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

Alternate Best Actor 1935: Results

5. Paul Muni in Black Fury- Muni overacts as usual. He has a moment or two of decent acting but most of the time he just yells in an a needlessly loud fashion.

Best Scene: I guess when he finds out his girlfriend has left him. 

4. Errol Flynn in Captain Blood- Aside from one scene of weakness Flynn gives a charming performance that effortlessly carries his film.

Best Scene: Any of the swashbuckling scenes.

3. Charles Laughton in Ruggles of Red Gap- Laughton gives a particularly modest performance but still gives a very strong performance that is very funny but also quite moving when it needs to be.

Best Scene: Ruggles recites the Gettysburg Address. 

2. Robert Donat in 39 Steps- Donat is great as the wrong man playing well the down to earth reactions but as well giving a very charming and quite humorous performance as well.

Best Scene: Hannay finds himself handcuffed to a woman who believes him to be a murderer.

1. Boris Karloff in Bride of Frankenstein- This is actually a pretty strong year for lead actors, and I think the academy could have been bothered to nominate more than four actors for the Oscar. It was a close one but my runner up for the year goes to Boris Karloff  who finds new ground with the monster giving a oddly enough tender performance as the monster learns to talk, and attempts to relate to others.

Best Scene: The Monster meets his Bride.

Overall Rank:

1. Victor McLaglen in The Informer
2. Boris Karloff in Bride of Frankenstein
3. Robert Donat in 39 Steps 
4. Charles Laughton in Ruggles of Red Gap
5. Edward G. Robinson in The Whole Town's Talking
6. Boris Karloff in The Black Room
7. Clark Gable in Mutiny on the Bounty
8. Ronald Colman in A Tale of Two Cities
9. Fredric March in Les Miserables
10. Claude Rains in The Mystery of Edwin Drood
11. Charles Laughton in Mutiny on the Bounty
12. Robert Donat in The Ghost Goes West
13. Fredric March in The Dark Angel
14. James Cagney in G Men
15. Peter Lorre in Crime and Punishment 
16. Groucho Marx in Night At the Opera
17. Errol Flynn in Captain Blood
18. Fred Astaire in Top Hat 
19. Franchot Tone in The Lives of the Bengal Lancers
20. Charles Boyer in Private Worlds
21. Bela Lugosi in The Raven 
22. Peter Lorre in Mad Love
23. Freddie Bartholomew in David Copperfield
24. Fredric March in Anna Karenina
25. Boris Karloff in The Raven 
26. Fred MacMurray in Alice Adams
27. Franchot Tone in Dangerous
28. Colin Clive in Mad Love
29. Frank Lawton in David Copperfield
30. Seymour Hicks in Scrooge 
31. Gary Cooper in The Lives of the Bengal Lancers
32. Douglass Montgomery in The Mystery of Edwin Drood
33. Paul Muni in Black Fury  
34. Henry Wilcoxon in The Crusades
35. Chester Morris in Public Hero No. 1

Next Year: 1935 Supporting 

Alternate Best Actor 1935: Paul Muni in Black Fury

Paul Muni did not receive an Oscar nomination, despite apparently receiving the second most votes due to write ins, for portraying Joe Radek in Black Fury.

Black Fury is an okay although fairly unremarkable film about the conflict between a union of coal miners and the head bosses who hire detectives to break up the strike.

Paul Muni plays Joe Radek a miner who is rather a simpleton who ends up being used by a false member of the Union to encourage the Union to become divided. Paul Muni is not a favorite actor of mine and the reason I chose to review him here is due to the fact that he came second to Victor McLaglen in votes for the leading Oscar win. Muni once again proves himself to be the overacting sort by doing a big broad accent for the role. Now this alone would not be so bad but for most of the film he just basically yells every line seemingly to suggest the stupidity of the character, but he frankly takes it a bit far so his portrayal is rather dull.

Muni pretty much stays on the same note except occasionally he does what bothers me so much about Paul Muni as an actor which is actually act well. Muni troubles me because there is a good actor there waiting to get out yet my experience with him as an actor has suggested he only rarely allows this good actor come out for a whole performance. In this case the good actor comes out just a few times mostly in just short silent reactions such as in a scene where Joe hears that his girlfriend has left him. In that scene Muni is pretty good suggesting the internal heartbreak in his character without going on and on about it like he does in almost every other scene in the film.

Muni has a short moment here or there of strength that really brings out the emotions of the scenes through the use of subtly but for the most part he just hams it up to an unnecessary extent. Muni is indeed playing a character who is suppose to be stupid, but if that was the main feature Muni was aiming for he honestly overdoes even that. Muni again shows that if he showed some restraint in his performance that he could have given a good performance on a whole, but as it is his overacting comes off as annoying after awhile. More than anything else it seems like Muni just needed a director to reign in his performance, but that is not the case here.

