Monday 2 March 2015

Alternate Best Actor 1956: Results

5. Paul Newman in Somebody Up There Likes Me - Newman frankly tries a bit too hard in the role luckily his natural charm and talent makes up for it.

Best Scene: Rocky proposes.
4. Sterling Hayden in The Killing - Sterling Hayden gives a very efficient performance managing to establish his character while moving along with the film's particularly brisk pace.

Best Scene: Johnny accepts his fate.
3. Toshiro Mifune in Samurai III: Duel At Ganryu Island - Mifune gives a satisfying final performance as Miyamoto Musashi naturally rounding off the character to a true master who values peace even more than his prowess with the sword.

Best Scene: The titular duel.
2. John Wayne in The Searchers - John Wayne gives an outstanding performance as a bitter man driven by hate, and brilliantly subverts his usual western hero image.

Best Scene: They figure out the Comanche's plan.
1. James Mason in Bigger Than Life - Good Predictions GetDonaldSutherlandAnOscar, Jackiboyz, and Luke. I can make a sigh of relief in finally giving the victory to one of my favorite actors James Mason although he did have some very strong competition from both John Wayne and Kirk Douglas. Mason though stands as my favorite for his chilling yet heartbreaking depiction of the transformation of a decent man to a psychotic.

Best Scene: Ed decides on the solution for his son. 
Overall Rank:
  1. James Mason in Bigger Than Life
  2. John Wayne in The Searchers
  3. Kirk Douglas in Lust For Life
  4. Eli Wallach in Baby Doll
  5. Alastair Sim in The Green Man
  6. Toshiro Mifune in Samurai III: Duel At Ganryu Island
  7. Henry Fonda in The Wrong Man
  8. Sterling Hayden in The Killing
  9. James Stewart in The Man Who Knew Too Much 
  10. Van Heflin in Patterns
  11. Jack Palance in Attack
  12. Clifton Webb in The Man Who Never Was
  13. Koji Tsuruta in Samurai III: Duel At Ganryu Island 
  14. Brandon De Wilde in Goodbye, My Lady
  15. George Cole in The Green Man
  16. Humphrey Bogart in The Harder They Fall 
  17. Karl Malden in Baby Doll
  18. Tom Ewell in The Girl Can't Help It
  19. Paul Newman in Somebody Up There Likes Me
  20. Rock Hudson in Giant
  21. William Smithers in Attack
  22. Cantinflas in Around The World in Eighty Days
  23. Gary Cooper in Friendly Persuasion
  24. Burt Lancaster in The Rainmaker
  25. Dean Jagger in X: The Unknown
  26. Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments
  27. Raymond Burr in Godzilla, King of the Monsters
  28. Yul Brynner in Anastasia 
  29. Jose Ferrer in The Great Man 
  30. Desi Arnaz in Forever Darling
  31. Gregory Peck in Moby Dick 
  32. Rock Hudson in Written on the Wind
  33. Gregory Peck in The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit
  34. Wendell Corey in The Bold and the Brave
  35. Jeffrey Hunter in The Searchers
  36. Don Taylor in The Bold and the Brave
  37. Yul Brynner in The King And I
  38. Bing Crosby in High Society
  39. Frank Sinatra in High Society
  40. David Niven in Around The World in Eighty Days
  41. Don Murray in Bus Stop
  42. John Wayne in The Conqueror
Next Year: 1956 Supporting

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can I have your thoughts on Hepburn in The Rainmaker, Baxter in The Ten Commandments and also ratings and thoughts on Celeste Holm in High Society?

RatedRStar said...

Eli Wallach - Baby Doll
Yul Brynner - The Ten Commandments
Edward G Robinson - The Ten Commandments
Rod Steiger - The Harder They Fall
Ward Bond - The Searchers

RatedRStar said...

Louis also lol I think JackiBoyz got it right also.

Anonymous said...

Louis, what are your thoughts on The Green Man, Attack, and The Man Who Never Was as well as their lead performances?

Anonymous said...

Also your thoughts on Goodbye My Lady and Moby Dick?

Michael Patison said...

Louis: Ratings in addition to those thoughts Anonymous asked for in his first post

Michael Patison said...

For Supporting:
Ward Bond in The Searchers
Yul Brynner in The Ten Commandments
Edward G. Robinson in The Ten Commandments
Eli Wallach in Baby Doll

My personal win for supporting is James Dean in Giant, though I know he won't be yours. The strangeness of the second half of his performance works really well for me as I feel it comes across as his being uncomfortable in his adult skin because he's so immature.

GM said...

Rod Steiger - Jubal
Lee J. Cobb - The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
Yul Brynner - The Ten Commandments
Daniel Cauchy - Bob le Flambeur
Eli Wallach - Baby Doll
Edward G. Robinson - The Ten Commandments
Everett Sloane - Patterns
Ed Begley - Patterns

GetDonaldSutherlandAnOscar said...

Luke: Do you still want me to request Bale or shall you take upon the honour yourself? For if not I shall request Dean Stockwell in Compulsion for 1959 lead.

Luke Higham said...

GDSAO: I'll let you request Bale.

Louis: My request at the moment is Gregory Peck in The Omen.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Thank You for giving Mason the win at last.

Eli Wallach - Baby Doll
Yul Brynner - The Ten Commandments
Edward G. Robinson - The Ten Commandments
Ward Bond - The Searchers
Elisha Cook. Jr. - The Killing
Or
Rod Steiger - The Harder They Fall

Michael McCarthy said...

