Alternate Best Actor 1990: Robin Williams in Awakenings

Robin Williams did not receive an Oscar nomination, despite winning NBR and being nominated for a Golden Globe, for portraying Dr. Malcolm Sayer in Awakenings. 

It speaks to the taste of at least a swathe of the academy in 1990 that within Robin Williams’s run with them from his first nomination in 1987 to his win in 1997 that they ignored him for this turn, despite the film being a top five favorite. Of course the obvious answer to this question is they nominated Robert De Niro for portraying the first man awakened by the experimental drug used on catatonic patients. Where we get the contrasting choice of performances where De Niro’s is the most overtly actorly performance in the film against Williams giving probably his most subtle turn from his initial breakout. In all of Williams’s Oscar nominated performance, before and after this film, there was a degree of Williams relying on his stand up presence overtly, something that made sense in some instances, Good Morning Vietnam where he played a comedic DJ, more than others, Dead Poet’s Society where Mr. Keating suddenly whips out Brando and Wayne impressions despite the character in no way acting like his sensibility during the rest of the film. Williams forgoes his expected Robin Williams persona fully and effectively though that doesn’t mean he entirely relieves himself of talents related to it. 

Williams constructs a specific character here that does utilize aspects of his talents one would’ve found in his stand-up performances, but entirely in service to the part. The impression abilities noted in his stand-up are featured here but wound naturally within the character of Dr. Sayer, as what Williams does here is technically taking upon the mannerisms of the real man which the character is based on Oliver Sacks, though I think one of the best decisions, in the long term, the film probably made was to rename the character. Williams though utilizes it well to convincingly establish the introverted initial research scientist. Where Williams consistently creates the certain mannerisms naturally into his performance within his very withdrawn and specific physical manner of the man always backing off it would seem, looking down, and almost hiding within himself. An aspect further emphasized in his cadence that is very different from Williams’s frequent larger than life delivery, as brings to life Dr. Malcolm Sayer in earnest. He very much does construct him using those impression skills yet funnels them all properly into the character in a way that just further brings him to life and more immediately grants us a sense of who this guy is before he even takes on what is known as the chronic ward. 

Williams’s performance is effective in creating the struggle initially of Sayer as a man who struggles to connect with humans dealing with patients who often seemingly have no connection whatsoever. In fact his greatest enthusiasm early on is in a failed experiment with worms which is played for a comedic moment however it is easy to appreciate Williams creating the humor of the moment not by falling out of character but rather just showing purely who Sayer is by presenting this earnestness specifically in such a narrow decidedly non-human focus. Williams earns it all the more though by presenting genuine unease in the initial moments of dealing with suddenly hostile patients in the ward, which are the ones who bother to respond to Sayer, but also presenting this very subdued yet potent sense of empathy as he examines the catatonic patients. Williams does a lot with just his eyes in presenting the humanity within Sayer as he focuses on each person and senses that there may be more going on than just a hollow shell as many of his colleagues seem to suggest the people are. Projecting honesty within the moments of discovery certain specific reactions from the patients with this combination of surprise, fascination but also empathetic revelation. 

Eventually Sayer discovers enough to find an experimental drug he tests on one patient to see if it might cure them of their catatonic state, which it does for a man called Leonard (De Niro) who went into the state as a boy. This is where the film mostly shifts focus to De Niro portraying Leonard regaining his ability to communicate and then eventually slowly goes back to his state, in what, for me, sadly feels more so an actor’s showcase than something where I truly felt this was a person the whole time. Williams is very good though in accepting very much the part of the reactor to the seeming miracle change then tragic change. He never tries to make it about himself here, rather allowing himself to be the facilitator and the observer, in a dynamic way however in a way that very much opens the floor to whoever he's acting with in a given scene. Williams delivers a quiet passion in the moments of advocating for change. An interesting combination between anxiety and inspiration when seeing Leonard trying to embrace life that he seemingly is too meek to do so himself, and maybe most importantly brings such a palatable sense of warmth and fierce concern when Leonard starts to falter even lashing out at Sayer directly at one point. A scene that is over the top in many ways, but Williams is not one of them, as his taken aback reaction followed by a certain delivery of not wanting Leonard blamed feel so genuine even when the scene as a whole is not. Williams acts a convincing facilitator even for the inspirational final “what I learned” speech he’s given, which quite frankly eventually became a Robin Williams specific actor cliche as much as Brad Pitt’s eating, Tom Cruise’s running or Tom Hanks’s urinating. Regardless of where it would go I will say Williams does deliver to the best of his abilities in this instance by not overplaying it rather just bringing the quiet earnest passion that is bigger than what we saw at the start of the film, yet still feels true to the modest by nature character. Even in the character arc complete moment shortly later where Sayer asks one of the nurses out, Williams finds the right way to present Sayer’s directness. He speaks with a greater certainty for Sayer, he’s still very quiet, still largely internalized, yet earns the moment of the doctor embracing humans a bit more after his experience with the patients. Although I won’t say Awakenings is a great film, Williams does deliver one of his best dramatic turns by calming his more extroverted sensibilities to deliver a nuanced and genuine performance that better than anyone in the cast delivers honesty within the very sentimental approach of the film.