Alternate Best Actor 1935

And the Nominees Were Not:

Boris Karloff in Bride of Frankenstein

Paul Muni in Black Fury

Robert Donat in 39 Steps

Charles Laughton in Ruggles of Red Gap

Errol Flynn in Captain Blood

Best Actor 1933: Results

3. Leslie Howard in Berkeley Square- Howard's performance simply takes the wrong approach from the beginning, investing too little into the whole story, then suddenly trying to invest everything.

2. Paul Muni in I Am a Fugitive From A Chain Gang- Muni gives a realistic performance that effectively portrays the journey of a man which slowly deteriorates him.

1. Charles Laughton in The Private Life of Henry VIII- There was no question to me who was the strongest this year, because Laughton performance simply stands far above the rest. He gives a fulfilling, funny, powerful and very entertaining portrait of Henry VIII.

Best Actor 1933: Paul Muni in I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang

Paul Muni received his second Oscar nomination for portraying James Allen in I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang.

I Am a Fugitive from a chain gang tells the story of a man who is wrongly imprisoned, and than faces cruel treatment on a chain gang. He tries to escape the chain gang but finds it difficult to do completely.

Paul Muni is not an actor that I can say is a favorite of mine, in fact his performance style annoys me quite a bit because he usually shows parts of a great performance but tends to almost ruin what good he does through pointless overacting. It really would not be so bad if he overacted all the time, instead he shows signs of an intelligent natural performance, but for no reason likes to throw in some very overacting moments.

Luckily his performance as James Allen is not like many of his performances, and frankly from what I have seen his overacting tendencies is something he grew to do a little later than this performance. The film opens with James in the Allen as just a normal guy who wants to get a job where he is able to create something after gets out of the army, and no longer wants to do just a normal routine.

Muni is not amazing early on here, but he is natural, something that he usually has trouble with. He makes James Allen likable enough that we will want to follow him through his story. Also the fact that he portrays James as just a rather normal fellow makes his story seem more realistic, as well as easier to be able to empathize with.

James Allen soon finds himself in trouble than in a chain gang, which he desperately wants to escape from. Muni is good as we follow him through his escape, as well as his success for his time, than his hardships once again. It not not exceedingly complex, but Muni acts well as just a normal man in a difficult situation. He makes us properly feel with him his frustrations, as well as his joys quite well.

James Allen though undergoes a few more changes near the end of the film, when he genuinely becomes hardened by his experiences. Muni is very effective in showing how the brutality he has faced truly taken a toll on James. This is not an amazing performance by Paul Muni, but it certainly is one of his better ones because he acts as a realistic center of a film, that certainly needed one.

Best Actor 1933

And the Nominees Were:

Leslie Howard in Berkeley Square

Charles Laughton in The Private Life of Henry VIII

Paul Muni in I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang

Best Actor 1929: Paul Muni in The Valiant

Paul Muni received his first Oscar nomination for portraying a man who claims to James Dyke but he might just be Joe Douglas in The Valiant.

The Valiant is a terrible film about a man who is convicted of murder, and tries to convince a mother and sister that he is not their long lost son.

The acting in the Valiant is pretty terrible almost the whole through, particularly by the fiancee of the sister, as well as the sister, as well as the mother, I guess the jail warden could be worse, but still this is a pretty poorly acted picture. I am happy to say that Paul Muni does not join the rest of the cast though when it comes to his performance. This is a very short film, possibly the shortest film with a best actor nominee in fact. Paul Muni is not every scene either in fact he has very few scenes all together. In fact so few I can really describe each of his scenes in this review with great ease. He first appears in the film slowly walking the streets and finally goes to a police station and tells the police that he murdered a man. Why? well the film does not say, but Muni is natural enough in this scene given a somewhat depressed performance, but still showing that he must have hated the man for a good reason. In a few scenes in a row Muni is continually talked to by other people asking who he really is, and he continues to deny that he is anyone by a murder. Muni is again fine, in just showing that the man just refuses to recognize that he has a family knowing having a murderer in the family.

His performance was just okay up until his last scene where he has a long talk with the sister who keeps trying to find out if he really is her brother. Muni is fine again in denying that he is her brother, although gives the right slight indication that he is her brother. Rather than admit the truth though he denies it still instead telling her that he knew her brother who was killed as a war hero. Muni puts the right emotional effort into the scene, despite not getting any help from Marguerite Churchill who plays the sister. Muni is not amazing by any means, but he is good in suggesting that it does pain him to not be able to admit that he has a family after all. This is never a great performance by any means, although it is most certainly the best in the film. Paul Muni is natural enough and does carry a little bit of emotional weight to his part. He also does not overact as he so commonly does in his later roles. Much of his performance is just adequate line readings though. Muni stays basically fine throughout, and only at the very end does he really have a strong moment.

