Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1932: Leslie Howard in Smilin' Through & Results

Leslie Howard did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Sir John Carteret in Smilin' Through.

Smilin' Through is your romantic melodrama about lovers Kathleen and Kenneth (Norma Shearer, Fredric March) divided by WWI and the wounds of family history.

Leslie Howard was a little curious of an actor of the period, as typically one was a leading man or not, but he was going from leading to a supporting role from film to film. Here Howard plays the rare substantial supporting role in this film for the period. The substantial supporting role, in that the film actually opens with his character, older, where he is standing watch over the grave of his wife Moonyean (also Shearer). Howard's performance, despite not really adjusting his voice, is surprisingly convincing in his physical manner in the past in presenting just the age of the man. Howard's movements are slower and just his natural manner has this weight about him in age. What is wonderful though is how much hope that Howard brings as he also expresses  the dismay of the character. In his eyes there is this innate sadness about the man, even as when he's called upon to do anything, there's an unquestioned life to him. Howard establishes, without it needing to be said yet, the tragedy of the man, as he always suffers from his loss, but the man's innate being is not to wallow in the pain. Howard creates the sense of a man very much anchored to the past, even if it doesn't fully weigh him into nothingness. And we see what the man still has in him as he's presented with his child niece Kathleen, who is coming to live with him, and well Howard is just so charming. But he's charming in such an easy way as he invites the child to live with him, as there's kind of a somber quality there still, but his expressions are the man living with that however letting his natural warmth be the best of him instead as he goes about making Kathleen feel as welcome as can be.

We jump in time of course as Kathleen grows up to be Shearer, but we continue to see from Howard just such a loving performance from him. He exudes that sense of affection out of every element of his performance, and you are granted the immediate sense of this uncle who seemingly wants only what is best for his niece. Unfortunately things get complicated quickly when an American Kenneth appears in the old house of his father, and makes his way about charming and romancing Kathleen. And there we have the two sides of the man where Howard brings that quiet sense of assurance and love towards Kathleen as a given, until she reveals that the man is Kenneth Wayne, the son of the man who killed Carteret's wife on the day of their wedding. We first flashback where we get Howard to briefly get to be the romantic lead, and he is naturally charming in portraying the unabashed sense of love with his wife. And again Howard shows this loving man is the innate nature, and is moving in the reaction of immediate anguish when Moonyean is murdered in front him. And we understand Carteret's feelings towards the whole Wayne family including this new Wayne, where Carteret is instantly horrified at the prospect of Kathleen having anything to do with him. I think this is where the challenge of the performance truly is, though I was impressed by Howard's quietly warm and charming work before this point. Because it is easy to play into the melodrama in a way that accentuates the less believable aspects of the plot point rather than make it convincing despite being a fairly over the top concept. This is where Howard shines because of the way he presents the bitterness and stubbornness of Cartlett. The dominant emotion Howard presents in his performance is the sorrow within the man, as his expression is always looking inward, usually not facing who is talking to, and almost shows the man always looking to the grave of his wife in a way in this situation. When speaking about Howard is blunt in his delivery in his bitterness, but there is always the sense that it is coming from the pain of the loss of his old love more than even hate for the man who wronged him so deeply. Because of this, Howard is far more dynamic as the "angry old man", by showing very convincingly where he's coming from, granting understanding to it, being less of an obstacle to the central romance, but rather being a character in his own right. Howard by creating this basis for the behavior then wholly earns the change of heart of Carteret when he sees that Kenneth is willing to sacrifice his happiness for Kathleen's, and ends up encouraging the romance. Howard's work again is wonderful in showing less the warmth coming back, but rather just the bitterness fading away so gently to show the warmth was always still there all the time. Creating a moving depiction of the man changing his mind, because the sudden shift feels so natural because of how motivated Howard made every moment of it. And that might've been my favorite moment, if he didn't have his final scene where he's visited by the spirit of his wife, who had also visited him in the opening of the film, where Carteret mentions his mistakes. I love Howard's quiet self-deprecation of the man's uneasiness, but also sense of hope in giving it all up. But more so, as much as it wasn't the focus of the film, he once again has wonderful easy chemistry with Shearer in the moment, and ties such a heartfelt bow at the end of this story.

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