Alternate Best Actor 1948: Results

5. Orson Welles in Macbeth- Although there may be a little more to be desired from his vocal portrayal, Welles's silent portrayal of Macbeth is good.

Best Scene: Macbeth finally understands the prophecy. 

4. Lamberto Maggiorani in Bicycle Thieves- Maggiorani gives a simple but effective performance that serves the purpose of his film well.

Best Scene: Antonio becomes a thief himself. 

3. Ralph Richardson in The Fallen Idol-Richardson gives a strong performance showing both the idol a child would see, but as well the lonely sad man an adult would see.

Best Scene: Baines tells Phillipe about his African adventure. 

2. Toshiro Mifune in Drunken Angel- Mifune gives a great early performance by accentuating the foolishness in pride but as well suggesting the underlying possibility of redemption.

Best Scene: Matsunaga finds out about the real "honor" of the Yakuza.

1. Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre- Good Prediction Psifonian feel free to name a year and a performance. Bogart in this film gives his very best performance powerfully and believably portraying the slow descent of a somewhat decent drifter to a pathetic gold obsessed mad man.

Best Scene: Dobbs tries to find Curtin.

Overall Rank:

1. Richard Attenborough in Brighton Rock
2. Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
3. Laurence Olivier in Hamlet
4. Toshiro Mifune in Drunken Angel
5. Takashi Shimura in Drunken Angel
6. Ralph Richardson in The Fallen Idol
7. Ray Milland in The Big Clock
8. James Stewart in Call Northside 777 
9. Rex Harrison in Unfaithfully Yours
10. Joseph Cotten in Portrait of Jennie 
11. Robert Mitchum in Blood on the Moon
12. Lamberto Maggiorani in Bicycle Thieves
13. Montgomery Clift in The Search
14. John Wayne in 3 Godfathers 
15. Gregory Peck in Yellow Sky
16. Richard Attenborough in London Belongs to Me
17. Orson Welles in Macbeth
18. John Wayne in Red River
19. Montgomery Clift in Red River
20. Barry Fitzgerald in The Naked City
21. Anton Walbrook in The Red Shoes 
22. Jean Marais in Les Parents Terribles
23. Tim Holt in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 
24. Henry Fonda in Fort Apache  
25. John Garfield in Force of Evil
26. Clifton Webb in Sitting Pretty
27. Ivan Jandl in The Search 
28. Lew Ayres in Johnny Belinda
29. Richard Conte in Cry of the City 
30. Cary Grant in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
31. Richard Attenborough in The Guinea Pig 
32. Dean Stockwell in The Boy with the Green Hair
33. John Wayne in Fort Apache 
34. Edmund Moeschke in Germany Year Zero
35. Humphrey Bogart in Key Largo
36. Tyrone Power in Luck of the Irish
37. John Dall in Rope
38. Farley Granger in Rope
39. Bobby Henrey in The Fallen Idol
40. John Howard Davies in Oliver Twist
41. Don Taylor in The Naked City
42. Bud Abbott in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
43. Robert Young in Sitting Pretty
44. Dan Dailey in When My Baby Smiles At Me
45. Bob Hope in The Paleface 
46. John Lund in A Foreign Affair
47. Mark Stevens in The Street With No Name
48. Lou Costello in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

Next Year: 48 Supporting

Alternate Best Actor 1948: Lamberto Maggiorani in Bicycle Thieves

Lamberto Maggiorani did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Antonio Ricci in Bicycle Thieves.

The Bicycle Thieves is a beautiful and very moving film about a man and his son who search for his stolen bicycle which he needs to keep his job which he desperately needs.

Although Lamberto Maggiorani is plays the man Antonio who is looking for bicycle the true star of the film is director Vittorio De Sica. It is a film that creates almost a breathable atmosphere through the images and sounds that De Sica brings to the screen. Among those images is Lambert Maggiorani's performance and to a certain degree he is simply one of those images. What seems to be the most important facet of Maggiorani throughout the film is his face which tends to be photographed like a portrait to accentuate every emotion he has. De Sica uses him as part of the tapestry that is this film.

Antonio is a simple character. He is a simple man who just wants his good job to feed his family and then just wants his bicycle back simply to keep that job. There is not a great complexity here, but nor should there be. He is suppose to be just an average man. Maggiorani's performance never challenges this notion which he plays as to the point as possible. There is not any hidden shadows in him he just is a man who wants to do best for his wife and son. Maggiorani portrays this in a very earnest fashion. There is not any doubt that is what the man wants through that honest expression Maggiorani has.

Maggiorani actually tends to keep basically the same expression with the part depending what he is doing whether it is the happy passion found at the beginning or that desperate need shown when he is looking for it later. It is a consistent expression that fits the nature of the film as that face is part of the whole portrait that De Sica paints. At times he is the focus but other times the background seems almost as important as he is.. This is not anything against Maggiorani as keeping the expressions the same works as well as are fitting of the simple man that Antonio is suppose to be.

There is perhaps a little more to Antonio in terms of his relationship with his son Bruno. There is not all that much though as it mostly is a relationship of trading quiet glances. It does absolutely work though with Maggiorani definitely showing that he cares about his son and very much loves him. Maggiorani though at the same time when Antonio gets a little fed up with his son he makes the believable to as just a simple reaction from Antionio's increasing desperation. Even when he yells at his son though Maggiorani keeps it simple but effective as just the guy emotional reaction from Antonio.

This is not an especially complex performance as a great deal of time he does maintain the same expression. This performance is one that works very well though within the film scenes and events. By staying just the simple man with his simple but emotional reactions he does allow the film to achieve the power it has. Maggiorani's portrayal is part of the film as a whole, it is not a performance that exactly stands out all on its own. It is a performance though that very much works within the framework of the film. Maggiorani never goes off his own but he succeeds in going along to be part of the beauty contained in this film.

Alternate Best Actor 1948

And the Nominees Were Not:

Toshiro Mifune in Drunken Angel

Ralph Richardson in The Fallen Idol

Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Orson Welles in Macbeth

Lamberto Maggiorani in Bicycle Theives