Best Actor 1950: Results

5. Louis Calhern in The Magnificent Yankee- I will say it again that Calhern is just fine as Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, but only just fine.

4. Spencer Tracy in Father of the Bride- Spencer Tracy is very good in this film being both an interesting presence to follow through sometime purposely mundane situations, and fins the right amount of humor when he can.

3.Jose Ferrer in Cyrano De Bergerac- Ferrer is very strong in every speech he makes from his most explosively and overly dramatic ones to his more tender romantic ones. I do not think the film uses his performance particularly well, and Ferrer does not have anyone who can really act all that well with, but nonetheless gives a strong performance.

2.William Holden in Sunset Blvd.- William does an incredibly good job at being cynical, and finds the right if sometimes bizarre tone for his scenes with Gloria Swanson.

1. James Stewart in Harvey- I put him here because the film he is in and everything with in it would have been an absolute incredible failure if Stewart was not able to make Elwood such a likable, poignant, endearing, and most importantly believable character. Elwood is an incredible challenge and Stewart manages to meet it. 

Deserving Performances:
Toshiro Mifune in Rashomon

Best Actor 1950: James Stewart in Harvey

James Stewart received his fourth Oscar nomination for portraying Elwood P. Dowd a man whose best friend is a Pooka in Harvey.

Harvey is a weird comedy I will say, it tries for something very odd, and I would say it does not succeed fully but I do not think still is an enjoyable film.

 I must say that Jimmy Stewart certainly has quite a challenge with the character of Elwood. Elwood is most assuredly a bizarre man, whose level of sanity certainly is up to debate. Elwood as a character could have been rife with problems such as being too crazy or being creepy, or most importantly not being at all believable. Elwood certainly is a preposterous character and could have been all of these things. Also the film put the actor as Elwood in a very very odd spot, since is he crazy, I mean Harvey does clearly actually exist with the dictionary scene and all that but Elwood still is suppose to be an alcoholic, and he still oddly constantly wants to hand people his card.

Stewart then is in an incredibly tricky spot since the film makes Elwood so strange. Stewart though I think does manage to find a way through all these oddities in making an endearing character out of Elwood for me anyways. I think this comes partially from Stewart's demeanor he uses so well in this film. He has his usual Stewart charm in this film, but in an specially relaxed sort of way, which I think is the right tone for Elwood. After all this alone I find makes it so Elwood unique problems do not seem abrasive or creepy at all, because Stewart is such a relaxed presence. He plays Elwood as a nice guy who happens to simply be friends with a giant rabbit. I actually believes that he saw Harvey because of this attitude he has in the film. He just turns and talks to his friend Harvey like everyone else he speaks to which I felt worked for the oddity of Elwood.

Stewart's performance is one that Stewart finds the perfect tone for and keeps it throughout the film. It is the right way to play Elwood in my opinion and this allows I felt for the best moments of the film. I think everyone of Stewart's speeches he makes about meeting Harvey, or his speech about his philosophy of life are very well handled. I found he put the right heart into them, and made them as poignant which they very well could have fallen flat. He finds the right tone for this very difficult character, and I think he actually succeeds with the bizarre Elwood, which really is pretty amazing considering the nature of him. He somehow stayed realistic to me, for every moment, I did believe in Elwood as a character. I would say his performance could seem simple since Elwood does not change, but that is the point of Elwood. The hardest part of the portrayal was the original creation of the character by the actor, which was very difficult but I feel Stewart managed to pull it off. 

Best Actor 1950: William Holden in Sunset Blvd.

William Holden received his first Oscar nomination for portraying B-movie writer Joe Gillis in Sunset Blvd.

Many films that are deemed classics, can be rather disappointing when you finally see them. Not this one though I thought he was just about brilliant, with a truly fascinating story.

William Holden is well suited for this certain sort of leading role, because all there are some aspects of the traditional leading man, but combined with a great amount of cynicism. William Holden is one of the best actors at being cynical only possibly matched by a few other actors like William Powell for example. Holden is great at though, and this role requires quite a bit of cynicism. Holden excels with his cynical performance which includes his narration. This style of performing which is the main focus the first half of the film, is perfectly handled by Holden, who adds a great amount of humor with this. This cynicism is very much needed for his portrait of Hollywood which is made perfectly scathing by Wilder's script, and Holden's performance. This style of performance Holden's cynicism never becomes old or tired for me though and he still remains charming despite how he always is.

