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.

Updated Overall

Next: Backlog Volume 5 and feel free to give your recommendations. 

Alternate Best Actor & Best Supporting Actor 1932: Robert Lynen & Harry Baur in Poil de Carotte

Robert Lynen did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Francois Lepic aka Carrottop in Poil de Carotte. 

Poil de Carotte follows a pastoral family through the perspective of the ignored youngest child.

In the time when most child performances were forgettable or terrible, where really the standard for many adult performances in cinema often was that of stiff of overacting, you have a turn here by Robert Lynen, who from his first scene, where he must explain an essay that spoke of the poor nature of his family, we see a performance far flung from that standard. Lynen does the often seemingly impossible for the time, which is merely natural onscreen. Lynen certainly is that as he evokes the boy who's a bit out of sorts, but still seems likable enough as the concerned teacher inquires about his writing. Lynen's performance goes beyond just being natural, as he's natural with a greater depth, as he presents the anxiety of the young boy who just seems a bit lost. When talking about his family he manages to balance within the simple emotions of a boy, however with the complexity in the nature of the emotion. As he delivers his lines with the immediacy of the boy just trying to get the teacher to understand with the blunt anguish of a boy who just doesn't get his love. Where the complexity lies, it isn't a simple sadness, rather he delivers within this sense of confusion within his performance. A confusion that denotes a boy who can't understand why his father ignores him, and his mother constantly forces him to do work without showing any motherly affection towards him. But all the same, when the teacher encourages to give his parents a chance, there is a painful glint of hope on his expression as he decides to give it a chance. 

Unfortunately Carrottop's claims of his family aren't at all false, as when he goes about embracing his father (Harry Baur) with the utmost earnestness, presented by Lynen as a simple yet pure of desire for affection, the father is merely surprised and pushes him off, being more focused on his hunting trips, his political career and any excuse to get away from his wife. His wife, Carrottop's mother, is said to be horrible, and she is in every way as she instantly picks at the poor boy demanding only work from him without anything in return. The initial moments of this are heartbreaking because of Lynen's performance only conveys again that simple desire for any affection, not any. And what is more painful is seeing that hope the teacher put within him, completely crumble in his reactions that show the boy just going back to his old ways all in such short order. Lynen's performance is so effective because what he does is convey bluntly the situation within the boy, and how unassuming in so many ways he is in his attempt to find some sort of comfort at any point. As what Lynen's performance does is always emphasize the difficulty of the youth, but as a youth specifically. There's many wonderful moments between Carrottop and the family's new maid, who gives the boy much more time than was ever granted to him by anyone in the family. Lynen's terrific in presenting the frustrations because it is with the urge and needs of a child, and has a certain petulance in his manner, however in that there is always a blunt truth in his performance. 

Where the film in general excels altogether is through the child's perspective which even includes visual representation of such, such as ghosts haunting the boy when he has to do a chore at night, but more importantly to Lynen's performance we often see the boy haunted by the worst of his thoughts, which often suggest suicide. Lynen's performance as both of the boy's two patterns of thoughts in these scenes is quite moving because at the same time, literally, he represents both the hope of what the child needs and what the pain of what the child feels. There is a bluntness about it that is particularly heartbreaking because when his "other voice" suggests suicide each time, it is with a kind of clarity, where his own thoughts react in a panic at first. And we see how this connects to even the boy being scared of thoughts of ghosts when going about chores at night. Lynen shows the difficulty of dealing with the complex, which often results in the simple reaction, however that simple reaction always feels completely honest and even more hurtful. When he rebels against his mother's constant demanding of work from him, it is as the child having a tantrum, but there is always in his eyes that desire for some recognition of him as more than just a worker. The sequence near the end of the film where he commits to suicide is heart wrenching because Lynen's performance shows in his face just how lost the boy is, and always searching for affection, so the solution becomes his only one. 

Harry Baur did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Monsieur Lepic in Poil de Carotte.

Harry Baur plays the father of Lynen's character and for much of the film is a man of few words towards the boy. Rather Baur, who has a great presence as a performer, just exudes a man who is kind of fed up with his existence with his family, and just is set on other things, such as hunting and his politics. Baur's performance is careful in that while the character is cruel, he isn't purposefully so in his manner towards Carrottop who he treats just as he does with everything in his family, as something he gives a quick passive attention to, before he moves off towards his chosen activity. We see the cause of this through some key moments of interaction with his wife, where you see just his quiet bitterness in every glance, and where everyone else he just exists with you see the history of hate between the two. Baur's performance is made by really pulling off the difficult task of earning the ending, which is when a family friend informs the father, right after he's won his election, that his son is about to kill himself. Baur's performance earns this sudden snap towards paternal concern as he rushes out to find his son, and Baur is extremely moving in managing this single reaction to show the sense of shame in his ignoring, and the immediate real love for the boy that just reveals itself in the moment. That's only part of the earning though as the other half is when he finds the boy in just the nick of time, and both he and Lynen are great together. Because you see in a moment's notice, now that the father is taking time just to earnestly talk to his son, the sense of warmth between the two is overwhelming yet feels completely genuine despite how we got here. The moment in particular of the father finally referring to the boy by his actual name, is filled with so much real affection for a true dad. And contrasting that is Lynen's performance, where he shows just this sincerest discovery of love, and how that is all the boy needed. He too earns this immediate switch, because throughout it, that's all the boy suggested he needed,  and when he finds it the interaction couldn't be more cathartic. Lynen gives a truly moving depiction of the forgotten child, finally finding love, and Baur offering the able assist, as the dad finally snaps out of his haze to see what has been missing this entire time. 

