Alternate Best Actor 1950: Vincent Price in The Baron of Arizona

Vincent Price did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying James Reavis in The Baron of Arizona.

The Baron of Arizona follows a con man, attempting through forgery, to own Arizona.

This film comes from Samuel Fuller, who I wouldn't call one of the greatest filmmakers of the period, but was one of the most interesting. This as Fuller tended to tackle characters and subjects outside of the mainstream. This often covering them in a detail or style that too was rarely the approach. Although this doesn't always mean his films were great, they are intriguing to revisit at least on that basis. One of the common features of Fuller's work was he typically didn't cast stars in his leading roles, this leading to leading turns by relative unknowns or by character actors. That is the case here in Vincent Price, who has a bit of a fascinating career where he traded in prestige and through exploitation during his career. While the latter is where he more commonly found leading roles in general, this could be argued as a matching of the pair. This being a prestigious leading role for Price, though fittingly as a less than prestigious character. This as the conman James Reavis who is given an usually close perspective by Fuller, though reduced a bit slightly by a lame framing device with a boring narrator discussing the strange case. What we do get though is Vincent Price in a role that is both in his most famous types, but also not quite that type. This as he plays a dastardly sort, but a different sort in that regard. This as he's not a randomly evil man, but rather a man with a very specific plant to try to swindle a whole nation really. This as we open upon his Reavis fashioning a family lineage, including a girl he intends to marry, who he is creating a false baroness out of for his scheme. Price in a way reducing his typical cinematic deviousness, as just a more cautioned operator, portraying a man who is almost tactically implementing his plan one step at a time.

We see him as he goes about him even sneaking into a monastery in order to try to adjust age old records. Price portraying the good servant as he carefully manipulates an old tomb, though honestly I'm waiting far more for when Price gets founded out and must make an initial mistake. This as we get then what is far more within Price's more delicious style of acting. This when he comes across some random villagers and Price is in his game, showing Reavis in him. This in initially a nice early moment where his expression marks an exasperation in Reavis's unusual way of livelihood. This until he switches towards the overt conman, and we get some nice Price wryness. This in portraying the sort of manipulation in the man as he gets the group of people what he needs to do through just what he says. Price saying it so well with his right sort of mix of temptation with charisma. Honestly I wish the film was more willing to allow his character to be overtly evil as that is when Price is at his best. This as we are mixed in with scenes of him finally marrying the younger woman he setup as the baroness to take over Arizona to con so many people. Although Price isn't bad in these scenes, these oddly have little purpose, even as the film wants some romantic notion of the relationship. A romantic notion we are sadly not granted really within the writing of the film. Price is fine in being more sincere in these moments, but honestly that's not what I'm here for with Price. Thankfully we do get more dastardly Price as the film goes on and eventually leads to a personal trial for Reavis. This is easily Price's best scene, and he's terrific in bringing such a palatable ego in his smug manner as Reavis attempts to boast about the invisible nature of forgery. Price bringing the right lack of shame to every word of a man who loves to state his fraud as a sign of pride. Sadly still the film sticks to humanizing Reavis which I don't actually think serves the story, even if still atypical for the time. Price's best scene of this nature does come as he is about to be hanged, mainly because Price doesn't really change the nature of the part within his performance. This even in his delivery of the words of Reavis through a ragged breath, it is still with a bit of snide disregard and that ego again of a proper con man. It seems Price wishes to really play an affable fiend, sadly the film doesn't quite go along making this a bit of a missed opportunity. Price is good with what he has, but too much of his work is potential of what could have been a greater character study of a true imp.