Erich von Stroheim in The Great Gabbo - GABBO! GABBO! GABBO! for you Simpsons fans out there. This is perhaps one of the earliest examples of the story of the ventriloquist who becomes a little too convinced that his dummy is real, although this is a bit more low key in that regard than the two Twilight Zone episodes that cover that material or say Magic with Anthony Hopkins. Of course it is Gabbo who is the ventriloquist and the dummy's name is Otto. Although Gabbo is not forced into murdering anyone he just kinda makes some bad decisions that get him into trouble personally and professionally. The film does not have too much to offer really on its own past Erich von Stroheim's performance. von Stroheim just is an enjoyable performer to watch and he has some fun here. Whether it is doing his actual act with such confidence and precision or on the other end of things as he goes a bit nuts confining in Otto about his various insecurities. von Stroheim manages to be fairly entertaining and elevates the film probably as much as he can with his loony performance.
4/5
Overall Leading Rank:
- Ronald Colman in Bulldog Drummond
- Ronald Colman in Condemned
- George Bancroft in Thunderbolt
- Eric von Stroheim in The Great Gabbo
- Oliver Hardy in Big Business
- Stan Laurel in Big Business
- Willy Fritsch in Woman in the Moon
- Maurice Chevalier in The Love Parade
- William Powell in The Canary Murder Case
- Groucho Marx in The Cocoanuts
- Paul Muni in The Valiant
- William Powell in The Greene Murder Case
- Douglas Fairbanks in The Iron Mask
- Warner Baxter in Behind That Curtain
- Douglas Fairbanks in The Taming of the Shrew
- Lars Hanson in The Informer
- George Arliss in Disraeli
- Gary Cooper in The Virginian
- Ricardo Cortez in The Phantom in the House
- Harry Stubbs in Alibi
- Daniel L. Haynes in Hallelujah
- Chester Morris in Alibi
- Fuller Mellish Jr. in Applause
- Johnny Mack Brown in Coquette
- Harry Bannister in Her Private Affair
- Matt Moore in Coquette
- John Loder in Her Private Affair
- Henry Wadsworth in Applause
Louis Wolheim in Condemned - To be perfectly honest Louis Wolheim does not have too much of a character here as Jacques. He essentially just is Ronald Colman's prisoner buddy who replaces him as the Warden's wife's assistant. Well one could not ask for a better pair at the time with Colman as the lead and Wolheim as the support as both actors successfully transitioned from Silence to Sound since they not only knew how to present themselves towards the camera they also knew how to speak naturally. Wolheim does some good work here merely by just giving some life to a part that under most of the supporting actors from the period would have been as bland as everyone else, or over accentuated everything while being bland. Well Wolheim has a grand presence even in a role like this adding a nice bit of character to a nothing part as he always brings something to every line or action he has no matter how standard they might be. Wolheim manages to make Jacques an endearing sidekick in just a few moments, not really even scenes, and successfully makes his sacrifice at the end mean something even though the film doesn't really even work for it.
4/5
Top Ten Supporting:
- Louis Wolheim in Condemned
- Walter Huston in The Virginian
- Lupino Lane in The Love Parade
- Klaus Pohl in Woman in the Moon
- Eugene Pallette in The Canary Murder Case
- Fritz Rasp in Woman in the Moon
- James Finlayson in Big Business
- Gustav von Wangenheim in Woman in the Moon
- Eugene Pallette in The Greene Murder Case
- Boris Karloff in Behind That Curtain
Next Year: 1969 Lead
31 comments:
1969 Lead Suggestions
Michael Caine in The Italian Job
Paul Newman in Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid
William Holden in The Wild Bunch
Lino Ventura in Army Of Shadows
Jean-Louis Trintignant in Z
Louis: Your Lead & Supporting actress top 5s for 1929.
Louis: Ratings for the previous question, and your ratings for the rest of your top tens in Lead & Supporting Actor 1929.
Louis: Please review Caine, I'm begging you.
Jean-Louis Trintignant in Z
William Holden in The Wild Bunch
Lino Ventura in Army Of Shadows
Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider
Dick Bogarde in The Damned
William Holden - The Wild Bunch
Jean Louis Trintignant - Z
Michael Caine - The Italian Job
Paul Newman - Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid
Robert Redford - Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid
Bonus review: Antonio Banderas/The Skin I Live In
John Smith: Just to clarify, have you won any requests recently, if so, is Banderas your request.
Paul Newman - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Robert Redford - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
William Holden - The Wild Bunch
Jean Louis Trintignant - Z
Dennis Hopper - Easy Rider
William Holden-The Wild Bunch
Richard Widmark-Death of a Gunfighter
Robert Forster-Medium Cool
James Caan-The Rain People
Robert Duvall-The Rain People
Lino Ventura is so great in Army of Shadows. The ensemble of the whole movie is pretty great: some of the supporting actors are review worthy (Jean-Pierre Cassel particularly) and Simone Signoret is fantastic as usual, her last few silent seconds on screen are pure brilliance.
