his old man every day.

moviefilm said...

1) Charles Laughton
2) Charlie Chaplin
3) Spencer Tracy
4) Edward Arnold
5) Jean Gabin

Michael McCarthy said...

1. Edward Arnold
2. Charles Laughton
3. Charlie Chaplin
4. Jean Gabin
5. Spencer Tracy

Louis Morgan said...

Matt:

Sylvester - 2.5(Like all the performances not voicing HAL Sylvester's performance is fairly bland and somewhat lifeless. This was intentional on Kubrick's part, but that does mean it was a good thing. I actually think just about the entirety of Sylvester's section could have been removed from the film and not much would have been lost. After all rarely do you hear praise for any scenes in the section other than the initial dramatic cut to the space station. Sylvester serves his purpose I suppose, but it's not a very interesting purpose)

Anonymous:

Midler - 4.5(She gives a very good performance actually in creating the mess her character needs to be. She goes from being seductive and alluring, to being wholly off putting in portraying her constant lust though, she brings the star quality of the performances yet within that there is such a desperation and the danger of her falling apart only seems a moment away)

GetDonaldSutherlandAnOscar:

Powell - 4(Powell is best in the early first third of the film where it really does give a proper focus to Ziegfeld as a man. Powell is charming in his usual way and portrays the shrewd showman with such delightful ease. Unfortunately the film gets bogged down with its musical numbers and Powell is too often thrown into the background. Near the end though he does get to come back and is again quite good in giving a quiet poignancy in Ziegfeld's final years)