Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1946: Results

5. Finlay Currie in Great Expectations- Currie brings the right roughness and heart to the role but still never makes that much an impression.

Best Scene: Magwitch comes back.

4. William Bendix in The Blue Dahlia- Bendix, despite the writing messing up his ending, gives an affecting portrayal of a man driven to moments of insanity due to his war experiences.

Best Scene: Buzz is bothered by the music. 

3. Roger Livesey in A Matter of Life and Death- Livesey steals the film right out from David Niven and manages to give weight to the central romance of the film than the two performers portraying it do.

Best Scene: The doctor fights for Peter's life in the Heavenly court.

2. Henry Travers in It's A Wonderful Life- Travers gives a funny and quite wonderful realization of the pure goodness of his character.

Best Scene: George after visiting his mother.

1. Lionel Barrymore in It's a Wonderful Life- Good Predictions Kevin, Maciej, moviefilm, koook160, and  Jackiboyz. The year itself came down to one of my favorite depictions of a villain of all time against Claude Rains who manages to make the villain the most sympathetic character in his film. Both I think are equally good in their roles and I don't see how either could be better. In a way to cheat out of really choosing I'll just base it on their second films of the year. Rains was also great in Angel on my Shoulder whereas Barrymore was quite forgettable in Duel in the Sun.

Best Scene: George goes to Potter for help.

Overall Rank:

1. Claude Rains in Notorious
2. Lionel Barrymore in It's A Wonderful Life
3. Harold Russell in The Best Years of Our Lives
4. Henry Travers in It's A Wonderful Life
5. Roger Livesey in A Matter of Life and Death
6. Thomas Mitchell in It's A Wonderful Life 
7. Claude Rains in Angel on My Shoulder
8. William Bendix in The Blue Dahlia
9. Charles Coburn in The Green Years
10. Raymond Massey in A Matter of Life and Death
11. Samuel S. Hinds in It's A Wonderful Life
12. William Conrad in The Killers
13. Hume Cronyn in The Postman Always Rings Twice 
14. Finlay Currie in Great Expectations
15. Marius Goring in A Matter of Life and Death
16. Kirk Douglas in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
17. Victor Mature in My Darling Clementine
18. Alec Guinness in Great Expectations
19. H.B. Warner in It's A Wonderful Life
20. Francis L. Sullivan in Great Expectations
21. Sheldon Leonard in It's A Wonderful Life
22. Richard Attenborough in A Matter of Life and Death
23. Walter Brennan in my Darling Clementine
24. Frank Faylen in It's A Wonderful Life
25. Roman Bohnen in The Best Years of Our Lives
26. Bobby Anderson in It's A Wonderful Life 
27. Bernard Miles in Great Expectations
28. Ward Bond in It's A Wonderful Life 
29. Walter Baldwin in The Best Years of Our Lives
30. Howard da Silva in The Blue Dahlia 
31. Robert Coote in A Matter of Life and Death
32. Elisha Cook Jr. in The Big Sleep
33. Nigel Bruce in Terror By Night
34. Albert Dekker in The Killers
35. William Edmunds in It's A Wonderful Life
36. Anthony Wager in Great Expectations
37. Henry Travers in The Yearling
38. Charles MacGraw in The Killers
39. Clifton Webb in The Razor's Edge
40. Marcel Andre in Beauty and the Beast
41. Hoagy Carmicheal in The Best Years of Our Lives
42. Walter Huston in Duel in the Sun
43. Reinhold Schunzel in Notorious
44. Hardie Albright in Angel on My Shoulder
45. Todd Karns in It's A Wonderful Life
46. Lionel Barrymore in Duel in the Sun
47. Will Wright in The Blue Dahlia
48. Richard Haydn in The Green Years
49. Herbert Marshall in The Razor's Edge
50. Michel Auclair in Beauty and the Beast
51. William Demarest in The Jolson Story
52. Ward Bond in My Darling Clementine
53. Louis Calhern in Notorious
54. Charles Waldron in The Big Sleep
55. Cecil Kellaway in The Postman Always Rings Twice
56. Jess Barker in The Time of Our Lives
57. Joseph Calleia in Gilda
58. John Payne in The Razor's Edge
59. Leon Ames in The Postman Always Rings Twice
60. Hume Cronyn in The Green Years
61. Philip Mervale in The Stranger
62. Hugh Beaumont in The Blue Dahlia 
63. Chill Wills in The Yearling
64. Richard Long in The Stranger
65. Philip Terry in To Each His Own
66. George Macready in Gilda
67. Bill Goodwin in To Each His Own
68. Edwin Maxwell in The Jolson Story
69. Bill Goodwin in The Jolson Story 
70. John Lund in To Each His Own

Next Year: 1932 Lead might as well suggest any Supporting ideas as well.