@Louis: Wolheims life story is quite saddening as apparently he would have got the part that would have got him an Oscar Nomination for The Front Page, I would have thought he would have won the ranking for that, and that apparently he was known as very caring off screen which I can believe so easily.
Alan Bates and Oliver Reed dont seem to be contenders for Women In love, have you see it Louis, and if so, what are your thoughts on them? =D.
RatedRStar: I personally hope, that he hasn't seen it and won't see it till the bonus rounds, since we need enough contenders for the bonus rounds and for me, I've been dying for a Caine/Italian Job review, for quite a long while.
Ratings on the rest of the top 10s
Michael Sarrazin, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
I did win Max Von Sydow in the New Lands, but that was outside of the bonus rounds.
William Holden, The Wild Bunch
I would suggest Sarrazin but I'm aware Louis was not overly impressed with him
JLT in Z
Bates and Reed in Women In Love (although Luke has a good point we need bonus round contenders)
1969 suggestions:
Max Von Sydow-The Pasion Of Anna
Richard Burton-Anne of the Thousand Days
Jean-Louis Trintignant-Z
Lino Ventura-The Army of Shadows
David Bradley-Kes
Fred Robsham-Flashback (The transformation is quite disturbing...)
Malcolm McDowell-If (Don't understan how no one mentioned this performance)
Ops!
Forgot this suggestion...
Roland Hedlund-Ådalen 31 (Will never miss the chance to represent the finest Sweden can offer)
John Smith: By Louis's rules, If... is '68, Bradley's '70 and Burton was already nominated and reviewed for Anne of the Thousand Days.
John Smith: I'm praying, that Louis reviews McDowell for If... in the bonus rounds, as it's his breakthrough role.
Well I would have thought McDowell will get in, I mean keep in mind that most of these years really don't have that many obvious contenders.
RatedRStar: I know, but it's the consecutive year idea, that kinda worries me a bit when it comes to '68 and there's only one other contender I'd recommend for that year and its Vincent Price in Witchfinder General, and Louis, if you review Price, use the original title instead of The Conqueror Worm, since you went by the US Title for Lee's Performance in Dracula.
Well im still holding my thumbs for Roland Hedlund/Ådalen 31
Must:
William Holden - The Wild Bunch
Marlon Brando - Burn!
Lino Ventura - Army Of Shadows
Others:
Max Von Sydow - The Passion of Anna
Jean-Louis Trintignant - Z
Toshiro Mifune - Shinsengumi: Assassins of Honor
Toshiro Mifune - Red Lion
Robert Redford - Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
Paul Newman - Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
Alan Bates - Women In Love
Robert Redford - Downhill Racer
Louis, what are your thoughts on the movie 'Woman in the Moon'?
@GM: Can I ask why Marlon Brando in Burn! is a must?, I ask this because well, Brando doesn't have the best track record of the 60s, I mean have you seen him in Mutiny On The Bounty =D lol.
Louis: I've decided to make a final plea on Caine, All I have to say, is that its the most iconic role of his in the eyes of the British viewer, more so than Get Carter, he has one of the most famous one-liners in film history and the ending's pretty memorable as well.
@Luke: Well, because Brando himself claimed it was his best performance, and I just watched Burn! and loved him in it.
GM: RatedRStar asked the question, not me.
Louis, can you give your thoughts and rating on Don Porter in The Candidate?
Luke:
Actress:
Louisa Brooks - Pandora's Box - 4.5
Jeanette MacDonald - The Love Parade - 3.5
Supporting Actress:
Eh I got nothing.
Hardy - 4
Laurel - 4
Fritsch - 3.5
Powell - 3.5
Marx - 3.5
Huston - 3.5
Lane - 3.5
Pohl - 3.5
Pallette - 3.5
Rasp - 3.5
Finlayson - 3.5
Wangenheim - 3
Pallette - 3
Karloff - 3
GM:
I rather liked Woman in the Moon as Fritz Lang certainly was a director then who clearly had a vision of a film rather leaving it to overly static images. I kinda love any ambitious false visionary sci-fi with this film's version of a rocket ship and the moon. The story is simple enough though I felt well done in its simplicity and I found the ending was as poignant as it was meant to be.
Robert:
Porter - 1(This is one of those performances that feels like such a missed opportunity. Porter plays it as an excessively obvious false politician, in addition to that he does have a few over the top moments in some of his outbursts. Now the film is about false politicians, but it's about how they fool the public. Porter could never fool anyone with his routine here, whereas the role could have been something truly remarkable with someone with an old school charisma like Jimmy Stewart in the role)
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