Alternate Best Actor 1990: Jason Patric in After Dark, My Sweet

Jason Patric did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Kevin "Kid" Collins in After Dark, My Sweet. 

After Dark, My Sweet follows a noir style plot as an ex-boxer gets involved with a widow and a kidnapping plot. 

Jason Patric is not an actor I’ve taken too much note of in the past. He’s good in some things, fine in others, less fine in others as well. His performance here however is the type that instantly changes one’s perspective on the level of potential an individual actor has. Patric is going for broke from really the first scene as we enter in on his Kid Collins in a live wire of a performance. A performance that’s interesting because where the common evocation of an actor towards the old usually is Marlon Brando, Patric here truly feels like Montgomery Clift and I mean that as the highest compliment. There’s that kind of burden of life within his intensity that is so remarkable by how much ease Patric brings within it despite technically being a mannered performance. There is no buy into Patric though as he simply is Collins from this first scene where the Kid meets an attractive widow Fay (Rachel Ward) at a dingy bar. Patric’s physical manner of this semi-shyness combined with the specific slightly rattled delivery instantly conveys the state of a man who had recently been in a mental institute. There’s an immediate vulnerability in his delivery but also a “hat in hand” modesty of someone who is actively trying not to offend. I especially love his uneasy way of trying to ask to stay in the bar after the rough bartender tells him to get out. Patric’s meekness is so sincere and conveys the experience of someone who has been pushed out by most, brushed off by many and is filled with doubt for himself. 

The widow takes enough interest with him to allow Kid to stick around a bit longer and even get an invite from the widow to work for her. An invite that is more than a little suspicious to the point even the aimless Kid doubts it. Patric conveys so effectively the sense of the Kid’s state of being lost to the point of convincing one why he’d even consider such a shady proposition, as in his eyes there’s an innate exhaustion and even more so the need for some kind of connection in his life. A connection that Patric manages to make this center of anxiety in his performance that is captivating to watch because he makes it such a penetrating state succeeding in realizing as an unlikely but compelling lead to watch as he gets pulled in by Fay who gives him some mixed signals yet still pulls him by indicating her need for him. Patric’s performance shows within his reactions just how much any notice means towards the troubled mind of the Kid, where he so naturally presents the waves of anxiety within the Kid’s damaged state that would compel him to one minute go deeper into Fay’s sway, then pull back the next. The nature of Fay’s needs though immediately becomes even darker with the appearance of a former lawman and co-conspirator Uncle Bud (played by the rarely trustworthy Bruce Dern). The two together seemingly being quite obvious in their request for a patsy as they speak of a plan to kidnap the sickly son of a wealthy family. 