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1946: Finlay Currie in Great Expectations

Finlay Currie did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Abel Magwitch in Great Expectations.

Great Expectations is a well directed adaptation of Charles Dickens's book about a meek orphan Pip's coming of age story which includes meeting some unusual characters.

One of these unusual characters appears rather early on in the film as the boy Pip finds an escaped convict who he is played by Currie. Currie is appropriately rough in his depiction of the convict's manner not sugar coating him at all at the beginning, and suggesting the hard life that the man his lead. Currie moment here is quite brief but he makes Magwitch memorable enough before he is taken away again by the police. Eventually Pip finds himself rich through a mysterious benefactor, who Pip assumes is the wrong person, but eventually he is surprised to see Magwitch in his house once again which is quite the surprise. Currie's is quite good in his reappearance by know portraying Magwitch as a much more jovial sort certainly made happy by his far better life, although Currie still carries the right roughness around the edges to still show that Magwitch never could quite lose his criminal past completely. 

Currie is effective in turning Magwitch into a likable figure in these few short moments and realizes his whole character best he can. We do want to indeed see Pip help him out as Currie brings an earnest charm into the role. After his first introduction he disappears for a long time and then after his second introduction he placed firmly into the background as the film focuses on Pip basically coming up with a way and the preparing his eventual devised way to smuggle Magwitch out of England. Currie has one more scene where talks about the pain of his past which he makes fairly poignant by honestly portraying the sentiment within the general roughness of Magwitch's character. This is a solid enough performance by Currie as he probably does as much as one could do with how the role Magwitch is used in this version at least. He does not make that much an impact, but his work certainly is more than satisfactory.

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1946: Lionel Barrymore in It's A Wonderful Life

Lionel Barrymore did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Henry F. Potter in It's A Wonderful Life.

The previous collaboration before It's Wonderful Life between director Frank Capra and Lionel Barrymore was in You Can't Take It With You where Barrymore played the role of the jovial patriarch of a free spirited family. Well in this their next collaboration Barrymore's character could not be more different. Barrymore plays the antagonist of the film Mr. Potter who is a banker who owns half the town of Bedford Falls to begin with as the film opens. Although Barrymore was certainly quite believable as a lovable old man he's even better here as Mr. Potter who is introduced as being the meanest man in the county. We first introduced to Potter as he is chewing out George Bailey's father for not foreclosing on homes. Even though Barrymore is confined to a wheel-chair he has a considerable presence as Potter, and is actually quite imposing figure despite needing to be wheeled around by a lurch like figure at all times. His brief introduction though is really a warm up though for the rest of Barrymore's performance.

The greatness of Barrymore's performance actually comes most into play as a most worthy opponent for James Stewart as George. There first face off, and Barrymore's second scene, is after George's father has died and the share holders of his father's company the Bailey Building and Loan are there to determine its fate. Potter wants it to be dissolved as it poses a threat to his control of the town, although he has a backhanded praise of George's father. Barrymore is brilliant in how he does this as he stats that Bailey was a man of so called ideals. The way he looks to the side in discontent and pauses with the so called is time so perfectly by Barrymore that gives such an a callousness to his statement. Barrymore continues to excel and is a great counterpoint to Stewart's performance as George makes his passionate rebuttal against Potter's view of the people of the town. Barrymore's reaction is perfect in showing just how little Potter thinks of George's words. What's particularly great is the way he does the yawn, where he kinda tries to hide but in a way to bring more attention to it.