What's your rating and thoughts for Sim in The Green Man?

John Smith said...

Eli Wallach- Baby Doll

Takashi Shimura Or Akihiko Hirata-Gojira

GetDonaldSutherlandAnOscar said...

Okay, my request is Christian Bale in Rescue Dawn :) Stockwell, you'll have to wait for a while.

John Smith said...

Louis, your toughts of the cast on the tv-show Fargo and Sherlock.

Luke Higham said...

John Smith: To my knowledge, he hasn't seen Sherlock.

JackiBoyz said...

I cannot think of any performances to request for at the moment so I will get back to you Louis.

Deiner said...

Eli Wallach - Baby Doll
Yul Brynner - The Ten Commandments
Edward G. Robinson - The Ten Commandments
Elisha Cook, Jr - The Killing
Richard Basehart - Moby Dick

GetDonaldSutherlandAnOscar said...

Recommendation: Elisha Cook Jr in The Killing, Yul Brynner in The Ten Commandments, Anthony Quayle in The Wrong Man, Eli Wallach in Baby Doll

Also thoughts/ratings on:
Cantinflas and David Niven in Around The World in Eighty Days
Burt Lancaster in The Rainmaker
Yul Brynner in Anastasia
John Wayne in The Conqueror

Louis Morgan said...

Anonymous:

Hepburn - 4.5(I rather enjoyed her performance here as she makes an endearing enough character that we care whether or not she finds happiness. She takes kinda light approach which works as she does bring a nice bit of humor to her role, yet never loses the more emotional qualities of her character either)

Baxter - 4.5(It is technically what she does best. Baxter sometimes can have a certain coldness that works wonders in portraying the glacial eventual wife of the Pharaoh. She is properly alluring and makes it believable why Moses would be swept up by her at first, but then is terrific in portraying such a viciousness in the sinister of her character)

Holm - 3.5(Easily the best part of that film, which had too many musical interludes that were not good. Holm though brings a nice bit of spark to the film through her charming presence)

Anonymous:

The Green Man - (An enjoyable comedy that is actually probably too brief for its own good. It's certainly a bit of fun for running time though)

Sim - 4.5(Sim is hilarious here in portraying a most gentlemanly of assassins. Sim is great in actually having a certain menace in his manner while still just being really enjoyable in portraying the exasperated reactions by the assassins when various problems arise thanks to the incompetence of his assistant)

Cole - 3.5(If Sim's there Cole not far behind I guess. Cole is fairly entertaining though in portraying the disbelief of his likable hero who is quite surprised to find himself in the middle of an assassination plot)

Attack - (A fairly effective war film, although slightly let down by Eddie Albert's performance, that focuses more on the interactions between the soldiers than it does in the war effort. It realizes its characters rather well and the whole way it uses the enemy more of to force the issues between the men is quite intriguing)

Palance - 4(He reminded a bit of Coburn in The Iron Cross that being the rough soldier who cares about his men and hates the foolishness of his commanding officer. Palance does the tough exterior well while conveying the more emotional passion that motivates his protection of his men. He has some great moments such as his brutal threatening of Albert's character, as well as just portraying his intense pain after suffering his injury late in the film)

Smithers - 3.5(He is somewhat overshadowed by other characters, but that's kinda the point as his character takes action when he's the only one who can still take action. Smithers gives an effectively understated work reflecting the same ideas that Palance does with his performance, but through a different type of man)

The Man Who Never Was - (A good enough procedural for the first half of the film, making the step by step process of a military project compelling enough. It then turns quite well into a fairly intense spy thriller once Stephen Boyd's Nazi spy shows up. It's a sudden change but a well handled one suddenly building considerable tension as the central ruse is put to the test)

Webb - 4(Technically a well worn type of role for Webb as he's once again playing the smartest man in the room, or at least the man who believes himself to be. Webb though does differentiate his work here properly. He still exudes that intelligence well, but here Webb projects it through a far more respectful sort who actually cares about other people)

Louis Morgan said...

Goodbye My Lady - (It's nicely handled, and rather sweet coming of age story. It tells its relatively simple story rather well)

John Smith:

I have not seen Sherlock. I watched only the first episode of Fargo which I really did not care for even though I did like Freeman's and Thornton's performances.

GetDonaldSutherlandAnOscar:

Cantinflas - 3.5(I have to give him credit as he tries his best to make up for the film's slow pace and general uninteresting story lines. Cantinflas tries to invigorate every scene he gets to do something in, and although I don't think he saves the film he does make it better than it would be otherwise with his enjoyable performance)

Niven - 2(Niven on the other hand does not take that approach. You can go for the overly posh Englishman but you have to be funny in probably a deadpan sort of fashion. Niven does not do this and just gives a pretty boring performance)

Lancaster - 3(He would do the huckster far better four years later in his Oscar winning performance, although Gantry has more depth that Starbuck who really is sorta a one note character. I thought Lancaster was charming enough on that one note, but I did feel he was overshadowed by Hepburn)

Brynner - 3(Better than his Oscar winning performance as it does not have that strangeness of that performance. This isn't a great performance either but Brynner gives a solid enough performance)

Wayne - 1(It's always funny to note that this performance came the same year as The Searchers, I guess he used all his energy for that one. Wayne actually could have been even more embarrassing playing Genghis Khan, I mean he does not do a Mickey Rooney accent or anything. He does look extremely awkward in that getup and is not at all believable in the role. Every line seems wrong coming out of him, and Wayne frankly seems pretty uncomfortable throughout his performance.)