An idea that seems even obvious to Kid’s rattled mind that he attempts to leave at one point only running into an imperious yet seemingly caring Doctor (George Dickerson) who quickly diagnoses him and makes his own determinations for the kid. Patric is consistently great in the way he manages to pull you into the Kid’s state even in the scenes where the doctor is very much dictating the commands towards what the Kid should do, frequently leaving the Kid only to react in silence. Patric never wastes a moment of silence though as you see the weariness pierce within the man’s mind and the sense of a dread around the doctor’s suggestions, despite the doc seemingly trying to help the Kid. Patric conveying the unease of the man as the patient trapped within this state, which we see was likely caused by his injuries as a once somewhat successful boxer, that he convinces you entirely that the kid would run from the doc’s help back to the strange scheme of Bud and Fay. Where in this relationship Patric presents this initial attempted spark of the man attempting to literally find his mental bearings and there is something so powerful in Patric’s performance by so viscerally bringing the sense of that struggle to life. When he initially speaks a little more coherently and directly to Fay, Patrick brings to reality each fidget as the barrier, and the pain the man is going through just to even attempt to confidently speak for even a moment at first. 

Once the Kid becomes entrenched in the strange scheme Patric’s performance becomes the enigma that anchors the film. A challenging prospect in itself as keeping a mystery within your lead character so overtly yet still finding reason to invest within him. In Patric’s often mystifying stare he does just that where there ends up being a captivating lead to follow through his mind as much as the plot. Patric achieves one of the trickiest of ideas within a performance which is creating internal logic within a character who is mentally bent. Patric never seems lost or vague, even when technically the Kid’s behaviors are of a lost man and could be described as vague to those trying to understand. As we see him go along with the plot yet even within that the Kid takes a strange purposeful detour as he initially kidnaps the wrong kid, even having a strange on the same level dialogue with that kid before kidnapping the correct target. Patric’s performance is odd by dynamic in that oddness where you see the Kid going within this strange flow of existence where in the moment he knows what he’s doing is what he needs to do, as we see in this peculiar conviction in his eyes even as he purposefully bungles the plot before eventually going along with it that Patric manages to make sense of the jumbled nature of the man. 

There is a progression, as curious as it is, where Patric presents a growing control of the situation by the Kid even as he keeps Fay and Bud guessing. Such as his delivery of questioning Bud’s motivations and just where he’ll be willing to go by speaking this monologue on a devious scenario. Patric manages to be direct just as he’s wavering where you could take it as the ramblings of a man just speaking whatever comes to mind, or the very precise recitation of an idea in order to gauge exactly who Bud is. We see this progression of the Kid where Patric manages to bring this greater sense of control yet in his physical manner and his eyes especially there is still an unquestionable unpredictability. The scenes where he kind of takes charge and has sex with Fay, Patric’s performance is fascinating in the way even as he becomes more direct in the intensity as he takes hold of her quite literally while taking hold of the situation, there’s still this messiness about it, where the Kid is finding a path but he’s in no way altogether controlled. An element all the more obvious when the doctor comes to visit, seeing the kidnapped kid, leading the Kid to fatally punch the doctor. Patric’s amazing in the moment because you see the command loosen towards sudden sparking viciousness of the mentally broken man lashing out. It doesn’t feel like a regression rather just part of the overall raw nerve that the Kid never loses. 

The finale becomes a series of mostly unfortunate events and one fortunate event. Patric’s performance fashioned almost a presentation of a man playing the role of the noir lead as the Kid goes through these motions, less with an overt determination and more so with the manner of the man who sees no other choice in the moment. All goes to hell but The Kid, Fay and the child escape via an unexpected fortunate moment of a cop letting the Kid go due to recognizing him from his old boxing days. Nonetheless the respite still leaves the Kid into a corner as he is still named as the primary suspect and essentially with nowhere to go. We get the Kid though making one clear decision to find a way for Fay to escape by essentially presenting himself as the villain. A sequence where Patric is simply outstanding as the Kid gets enough of a hold of himself to portray himself as a sinister genius who fakes his mental illness in order to escape judgement and has been going along with one crime after another. Patric’s fantastic because he can even convince you of this in the moment where every word flows with an eerie conviction and suddenly the Kid seems assured as he speaks with such vile sincerity. Patric’s as wonderful in telling the truth where just in his facial reactions you see the moment of the lost man come back as he sets himself up, and you see the truth again of the man just trying to find some kind of purpose in the end albeit in a way that would only make sense entirely to him. Patric delivers a truly great performance here because within his own work he is captivating in that mystery, and as much as there is still ambiguity within it, there is a deft touch and connection that brings us into this fascinating mess of a mind all the same.  