I don't know if I can name a performance where someone makes their face as expressive as Barrymore more does here as Potter. It never feels strange or awkward or any way and in fact Barrymore uses that as well as his hands as an effective way to make up for the fact that he obviously has some physical constraints. Barrymore is great just to watch here with all that he does in his various facial movements and hand gestures. They never feel like too much but only aid in making his Potter all the more memorable as a character. These certainly come into play in one of Barrymore's best scenes when Potter calls in George to his office in an attempt to get George to accept a high paying  job in order to rid himself of his rival. Barrymore is amazing in this scene because he does shed the true nature of the character ever so much as Potter makes his offer. For a moment Barrymore is terrific as he brings a false kindness to Potter as such a sweet offer to George, and makes it so very tempting. My favorite moment is that final smile where he thinks he has George, since there is such deviousness within it.

Well his offer to George is Potter at his most "kind" later on we get Potter at his worst and Barrymore is once again outstanding. George comes to Potter for help due to a misplacement of funds, which actually accidentally fell into Potter's hands, hoping that Potter will help him. Barrymore does not hold back at just how despicable Potter is in this scene as Barrymore begins with Potter almost confused and concerned by George's predicament. As Potter asks about embezzlement or possibly an affair George is thought to be, incorrectly, having Barrymore has almost a fatherly tone as if Potter is trying to mentor the young man on proper business practices, even though he knows the truth. When Potter sees that George has nothing financially to offer him Barrymore brings out the full sinister nature of Potter, and he gives basically a sickly inverted of George's earlier speech against him. Barrymore's is incredible as he matches Stewart's passion from that earlier scene but is quite chilling by making the passion serve such a horrible notion and purpose.

Lionel Barrymore and Henry Travers don't share any scenes together and whereas Barrymore has a some scenes throughout Travers's are all one after another, but they fulfill two polar opposites. Where Travers was such a wonderful personification of good, Barrymore is such a personification of evil. Lionel Barrymore succeeds in making Mr. Potter one of the all time great villains of cinema, and Potter does not even need to physically harm a soul. Barrymore's performance makes Potter such a vile sort by realizing the man's cruel ideology. It is interesting to note that Barrymore was originally going to play Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1938 version of A Christmas Carol, but was unable to do to his legs. It is easy to see him, due to his role here as Potter, to play the unreformed Scrooge, but actually Barrymore does not make Potter just the unreformed Scrooge. Barrymore makes Potter a darker sort, a man incapable of seeing the error of his ways. I love this performance, which is even very entertaining due to Barrymore's energetic style, yet that never takes away even an ounce of the viciousness of his characterization.  

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1946: Henry Travers in It's A Wonderful Life

Henry Travers did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Clarence Odbody, angel second class, in It's A Wonderful Life.

Henry Travers first speaks rather early in the film as he is called upon by God and Joseph to be the one to go down to Earth to help George Bailey (James Stewart) before he takes his life. Before Clarence can go help him though he is first given George's back story which is about the first two thirds of the film. During this time Clarence makes the occasional comment, and you could not ask a better voice for an angel. There is such a genuine warmth and goodness to Travers voice that is hard to imagine anything but kindness coming from him, making his casting as a mean old man in The Bells of Saint Mary's all the more ridiculous I mention this mostly because it's the movie on the marquee in Bedford Falls. Anyway, although we get the very short comments Travers does not appear in the flesh until very late in the film when it takes its last act turn, and Travers's appearance is what indicates this turn in the film.

George is about to commit suicide, due to a lost large sum of money, by jumping off a bridge. In this darkest of moments for the film we suddenly and unexpectedly get a bright beam of light in the face of Henry Travers as Clarence when he makes his first onscreen appearance. Travers could not have a more kindly smile instantly offering some hope to the situation of a possible suicide, which alleviated all the more when Clarence jumps in himself forcing George's good nature to kick causing him to jump in as well to save Clarence. What follows is one of my favorite scenes in the film, although I'll admit I have a lot of favorite scenes in this film, as George and Clarence dry off giving Clarence a chance to introduce himself as his guardian angel.Travers is pitch perfect in the role and he makes his first substantial scene wonderful to watch. Travers establishes such a sweetness in his performance, which never feels too much or forced, but rather is truly angelic.

