Best Actor 1944: Results

5. Cary Grant in None But the Lonely Heart- Grant is not able to rise above, or even compensate for his miscasting in this role. Grant should have been nominated many more times than he was but this is not one of them.

4. Bing Crosby in Going My Way- Crosby role is not much of a challenge, it requires him to sing, and to be  charming, which he is, but he really does not do anything in his role that needed to be rewarded.

3. Alexander Knox in Wilson- Knox gives a strong passionate performance as Woodrow Wilson. He makes Wilson a likable and interesting character well keeping with the film's just about portrayal of Wilson as  just about perfect.

2. Barry Fitzgerald in Going My Way- Barry Fitzgerald's performance is indeed a supporting performance, but a great supporting performance. His performance, is an honest deeply effective piece of work. I do not mind not giving him the award here since he has his own proper category to win.

1. Charles Boyer in Gaslight- Charles Boyer gives an effectively mysterious performance in Gaslight. Boyer reveals carefully about his character, and his brutal control in the film is brilliantly done by Boyer, as is his terrific final scene where the tables finally turn on his character.

Deserving Performances:
Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity

Best Actor 1944: Bing Crosby in Going My Way

Bing Crosby won his Oscar from his first nomination for portraying Father Chuck O'Malley in Going My Way.

Going My Way is a rather sugary film, and I do sort of like it in its bits and pieces. Not  really so much for some of its plot lines like the runaway girl, the mean banker, the rowdy local boys, the opera singer, or even so much  about saving the church, but rather more  of for just the songs, and the story of the aging priest Father Fitzgibbon (but I will get to that in my next review).

Bing Crosby was twice nominated for portraying Father O'Malley. This being this first time, and I must say one can defend this performance just a little by comparing it to his reprise in Bells of St. Mary's. In Bells he was exceedingly dull, and his character acted quite strangely. In Going My Way he is indeed a little better, because he is not nearly as dull, since he does infuse a bit of energy in this performance, and O'Malley is basically perfect in this film which suits Crosby better than the bizarrely written O'Malley of Bells.

Crosby though still does not do all that much with old O'Malley. O'Malley basically just needs to be a charming guy, who does not go any actual emotional changes throughout the film. O'Malley instead just stays a nice guy throughout the film. Crosby is indeed fine enough as being O'Malley, having a nice enough charm, as well as being a nice singer of course. After just being charming enough though, although not exceedingly so. Crosby is nor required to much of anything, leaving his performance I suppose a nice enough display of charm, but nothing that ever needed to be rewarded acting wise.

Best Actor 1944

And the Nominees Were:

Alexander Knox in Wilson

Charles Boyer in Gaslight

Bing Crosby in Going My Way

Barry Fitzgerald in Going My Way

Cary Grant in None But the Lonely Heart

Best Actor 1954: Results

5. Dan O'Herlihy in Robinson Crusoe- O'Herlihy- is very good at his often one man show performance. He remains interesting even through the minimal tasks of survival, and shows the growth of the character very well.

4. Bing Crosby in The Country Girl- Crosby is incredibly strong in his performance as the beaten down has been actor. He shows a very powerful emotional strength, and creates an interesting portrait of a man broken down by his guilt, and his feeble attempts to not face up to the facts.

3. James Mason in A Star in Born- James Mason gives a very charming performance as Norman Maine, and he works perfectly along with Judy Garland. He makes Normain Maine a likable and memorable character, which makes his fall all the more heartbreaking.

2. Humphrey Bogart in The Caine Mutiny-Bogart gives a strong performance that creates the insecurities of the character but finds a certain sympathy within those flaws all the same.

1. Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront- Although I thought Mason was truly terrific, I never had a question who the best of this year was. Brando simply stands alone with his tremendous performance which is simply an extraordinary performance. A perfect performance that is completely honest, charming, and simply one of the most effective screen performances I have ever seen. (Good prediction Dinasztie)

Deserving Performances:
James Stewart in Rear Window
Ray Milland in Dial M for Murder
Toshiro Mifune in Seven Samurai

Best Actor 1954: Bing Crosby in The Country Girl

Bing Crosby received his third and final Oscar nomination for portraying Frank Elgin in The Country Girl.

The Country Girl is a rather melodramatic film, and with a taked on love story, not between Grace Kelly and Bing Crosby but between William Holden, and Grace Kelly. It still has a good moment here and there though.

Bing Crosby is usually not touted for his acting talent, usually only for his singing. There are few that mention a great performance by Bing Crosby, since most of his performances seem to consist of a lot of smiling and singing such as his nomination performance in the Bells of St. Marys. In this film though he does not give his usual Crosby performance, even though he does still sing, he does not do all that much smiling.

This performance is rather interesting to see because it shows a different side of Crosby. The character of Frank Elgin as in the film is sort of a has been Bing Crosby, a Crosby that has lost most of his old charm. Crosby strangely excels with this character something I would not have at all expected from him before I first saw this performance. Crosby shows the simple desperation of character incredibly well, I think it is made even stronger because it does show the old Elgin in a Flashback in Bing's old charming self, which has a great effect showing the loss of the basically the whole of the character. 