Alternate Best Actor 1990: Al Pacino in The Godfather Part III

Al Pacino did not receive an Oscar nomination, despite being nominated for a Golden Globe, for portraying Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part III.

The Godfather Part III marks the only time Al Pacino did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Michael Corleone despite the film’s rather considerable success with the academy despite its far less than glowing reception even at the time of its release. The film almost immediately reveals one of its fundamental flaws which is the characterization of Michael. We ended with Michael in the last film as the man who successfully destroyed all his enemies, yet alienated his entire family either entirely or into a cold submission and we saw the man fully in power yet wholly alone. Cut to this film he seems to have reasonably strong connections with his family, he’s making jokes at family functions, even his ex-wife Kay (Diane Keaton)’s reactions to him aren’t nearly as strong as you’d think they should be. This is not the man we were left with, or as Annie Wilkes might say to Michael’s terrified brother “He Didn't Get Out of the Cockadoodie Car!”. This sequel gives us something it never earned, and it doesn’t earn here. Yes you can say people change, people soften as they get older, but that’s bluntly a cheat, particularly when you never give any proper backstory to in any way explain these changes. Michael simply is a whole lot nicer and less cold, why? He just is. I will say this isn’t on Pacino, it is explicitly written this way, but it feels like such a waste, as to try to give where Michael was left in Godfather Part II a final reckoning could’ve been something special, which this film sadly is not. 

So Pacino’s stuck in a strange spot as Michael because he needs to suddenly portray the Michael he was in the earliest scenes of The Godfather but now is operating as the Don. Pacino does have a certain charm in moments, has charisma on screen obviously though it is unbelievably weird that he’s acting this way. Pacino though has an onscreen power, he does exude that power, but it is not the Michael we have known. It is something else, and in that something else Pacino does deliver in a general sense even in a disappointing sense. The aforementioned scene with Kay is another example of this where you have good acting from Keaton and Pacino in terms of really conveying the complicated history, however still what is written isn’t frankly extreme enough to where the two were left once again. You see old love, old frustrations but not really the old hatred that should be there. Again I do put it more on the writing as Pacino and Keaton have a great specific chemistry that just isn’t utilized perfectly. There’s probably one of the biggest wastes in Michael’s relationship with his children, both portrayed poorly but written just as poorly. Like why not get a real proper dynamic actor for Anthony, who truly challenges his dad about Fredo, instead of just seeming slightly upset, then let’s go swiftly towards the end. It lets Michael off the hook, and more so Pacino just presents Michael as either a slightly concerned or disappointed dad, not much more than that. 

A truly baffling element is in the character of Sonny’s illegitimate son Vincent (Andy Garcia) who everyone in the family thinks is awesome despite being a complete hothead who Michael embraces after biting a man’s ear like a lunatic. Pacino has good moments involving the relationship in presenting the quiet assertive wisdom particularly the scene where he talks about Sonny, where Pacino’s delivery captures an old burdened love as he switches to an impassioned warning. But all of this doesn’t add up into the why. Maybe because Vincent does things, albeit randomly, where Michael here, unlike the first two films, is frequently passive, which again could work if it was a point of the narrative, but it’s not. Instead we get Michael more so the slowly reacting mentor where in that role do we have what is probably the most remembered scene of the film, in that it has the one frequently quoted line from the film. The line being “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” The whole scene of Michael unraveling the plot is another non-Michael like scene given his calculations were far more internalized in the previous films. Pacino’s performance of the scene is entertaining though it is also far more modern Pacino than classic Michael, as he goes for the more overt in both his specific more outward intensity and his physical movements. One can say the moments depict his buildup to his diabetic attack before we get the attack however it looks far more to me like Pacino’s more grandiose style of performing that he became known for and is far cry from his original work as Michael. I won’t say it’s bad because it is remembered for a reason, but it is yet another aspect that doesn’t feel like a continuation of the character. 