Travers also manages to bring a certain kookiness to the role that he also so carefully portrays as it could easily become cloying but Travers is only ever endearing in his portrayal of it. Travers has a very sly comic timing and manner in his performance. He never distracts too much away from the importance of the emotions concerning George's story and brings these humorous moments flawlessly into these scenes. Travers is actually quite unassumingly hilarious as Clarence as he makes the character's naivety and somewhat absentmindedness both funny yet just so very charming at the same time. This is one of those performances where you could almost take any line delivery from Travers and find something special in it. Two moments perhaps are my favorite, on the comic side of things, the first being his oh so friendly goodbye of "Cheerio my good man" after scaring a man away in disbelief after giving out what AS2 stands for, and my second is his rather futile attempt to name a drink for himself at a bar.

Travers's work is not just merely funny and sweet even if it is both those things as well because Clarence is sent there with a mission which is to convince George that his life is worthwhile. Travers excels in this regard as well as he carries himself with this otherworldly wisdom that he manages to make a natural part of the daffy angel. Travers is outstanding in the moments where he shows Clarence to merely quietly prod George with the information. There is something so powerful about the way Travers delivers his lines in these scenes as he speaks the blunt truth with such a severity but always with a warmth. Travers brings such a poignancy in every lines he speaks particularly "Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?". Travers is excellent as he portrays Clarence as having such an inspiring soulfulness about him that George would have to take notice of Clarence's message.

It is interesting in that the exact final moment of Clarence's exit of the film is not particularly climatic, but it strangely ends up not mattering. Travers makes such a grand impression in the screen time he does have that it doesn't feel like Clarence is shortchanged by the end of the film. The reason being that it feels though Clarence's presence is still with George to the very last frame of the film. Travers accomplishes this by just how good he is in the role. This is an incredibly entertaining performance by Travers to say the least as he's consistently funny and makes Clarence so likable as well. It is more than just a likable characterization by Travers though as he makes Clarence serve an even greater purpose. George going from the worst to finding the will to live is of course beautifully brought to life by Stewart's amazing performance, but Travers also contributes greatly to making the transformation as powerful as it is through his realization of Clarence as a entity of pure goodness.

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1946: William Bendix in The Blue Dahlia

William Bendix did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Buzz Wanchek in The Blue Dahlia.

The Blue Dahlia is a decent enough film noir about an ex-bomber pilot Johnny (Alan Ladd) who is accused of murdering his unfaithful wife.

William Bendix plays Buzz who is one of the two buddies who comes home along with Johnny. The other buddy is George who is as much as a straight arrow as one can be but what do you expect when he's played by Hugh Beaumont. William Bendix is one of the more underrated character actors from the period as I have yet to be disappointed by him, although I must admit that I have not seen the Babe Ruth Story. Bendix, like in his work in Lifeboat, carries an innate likability. There is such a genuine earnestness about his work that he manages to make Buzz a guy who is pretty easy to feel sorry for even though in his first scene it becomes clear that Buzz has a short fuse as he lashes out against a guy simply for playing music from a jukebox. The reason for his short fuse though is not because Buzz simply has a bad temper, but rather due to his experiences from the war which left a metal plate in his head.

Like in his performance in Lifeboat where he had the drunk scenes here he has those angry outburst which again could lead to some very over the top style of performance, but once again Bendix excels by not doing this. Bendix portrays Buzz's moments of losing his mind incredibly well as he portrays them as basically a nervous jolt of emotional desperation. Bendix is terrific because as he goes into the rather intense moments of Buzz he carefully always reinforces that it comes from his own pain, and that his outburst is Buzz's attempt to alleviate that even though it may be a bit futile. Bendix makes these moments all the more disconcerting because he does have such an endearing quality to his performance. He believably turns that gentle quality into a viciousness so effectively, and even though the film does not spend too much time on it, Bendix gives a fairly remarkable portrayal of his character's post traumatic stress disorder.