Crosby's displays Frank's own inner hatred of himself, and regret quite well. I think he is brilliantly shows it through his properly subtle expressions incredibly well. He presents Frank's loss, exceptionally well showing that Frank's problems are truly internal problems that haunt Frank very deeply. I find something he does something rather interestingly because he does not make try to make Frank solely a heartbreaking guy we feel for, but he shows a rougher in many ways a devious side of Frank.

Crosby shows the devious side well without over doing it, because he does not really show as Frank being an evil guy or anything but rather that is a defense mechanism that he employs to cover his insecurities from other people. The change of behavior from his real anxiety in front of his wife (Grace Kelly) and his lies to hide his actual problems in front of his director (William Holden) is handled exceptionally well by Crosby. His honest emotions and his fake, positivism always with a small sense of the anxiety below it, are brilliantly shown against one another by Crosby.

As with the first time I was very much amazed by the honestly strong emotional power shown by Crosby, the only parts of the film that I really that were at all compelling. I found this especially since all the scenes with Kelly and Holden did not work because Holden's character is so incredibly underwritten. I think his best scene showing the vulnerability of Crosby is one his old charm comes back briefly in a bar briefly showing his old charm, but than disintegrating due to his guilt over the death of his son. Crosby disintegration in this scene is perfect, as his moments later when he is completely beaten down after a long drinking binge. His whole long moments revealing about the truth of himself is a real achievement from Crosby since the film itself I think doe not write the reveal particularly well, but Crosby performs it incredibly well. The Country Girl shows that Crosby was in fact a talent dramatic actor after all, but just simply rarely ever showed his talent in this capacity.

Best Actor 1954

And the Nominees Were:

Humphrey Bogart in The Caine Mutiny 

James Mason in A Star is Born

Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront

Bing Crosby in The Country Girl 

Dan O'Herlihy in Robinson Crusoe

So who will it be the broken down Ship Captain, the broken down screen actor, the broken down boxer, the broken down stage actor, or the guy who was on a broken down ship.

Best Actor 1945: Results

5. Cornel Wilde in A Song To Remember- Wilde performance is just a dull boring performance lacking in any redeeming factors.

4. Bing Crosby in The Bells of St. Mary's- I will admit Bing certainly smiles a lot but does little past that. He sings, and smiles that is it.

3. Gene Kelly in Anchors Aweigh- Kelly does his usual thing here, some like it, I don't really.

2. Gregory Peck in The Keys of the Kingdom- Gregory Peck gives a nice charming performance as a Priest, who stays interesting and effective to watch throughout the film.

1. Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend- No doubt about this one Milland by far gives the best performance, in a harrowing, and very effective turn as an alcoholic writer. His performance is exceptionally effective, and shows incredibly realistic performance of a man who is just about over the edge.

Deserving Performances:
Cornel Wilde in Leave Her to Heaven

Best Actor 1945: Bing Crosby in The Bells of St. Mary's

Bing Crosby received his second Oscar nomination for portraying once again Father O'Malley in The Bells of St. Mary's.

I actually do not hate Going My Way, in fact one facet of it I enjoy quite a bit. The Bells of St. Mary's though is very plodding and rather dull. I do not mind films which just seek to be pleasant but this one did not work. Also how did they honestly think Henry Travers could play a villain?

Bing Crosby's performance is not a performance there really can be said all that much about. He sings well I guess as he usually does but that is not an acting performance. He mostly just looks and smiles in this performance. Even when he tries to change someone's mind about something he just tells them smiling in his usual way. There really is not all that much to his performance and O'Malley's character is rather strange in this film actually. For example he really undercuts the Sisters for no reason many times, and why exactly did he praise the bully for beating up the kid exactly? O'Malley is rather odd with his imperfectness in this one that does not work, and I think the just about perfect guy in Going My Way works much better.

Crosby actually stays in the background a lot of the time, and the little good cheer that is in the film is mostly brought by Ingrid Bergman as the Mother Superior Sister Benedict. Her performance is not anything amazing but it really shows how little Crosby does in his entire performance. He just smiles, or sings that is it, except perhaps his final goodbye to Sister Benedict at the very end of the film. He actually has some emotion in that scene rather than just relaxed happiness of the rest of his performance. That one scene, well not even a scene more of a moment is not much but at least it is something, unlike the rest of his performance, this really is the sleepwalking style of performance.

Best Actor 1945

And the Nominees were:

Gregory Peck in Keys of the Kingdom

Bing Crosby in Bells of Saint Mary's

Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend

Gene Kelly in Anchors Aweigh

Cornel Wilde in A Song to Remember

Is this the biggest one horse race in this category or will it be someone else? Oh and I guess this is my Christmas edition due to Bells of Saint Mary's.