After Gillis' repeated failures to make money through his usual means he by chance goes to an old home, of a has been actress Norman Desmond (Gloria Swanson). Gillis and Desmond begin to start a relationship in which both manipulate each other for different means. Holden and Swanson work marvelously together, but this is not the normal type of actor, actress relationship. Holden though seemed to know how extremely good Swanson was. That is why for much of the time Holden does react in his more normal more realistic portrayal, to Swanson's more purposely over the top performance. He lets her go so to speak most of the time and reacts, and always reacts properly. Sometimes in reaction in small ways to manipulate her, pity her, or become manipulated by her. This a strange relationship surely but both actors make it both interesting and believable despite the oddity of it.

The only part of the film I did not find overly impressive was the romance with an aspiring writer Betty Schaefer (Nancy Olson).Despite it not being the best moment of the film Holden is very good anyways, showing Gillis in a better light not being nearly as cynical as before. He shows that Gillis can be a better person, and Holden becomes very charismatic, and gives strong more traditionally romantic lead performance. I will admit Olson's and Holden's chemistry is nothing overly special, but Holden is still good nonetheless. Due to this portion of his performance Holden's performance is rather interesting since he manages to make Gillis believable as both a romantic and a cynic. A difficult maneuver but one which Holden achieves without fault. He mixes both the cynicism with the romance exceptionally making both showing that maybe Gillis puts on a little bit of a facade but still at the same time only a little bit of a facade.

The final  scenes Holden is very strong when Gillis realizes that he can no longer deal with Norma. Holden leads to this very well, actually showing how the frustration and exhaustion had reached a point in which was simply to far. He also showed that Gillis perhaps found that he really was not the man he though the was although this comes a little late for Gillis.  Now the film does not spend an a whole lot of time specifically showing this struggle and change in Gillis, but Holden I feel still manages to show it especially well. I feel his character does really change and really grows through Holden's portrayal which makes the ending of the film all the more deliciously cynical in its own way. Overall Holden gives a strong leading performance, which leads the audience through the sometimes very strange story of Sunset Blvd.

Best Actor 1950: Jose Ferrer in Cyrano de Bergerac

Jose Ferrer won his Oscar from his second nomination for portraying Cyrano De Bergerac.

Cyrano De Bergerac is not a particularly good film, many of the scenes are very stagy, and most of the actors beside the lead are either terrible or very dull.

Cyrano De Bergerac and Jose Ferrer's portrayal of him defies my standard method of reviewing. For one thing Cyrano is an incredibly theatrical character, and Ferrer portrays him in the same sort of fashion. Now I would say for other characters a performance like this would be outrageous or over the top but here it is rather different. The rather loud nature of his performance works rather well, and goes along with the character of Cyrano. Cyrano has to be theatrical because that is the way Cyrano is. The character is loud, always going off with his speeches and poetry whenever he has the chance. This is the way the character is written and the actor has to be equally theatrical back.

Ferrer does just that and  goes for utter theatrics with his performance. He certainly throws himself into the role, and is on for every moment of the film. He always makes sure that he is front and center for almost the entire film which is a good things since his performance is the only thing in this film. Ferrer goes always for larger than life portrayal of Cyrano which is the right portrayal. Since he always has so much conviction in his performance, I actually found myself believing in Cyrano as a character, which he could have easily seemed like a false character due to the nature of the character but since Ferrer always is completely confidant in his performance Cyrano works as a character.

Ferrer has a whole lot of speeches to make of many different types. He has romantic speeches, poems to says, and rather dramatic story telling speeches. Ferrer excels in all three types of these speeches. He always puts the right amount of gusto in all of his speeches, he moves around and acts out each one with the utmost amount of energy. I will admit not every speech is as good as the last, but Ferrer always attempts his best to make them entertaining since most of the movie is just a whole bunch of speeches from him. His best speeches I would say are his early strings of them where he makes these string of scenes as effective as they can be considering the weakness of the other actors. Also his final speech is incredibly well handled and finds the right amount of poignancy despite the fact that Mala Powers as Roxanne adds basically nothing to the scene.