The closest we get to this is when the Corleone all go to Italy to see Anthony’s first major Opera performance. In a moment that is initially a performative function related to his dealings with the Vatican Michael is challenged by a devoted Cardinal to confess his sins. Pacino is genuinely amazing in what is an amazing scene where he begins with this just nearly disinterested delivery of a man who has put himself separate from notions of sins or damnation as he tries to quantify his reasoning to ignore. When the Cardinal calmly persists though, Pacino’s portrayal of Michael confession is excellent in the way we get a little in each delivery, as he begins admitting to his killings almost matter of factly, before it becomes a bursting dam of the truth and his sorrow as he admits his complicity in the murder of his brother. Pacino delivers the real intensity of his shame as his whole manner is a man facing down into his shame and truly suffering as he speaks words that have seemingly been kept locked away for so many years. Although one can still argue maybe Michael would never feel remorse, but this scene at least realizes some honest potential of what came before. The same goes for his later scenes with Keaton, which I think logically they’d never really come to any terms, but Pacino and Keaton do find such a natural way into the combination of a stilted bitterness of separation and old affection between them. And within the finale we do get a strong singular moment as he witnesses the death of his daughter, where Pacino’s performance expresses the sheer uncontrollable grief in his reaction where Pacino presents it as a man barely being able to comprehend the reality of it all and just delivering a most primal scream. A moment that actually does wholly feel like Michael as one bit of consistency since he did love for his kids…albeit in his own way. These moments are highlights of the film and where Pacino does shine. He still doesn’t come close to his two performances but he makes use of the few good moments he’s given to work with. Pacino is not the problem with this film, he does what he can even when frankly Coppola is sabotaging him with so many wonky script choices. Pacino doesn't suddenly make it a good film but he’s trying to make something out of it. In the end it’s not a proper finale for Michael Corleone but Al Pacino delivers a good performance within that failure.  

Alternate Best Actor 1990: Danny Glover in To Sleep With Anger

Danny Glover did not receive an Oscar nomination, despite winning an Independent Spirit Award, for portraying Harry in To Sleep With Anger. 

To Sleep With Anger follows the growing discord within a family in Los Angeles while being visited by an old friend from the south. 

Danny Glover plays the enigmatic visitor whose nature as someone from the south and this force of chaos immediately makes one think of the likes of Ray Milland in Alias Nick Beal or Max von Sydow in Needful Things. It is never quite as overt as those films in the implication but Glover’s performance is a natural fit in that type. As like those performances Glover comes in with a very welcoming smile as he enters into the home. Glover brings a theoretical warmth within that as he seems to want to want to be the best guest towards everyone and seemingly get to know everyone related to the house or reintegrate himself with the people. Glover has a definite charm within Harry as he brightens up every little bit of screentime as this focal point within the film, and I don’t mind placing him lead like those aforementioned performances as he serves a similar prodding role even though he isn’t obviously the main character in a traditional sense. Glover’s quite effective as well in the way we get the first instance that there’s something off about Harry as we see him looking over and touching the family pictures and messing with the clock on the mantle. Where Glover was naturally charming in his entrance, in this moment there’s a very strange manner that effectively makes Harry off, not in an overt way, but one where you do sense there’s something not on the level about him. 

Harry continues as he meets the younger generation where he presents himself as an outgoing “modern” man who doesn’t go on about sin as he shows off his knife. Glover in the sequence very much evokes Robert Mitchum in Night of the Hunter as he speaks about the nature of good and evil. Glover is quite captivating in his folksy way of telling about his “travels” and his keepsakes, though with these little changes there's the sudden sinister glint that switches for a moment and a sadism occasionally. One particular moment where he’s asked if he’s ever used his knife, Glover’s delivery is amazing as he goes from seeming wholly to deliver himself when he says it was for “bad monkeys” before then his voice switching to a lighthearted follow up joke. Glover effectively keeps this certain combination between the facade of normalcy and the real nefarious nature that pierces out in key moments. A continuation when he speaks to the husband and wife of one of the younger couples about their charity habits. Speaking first in glowing terms of support before cutting it down with his own hideous logic and expectation as though to eliminate the idea of goodness. Glover again so effectively doing this coin flip from the friendly visitor to the truly devious man who thrives on cultivating darkness in others.  

