Best Supporting Actor 1946: Clifton Webb in The Razor's Edge

Clifton Webb received his second Oscar nomination for portraying Elliott Templeton in The Razor's Edge.

The Razor's Edge is a very bad film that tells the story of a troubled War vet ran who takes a personal journey to find the meaning of life.

Clifton Webb was apparently the go to snobbish society type before John Gielgud took over that perpetual role. The character of Elliott Templeton is strictly within Webb's type, a snobbish fellow who looks down upon basically everyone else in someway. As one would except Webb is of course a pro at being the snobbish Templeton, and always has the right demeanor as well as superior attitude in each of his scenes.

Elliot Templeton as a role in the film is quite limited though to mostly making snide remarks about others going through the plot. Webb though always does indeed make the most of each of his moments. Webb is just the perfect snob, which is exactly what Templeton is suppose to be. Templeton though is not the greatest role still and does not do more than act as a snob until his death/ Oscar scene.

The placement of the scene actually is quite bizarre considering how he was just treated as a snob most of the time, yet the film suddenly wants you to have sympathy for him, either way though Webb does have a chance to show a weaker side to Templeton. Webb's final scene is a mix though. He overacts in one moment of it as he cries out that no one is coming to see him, but his last moments are well handled as Templeton regains his dignity.

As with so many performances nominated in this category there is not anything special in Webb's performance, and aside from a moment during his final scenes there is nothing wrong with his performance either. It is really standard work from Webb that suits the role, and is an entirely functional performance, but not one that ever stands out as something all that substantial.