Alternate Best Actor and Supporting Actor 1932: Results

Paul Muni in Scarface - The same year where Muni gave, at least from what I have seen, his best performance in I Am Fugitive From A Chain Gang he also played perhaps one of his best known roles as Tony Camonte best known as Scarface. It's funny in that both this performance and Al Pacino's performance in the remake where perhaps turning points for both actors as they often went for more

over the top characterizations after playing the role of Scarface. Like Pacino, Muni does not give a very subtle or subdued performance here, but it does fit the role of an over the top gangster. Muni's goes big it doesn't ever quite sit right for me, but I did feel it worked better here as it fit in creating the flamboyant nature of the role. He also bothers to bring some subtly in terms of his reactions creating the right intensity, and at least bringing some poignancy to the scenes where Tony is being overprotective of his sister. 3.5/5

Best Actor Ranking:

1. Robert Lynen in Poil de Carotte
2. Michel Simon in Boudu Saved From Drowning 
3. Charles Laughton in Island of Lost Souls
4. Paul Muni in I Am A Fugitive From a Chain Gang
5. John Gilbert in Downstairs
6. Raimu in Fanny
7. Walter Huston in American Madness
8. Oliver Hardy in Pack Up Your Troubles
9. Stan Laurel in Pack Up Your Troubles
10. William Powell in Jewel Robbery
11. Oliver Hardy in The Music Box
12. Stan Laurel in The Music Box
13. Fredric March in Smilin' Through
14. Paul Muni in Scarface
15. William Powell in One Way Passage
16. Boris Karloff in The Mummy
17. John Barrymore in State's Attorney
18. Herbert Marshall in Trouble in Paradise
19. Maurice Chevalier in Love Me Tonight
20. Pat O'Brien in American Madness
21. Harold Lloyd in Movie Crazy
22. Hideo Sugawara in I was Born But...
23. Tomio Aoki in I was Born But..
24. Gary Cooper in A Farewell to Arms
25. John Barrymore in A Bill of Divorcement
26. Groucho Marx in Horse Feathers
27. Ureo Egawa in Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth
28. Joel McCrea in The Most Dangerous Game
29. Maurice Chevalier in One Hour With You
30. Bela Lugosi in White Zombie
31. Nicolas de Gunzburg in Vampyr
32. Edward G. Robinson in Two Seconds
33. Herbert Marshall in Blonde Venus
34. Clark Gable in Red Dust
35. Phillips Holmes in Broken Lullaby
36. Clive Brook in Shanghai Express
37. Junior Durkin in Hell's House
38. William Gargan in Rain
39. Harry Earles in Freaks
40. Johnny Weissmuller in Tarzan The Ape Man
41. Paul Lukas in Downstairs
42. Fredric March in The Sign of the Cross
43. Fredric March in Merrily We Go To Hell
44. David Manners in The Mummy
45. Richard Arlen in Island of Lost Souls
46. John Harron in White Zombie
47. Warren William in 3 on A Match
48. Chester Morris in Red-Headed Woman

John Barrymore in Grand Hotel - Barrymore is rather good here in creating the outward suaveness of the Baron as he he charms his way into seemingly everyone's heart around him. Barrymore carries himself with a great deal of that old Hollywood style of charisma which works quite well here. Barrymore also does well in portraying the desperate elements found in the Baron, which easily could lead to some ACTING, but actually Barrymore is quite effective by staying fairly toned down in this respect. Instead of showing the Baron constantly having to deal with the thoughts of his financial troubles, Barrymore is quite good instead by subtly showing the slight hesitations and secondary glances of the man that suggest the man's predicament. It's fine work and rather easily my supporting win for the year. 4/5

Best Supporting Actor Top Ten:

1. Leslie Howard in Smilin' Through
2. John Barrymore in Grand Hotel
3. Harry Baur in Poil de Carotte
4. Charles Laughton in The Sign of the Cross
5. Fernard Charpin in Fanny
6. Tatsuo Saitō in I Was Born But...
7. Charles Laughton in The Old Dark House
8. Lionel Barrymore in Grand Hotel 
9. Lionel Barrymore in Broken Lullaby
10. Henry Stephenson in Red-Headed Woman

Next Year: 1998 Lead