The film is about Ladd's characters attempt to find the real culprit to his wife's murder so it might seem obvious where Buzz fits into that when Johnny's wife invites Buzz over. Bendix is extremely effective in these rather brief scenes as brings a considerable poignancy to the moment where Johnny's wife talks to Buzz, even though she is only trying to manipulate him. Bendix makes it appropriately tragic though by honestly portraying how desperate Buzz is for a real tenderness which he will not be receiving from Johnny's wife. There major problem in regards to Bendix comes into play when the film reaching its conclusion and it turns out Buzz is at best a red herring and at worst a completely pointless to the plot. The film seems to be building to Buzz being the murderer caused by one of his moments of insanity then forgetting about it due to his moments of memory loss, that is not the case though. 

I was not surprised to say the least when I read that Buzz was the original murderer and it was changed and it does feel like a last minute change since the real conclusion is rather unsatisfactory. The reason this mattes in regards to Bendix though is the film fails to give him one last scene to show where it is Buzz is going in regards to his potential insanity as his story just kinda stops after Buzz is cleared of the charges. The reason this is a problem with the film is that Buzz is easily the most interesting character in the film and Bendix easily gives the best performance. I would much rather have had the more emotionally explosive ending involving Buzz rather than the overly simple one where a character no one cared about to begin with turned out to be the killer. The usage of Buzz only does harm to the film itself but not really Bendix's performance past denying one more potentially great scene. Bendix still manages to give a moving portrait of a man traumatized by war, even if film itself doesn't use it to its fullest potential.

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1946: Roger Livesey in A Matter of Life and Death

Roger Livesey did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Dr. Frank Reeves in A Matter of Life and Death.

Roger Livesey plays the doctor who Peter (David Niven) and June (Kim Hunter) goes to see because of Peter miraculous survival from jumping out of a plane, and his subsequent apparent visitations from someone from beyond. As I wrote in David Niven's review the romance between Peter and June loses its steam as soon as they meet each other face to face for the first time I still loved the film though because of the splendid direction of Powell and Pressburger, and due to the performances from the supporting players with Livesey being the most important of these. Livesey basically picks up the slack since he becomes the crowd in Niven and Hunter's scenes together. It should be stated that Roger Livesey has one of the underrated voices of cinema as that along with his whole manner as a performer makes himself quite the magnetic figure who just seems to bring something quite special to the picture.

Livesey technically does not do too much in his early scenes other than observe Peter and offer some exposition here and there of what he believes it might. Well that's apparently more than enough for Livesey since he infuses so much into the role of doctor. Livesey's has such a tremendous presence and brings such a palatable authority to his words. There is this dramatic determination that Livesey has that brings weight to Peter's situation with such ease when the doctor does start to give his own diagnosis on Peter's problem. Livesey's portrayal of the doctor is not some excessively serious performance and he equally excels in his reactionary moments. Livesey is excellent in beginning a certain casual curiosity as the doctor seems somewhat bemused by Peter's claims, but he effectively transforms this to genuine concern as it becomes abundantly clear that no matter what is the truth it's not good for Peter's well being.

Livesey's best scene though takes places in the court of the most high as he defends Peter's right to stay and lie a much longer life then what was intended for him. The doctor must defend Peter against the bitter prosecution of one Abraham Farlan (Raymond Massey) who hates all things English since he was the first casualty of the American Revolution. Livesey and Massey's face off is one of the best highlights of the film. Massey brings his usual dignified manner in his character's fairly petty points made against Peter. Livesey is terrific in this scene carrying himself in such a clever fashion actually. I like how both he and Massey bring a very different kind of passion to each of their characters. With Massey's being a venomous side of things while Livesey keeps the doctor points as spoken in a lighthearted yet still very forceful manner. Livesey portrays it as  if the doctor is shooting down Abraham's points by turning them into a bit of a joke.

Livesey makes the most out of every single moment of speechifying in the heavenly court. Livesey never let's this become at all boring instead he makes his tradeoff with Massey surprisingly thrilling. Livesey's performance even manages through his delivery to give weight to the idea of the central romance even though the central romance ends up not even being anything that special past their first scene. This is a strong performance by Roger Livesey as he steals the film right out from under David Niven, although he does not do this in the way you might expect. He does not go for any sort of obvious flamboyant overacting nor does he make an overt attempts to bring needless attention to himself. Livesey very effortlessly just makes the doctor the most watchable character in the film, and the one who simply enlivens the story the most.

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