Wednesday 27 March 2013

Alternate Best Actor 1935: Results

5. Paul Muni in Black Fury- Muni overacts as usual. He has a moment or two of decent acting but most of the time he just yells in an a needlessly loud fashion.

Best Scene: I guess when he finds out his girlfriend has left him. 
4. Errol Flynn in Captain Blood- Aside from one scene of weakness Flynn gives a charming performance that effortlessly carries his film.

Best Scene: Any of the swashbuckling scenes.
3. Charles Laughton in Ruggles of Red Gap- Laughton gives a particularly modest performance but still gives a very strong performance that is very funny but also quite moving when it needs to be.

Best Scene: Ruggles recites the Gettysburg Address. 
2. Robert Donat in 39 Steps- Donat is great as the wrong man playing well the down to earth reactions but as well giving a very charming and quite humorous performance as well.

Best Scene: Hannay finds himself handcuffed to a woman who believes him to be a murderer.
1. Boris Karloff in Bride of Frankenstein- This is actually a pretty strong year for lead actors, and I think the academy could have been bothered to nominate more than four actors for the Oscar. It was a close one but my runner up for the year goes to Boris Karloff  who finds new ground with the monster giving a oddly enough tender performance as the monster learns to talk, and attempts to relate to others.

Best Scene: The Monster meets his Bride.
Overall Rank:
  1. Victor McLaglen in The Informer
  2. Boris Karloff in Bride of Frankenstein
  3. Robert Donat in 39 Steps 
  4. Charles Laughton in Ruggles of Red Gap
  5. Edward G. Robinson in The Whole Town's Talking
  6. Boris Karloff in The Black Room
  7. Clark Gable in Mutiny on the Bounty
  8. Ronald Colman in A Tale of Two Cities
  9. Fredric March in Les Miserables
  10. Claude Rains in The Mystery of Edwin Drood
  11. Charles Laughton in Mutiny on the Bounty
  12. Robert Donat in The Ghost Goes West
  13. Fredric March in The Dark Angel
  14. James Cagney in G Men
  15. Peter Lorre in Crime and Punishment 
  16. Groucho Marx in Night At the Opera
  17. Errol Flynn in Captain Blood
  18. Fred Astaire in Top Hat 
  19. Franchot Tone in The Lives of the Bengal Lancers
  20. Charles Boyer in Private Worlds
  21. Bela Lugosi in The Raven 
  22. Peter Lorre in Mad Love
  23. Freddie Bartholomew in David Copperfield
  24. Fredric March in Anna Karenina
  25. Boris Karloff in The Raven 
  26. Fred MacMurray in Alice Adams
  27. Franchot Tone in Dangerous
  28. Colin Clive in Mad Love
  29. Frank Lawton in David Copperfield
  30. Seymour Hicks in Scrooge 
  31. Gary Cooper in The Lives of the Bengal Lancers
  32. Douglass Montgomery in The Mystery of Edwin Drood
  33. Paul Muni in Black Fury  
  34. Henry Wilcoxon in The Crusades
  35. Chester Morris in Public Hero No. 1
Next Year: 1935 Supporting 

5 comments:

RatedRStar said...

your gonna do supporting categories for the 30s as well, sweeett Louis.

John Boles - The Littlest Rebel
Charles Laughton - Les Miserables
Bela Lugosi - The Raven
Charles Boyer - Private Worlds
Henry Fonda - The Farmer Takes A Wife
Lionel Barrymore - David Copperfield

moviefilm said...

Why didn't I switch Muni and Flynn? Damn it...

Michael Patison said...

Charles Laughton in Les Misérables
Ernest Thesiger in Bride of Frankenstein
Ralph Bellamy in Hands Across the Table

Michael Patison said...

Also, I haven't seen David Copperfield, but Mr. Micawber is usually the standout supporting characters, so I'll recommend W.C. Fields as well.

Interestingly, Charles Laughton was the original choice for Mr. Micawber, but he didn't like the performance he was giving after two days and asked to be removed, so he was replaced with W.C. Fields. But can you imagine if he had? 4 Best Picture nominees in 1 year!

Michael Patison said...

One last thing. I was looking at a bunch of stills from a bunch of old horror movies recently because I just don't have enough time to watch them, and I realized part of what makes modern horror movies generally so terrible. Obviously there's the whole issue that they aren't truly scary and only intermittently frightening, but possibly even more so is the lack of nuance in lighting methods. I mean there's a still of Béla Lugosi in The Raven just standing there looking at Irene Ware and it's pretty damn unnerving simply because of how the lighting is done. Nowadays the just turn off the lights and have things pop out at you.