The only time he is not making speeches is whether he is sword fighting or teaching an inept but good looking man Christian how to make speeches to woo Cyrano's own secret true love Roxanne.
Ferrer puts his usual energy in Cyrano's fight that does add to them, he always shows the rush in Cyrano's face he gets from the fight, and again succeeds well in making a speech at the same time as sword fighting. Cyrano's scenes of helping Christian I though actually were the best in the movie, because Ferrer added actually a lot of humor into these scenes. His correcting and amusement at Christian is really well handled by Ferrer adding much needed actual humor in the film. I would say the biggest weakness of the performance is the film, and this really is a film not deserving of a performance. Ferrer performance is in fact weakened by the film since he has almost no support.

Best Actor 1950: Spencer Tracy in Father of the Bride

Spencer Tracy received his fourth Oscar nomination for portraying Stanley T. Banks, the titular father, in Father of the Bride.

Father of the Bride is an okay comedy of sorts, that shows an example of the problems and responsibilities a father must face when his only daughter is getting married.

Spencer Tracy's performance in this film is the foundation of the film for his entire time. It begins coming in on him tired from his dealings with the marriage of his daughter and his narration carries us through the story as he had to deal with the various requirements of a father at this time. Tracy does just fine as a character to follow through this ordeal, with his nice demeanor and fairly to the point narration. Tracy is allowed to have some fun great fun with his performance, because the narration gives his real thoughts as Tracy has to put on a facade at times. Tracy goes for the right amount of humor in a very relaxed simply fashion through the differences in showing his true thoughts with his face and reactions combined with his narration.

Spencer Tracy besides these scenes get many scenes of going through the motions. This is not about his performance but about what the character has to do. He has to go through the motions of being the father of the bride such as meeting the fiancee, and the in laws, and dealing with the various minor problems with the wedding such as tending bar. Tracy does a fine job as the father and is always believable and charismatic enough to watch through these tasks. Tracy also always tries to add a little humor whenever he has a chance to. In all actuality the film could have been incredibly boring without Tracy, since all the other performance are fairly simple, and it really just focuses on the father. Tracy keeps his performance interesting enough which keeps the film interesting enough.

Tracy's performance is not one ever of that much of challenge. He shows all his emotions as they should be, and gives a fine semi nontraditional leading performance. He never is all that amazing, but he is always watchable in this performance, and always shows the right amount of warmth and intelligence for this performance. He does add more when he is required to such as the sense of time passing and changing involving how much his daughter is grown. Tracy puts the right amount of heart into his performance without ever making it sappy or overriding his humor portion of the film. Overall his performance is not ever obvious or all that assuming but it is a good one.

Best Actor 1950: Louis Calhern in The Magnificent Yankee

Louis Calhern received his only Oscar nomination for portraying Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in The Magnificent Yankee.

The Magnificent Yankee is a fine old fashioned biography picture, a fairly overwhelmingly positive portrait just as they all were and this film and others like it were enjoyable in a certain way because of this.

Louis Calhern was mostly a character actor, and this one probably his only chance for a leading Oscar nomination which he did recieve.Oliver Wendell Holmes as portrayed by Calhern and the film is a very upstanding judge, who always believes in what is right, and does not mind telling people what he believes. He dislikes some things like reporters, but is a nice man, and has a great relationship with his wife. There is not that much to Holmes besides this. He is not a character of much complexity which is fine since it works well enough for the film. Calhern does just a fine job as portraying Holmes exactly as he is written. No more, but no less either. His performance is not especially charismatic, nor is a boring or dull, which it could have been.

Holmes does hold his beliefs well even if they are against the grain.Calhern is just fine again in showing the passion for Homles' beliefs. It is not an outstanding passion and Calhern plays in a fairly low key fashion which seemed to be the right way to portray this. Holmes stays about the same throughout the film, the only real change is that he gets older, and older. Calhern is fine at showing Holmes' steadfast demeanor, but as he grows old Calhern does not show all that much change for most of the film leaving the aging mostly to the makeup department.

There is one change for the character and that is Holmes loses the company of his wife for his final years. Calhern is again just fine in showing his sadness at his lost. Also showing his happiness and strength he gains back when he meets all the men he has influenced throughout his years. Calhern simply is just fine throughout his performance, giving a performance one would expect from a competent character actor, no more no less. He is never bad and his performance suits the film well enough. He could have done more, as could of the film, but in the end both are really just fine.

Best Actor 1950

And the Nominees Were:

William Holden in Sunset Boulevard 

James Stewart in Harvey

Jose Ferrer in Cyrano De Bergerac

Spencer Tracy in Father of the Bride

Louis Calhern in The Magnificent Yankee

What is your prediction? Who do you pick?