Harry is perhaps his most obvious with the older people, including a woman Hattie who knew Harry well and has since changed substantially, or when he’s discussing two men who died including one who was lynched, that it is speculated on that it was only meant to look like a lynching. In both of these scenes Glover’s performance seems to shed any notion of the disguise and rather seems as though in these moments Harry is directly feeding on what fits more directly in his morality. His voice becomes deeper, his eyes entirely filled with that sinister glow of someone truly in his element. In this moment Glover makes the most of the devil seemingly coming out as he seems to want to pull the sin out of one and almost glory in the deaths that seem potentially connected to him. Glover presents just the wolf in these moments as an effective contrast to his scenes with the younger people, where we see his quiet manipulations to push everyone towards bad behaviors and potential bad ends. Where Glover succeeds in creating a convincing quality to the manipulations of the man going along with what anyone is saying, but then just with a quick smile and work twisting it effectively around towards to take something innocuous and make it insidious. I suppose the simple nature of his entrance, Glover’s exit and Harry losing his influence is pretty subtle, and even darkly comical in the immediacy of it. Although kind of a simple choice, Glover’s presentation of this sort of meek acceptance of his need to “leave” suggests more than anything a limitation of what Harry can do if no one is listening. Glover delivers a captivating turn here in successfully playing the little layers of his mischievous fiend knowing exactly when to deliver the smile of a false love and the smile of a real hate. 

Alternate Best Actor 1990

And the Nominees Were Not:

 

Jacky Cheung in Bullet in the Head

 

Danny Glover in To Sleep With Anger 

 

Al Pacino in The Godfather Part III

 

Wojciech Pszoniak in Korczak

 

Gabriel Byrne in Miller's Crossing

 

Feel Free to Predict These Five, Those Five or Both.  

 

Tim Robbins in Jacob's Ladder

 

John Lone in Shadow of China

 

Jason Patric in After Dark, My Sweet

 

Nicolas Cage in Wild At Heart

 

Robin Williams in Awakenings 

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1946: Claude Rains in Deception & Results

Claude Rains did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Alexander Hollenius in Deception.

Deception follows as a cellist Karel Novak (Paul Henreid) reunites with his lover Christine (Bette Davis) after the end of WWII, unfortunately a famous composer might complicate things.

 

That famous composer is of course played by the great Claude Rains in his third performance from 1946, following his Oscar nominated performance as a lovelorn Nazi in Notorious and as a rather jovial Satan in Angel on My Shoulder. Despite playing a Nazi and the devil, strangely enough his performance here as lauded composer Alexander Hollenius might be the most actively nefarious in his manner. Rains makes his dynamic entrance as Novak and Christine decide to marry, despite it being clear that Christine had been Hollenius’s lover at the time of the couple’s reunion. Naturally Hollenius decides to crash their wedding and the intensity of Rains’s passive aggression as he comes in to "congratulate" the pair on their nuptials reveals immediately his true intentions. The direction of the character’s ire is properly conducted by Rains with an artful combination between a seething jealousy and egotistical derision. Rains’s eyes present caution immediately towards Christine, his true hatred for this development with nearly the petulance of a boy being denied his cookie, but also with the grandiosity fitting a man who has been declared as a genius by many…including Novak himself. 

There is an unquestionably joy of performance within Rains’s performance that manages to easily differentiate himself from his “other man” performances including his Oscar nominated turn from 46. Rains makes a choice in this instance really not to emphasize any empathetic qualities within his Hollenius instead making an alternative choice in reinforcing the despicable nature of the character. That isn’t to say Rains forgoes any genuine emotion, quite the contrary, however in this instance, unlike Notorious where he weirdly makes one sorry to a degree for the villain in that film, he essentially plays Hollenius as an entitled brat. He has a blast, and it is hard not to enjoy it with him as Rains, even while keeping a certain regal veneer by the virtue of his innate presence and voice, goes all in to show that it is nothing but a hollow facade to the nature of the man. It is especially easy to enjoy Rains’s truly petulant delivery of describing musicians who play his music basically as Monkeys doing his bidding. Rains creates no fancy qualities in this explosion but rather enjoyably strikes right into the heart of who this man is by delivering his outburst with a decided lack of refinement. 

The situation exacerbates quickly when Hollenius recruits Novak to be a musician for his next piece which gives him easy access to brow beat Christine’s love. Rains though shows a slightly different side as the conductor/composer where he still emphasizes just the general sadistic glee he gets from every second, but within it there is at least some notion of general passion in his delivery where we see the musical genius prodding for more. While Christine believes it to be purposeful torture, Novak appreciates the treatment as a method to improve his skill, which naturally leads Christine to confront her old lover for his true intentions. Rains takes complete ownership of this sequence as to be expected where he delivers every line as this long planned dictation that emphasizes the sense of planning in every word while in his eyes still bringing just this childish type of joy of victory over a playground rival. When the composer explains he will essentially make Novak brilliant, before destroying him by revealing the affair Christine had with him, Rains is delightfully diabolical in his ability to present such confidence in the plan meanwhile you sense the seething resentment behind that confidence that is his true motivation. Rains successfully finds a new avenue in playing yet another scene stealing villain that while it has shades of his other works in no way feels a copy of it. Although I wouldn’t say he quite hits the high of his Oscar nominated turn, this is another delicious slice of the Rains pie so to speak, and just another example of him being the very best when it came to character acting in that period.

Updated Overall

Next: 1990 Lead

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1946: Alastair Sim in Green For Danger

Alastair Sim did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Inspector Cockrill in Green For Danger. 

Green For Danger is a hospital soap opera that becomes a murder mystery because everyone chooses to act a little too dramatically for their own good. 

This is the second time I’ve covered an Alastair Sim performance as an inspector. Although this is in no way a copy of his mysterious and imperious inspector Poole, Sim’s Cockrill is earthy in comparison which Sim makes great use of. Sim begins as a narrator before we meet him where he offers a nice alternative delivery where he adds a nice slightly comedic manner to Cockrill’s recitation even while still finding the needed gravity as he describes that the hospital staff consists of victims, a murderer and the suspects. Sim comes in after two murders have taken place in the hospital and a group of two doctors and a few nurses are the suspects. Sim’s great ease for comedy comes into play as we immediately undercut the Inspector a little bit as we emphasize his constant worry about a German bomber throughout the film. Sim really makes the most out of the comedy in his instant switch to the upward reactions of worry and a run and hide that in no way brings any vanity to the character. Leading eventually to a rather enjoyable punchline at the end of the film where Sim’s reaction of slightly frustrated disbelief is some comedic gold. 

His main purpose within the film is to solve the case and where Sim is most welcome as the alternative voice within the constant various emotional compromises of the other characters. Sim arrives with an ease of presence within the Inspector’s role to find out the truth. Sim though is very different here than as Poole, because where Poole already knew everything, Sim very much gives a different style of someone who intends to find out everything, is quite capable of doing so, but has yet to figure it out. Sim conveying an intelligence intent on finding out more despite not having all the answers. Sim brings a wonderful ease and a distinct lack of putting on any airs when dealing with the hospital staff. Sim finding a directness and I especially love the use of his eyes which are always seeming peering through the nonsense being spotted by his list of suspects who all have something to hide even beyond the mystery. Sim provides a directness with a combination between determination with wit as highlights that cut through every scene. Amplifying this only with his physical manner of confident movement within the case and particularly his brandishing of the truth, including my favorite moment in the film with his wholly casual manner of cutting down a bush to reveal an eavesdropper in a rather hilarious fashion. 

Naturally we give Sim a natural detective summation sequence, though in this instance via surgery, where Sim manages to convey a direct urgency of the detective genuinely wishing to avoid any further death with also the wonderful intelligence in his eyes as we see the spark of the man figuring it all out. He manages to even sell a completely ludicrous moment where one character basically acts nefarious for no reason that leads to someone’s death, but Sim’s reactions towards hearing the truth of the situation is pretty great as we get the man completely surprised. Sim earns the change up for the character on an acting level even if the setup is completely unbelievable. Sim offers the right steady presence here that enlivens the mystery and the overall film with ease. He naturally segues between his comedic and dramatic moments in crafting detective that manages to be both exact in his intelligence yet properly humorous in his very much human foibles. Inspector Cockrill evidently is a literary detectives with multiple entries and it's a shame that this was Sim's only go around as it certainly would've been a treat to go through a few more mysteries with him.