Best Actor 1959: Results

5. Paul Muni in The Last Angry Man- Paul Muni's performance is frustrating because he shows some honest moments in his performance, but what perpetuates throughout most of his performance is a lot of overacting.

4. Jack Lemmon in Some Like it Hot- Jack Lemmon's performance is one loved by many, I find he is good myself infusing a lot of energy into his part, but I just did not like him as much as most people seem to.

3. Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur- Charlton Heston's performance is not at all perfect, but it works incredibly well for the film. His strong presence carries this epic the whole way through. 

2. Laurence Harvey in Room at the Top- Besides some very small nitpicks this is an almost perfect performance by Laurence Harvey. He shows a fascinating portrait of man filled with hate, and ambitious, but as well as something underneath the rough surface.

1. James Stewart in Anatomy of a Murder- Good prediction Dinasztie. The only reason Stewart really tops Harvey for me is that Harvey had almost unnoticeable flaws, where Stewart is flawless. The reason Stewart is the best of the year though is because of how brilliant, entertaining, funny, effective he is in this role. Paul Biegler really could have been a lackluster role in lesser hands but Stewart shows what how an old pro can truly bring the absolute best out of a role.

Deserving Performance:
Cary Grant in North by Northwest

Best Actor 1959: Paul Muni in The Last Angry Man

Paul Muni received his fifth and final Oscar nomination for portraying Doctor Sam Ableman in The Last Angry Man.

The Last Angry Man is partially about a hard working doctor in a working class neighborhood who wants to do the right thing for his patients no matter what, but it is mostly about actually a television producer who wants to make a story about the doctor.

Paul Muni as the doctor really is only sort of the main character, as most of the attention is given to the television producer played by David Wayne who also is the character with an arc of sorts. Muni though received his last nomination though for his last film performance.

Muni's performance here is much like many of his performances. Muni is an actor I get annoyed at because he shows certainly a talent, and does create a potentially interesting characterization, but constantly overacts though.

Paul Muni does create the doctor well by not making him an overly goody good sort of a character. He does show that he really does not do what he does to seem or act like a nice person, but simply that it is what it required of him as a good doctor. He has some honestly good moments as the doctor where he shows the honest ethic of the character who hates freeloaders but refuses to turn the needy away.

Although he does have a good honest emotional moment now and again like his tough dealing with an ill street punk, but he is terribly inconsistent due to Paul Muni's tendency to overact. It would not be so distracting but Muni overacts almost randomly in this performance. There will be a scene where he realistically underplays most of a scene than suddenly sometime mid sentence he starts his overemphasized facial expressions or a very labored sounding line reading. 

Muni goes back and forth through his entire performance like this sometimes some scenes are better than others for him entirely on how much he chooses to overact in a particular scene. Muni certainly again shows a talent since there is an honest depiction of this doctor in his performance, but unfortuantely it is always offset by Muni giving a far too self-aware performance.

Best Actor 1959

And the Nominees Were:

James Stewart in Anatomy of A Murder

Jack Lemmon in Some Like it Hot

Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur

Paul Muni in The Last Angry Man

Laurence Harvey in Room at the Top

I suppose this is my special Easter edition of best actor thanks to the actual winner Ben-Hur.

Best Actor 1937: Results

5. Spencer Tracy in Captain Courageous- Tracy I just think is completely unbelievable in this role, I never was convinced by his accent or his performance.

4. Paul Muni in The Life of Emile Zola- Muni does do some overacting in some scenes, and Zola is portrayed rather simply in the film itself. Still though he handles the speeches of Zola pretty well, and his changes as Zola ages are very well done.

3. Charles Boyer in Conquest- Boyer is perfectly cast as Napoleon, but unfortunately napoleon is portrayed incredibly inconsistently. Still Boyer does have some strong moments, and shows if the film had been better than he probably could have been great.

2. Fredric March in A Star is Born- Like Boyer I do feel March is hurt a little by the film, but he still gives a very charming performance as Norman Maine. Then as Norman's stardom falls he gives a pretty effective portrait of a man who continues to drift downward, despite the fact the film rushes this far too much.

1. Robert Montgomery in Night Must Fall- Montgomery is absolutely brilliant in his performance here. He is both charming and incredibly chilling. His performance is truly great, giving the right hints of the true nature of the character throughout, and mixes his charm with his psychotic nature incredibly well. And his final look at himself in the mirror that is just a truly outstanding scene.

Deserving Performances:
Cary Grant in The Awful Truth
Stan Laurel in Way Out West
Oliver Hardy in Way Out West

Best Actor 1937: Paul Muni in The Life of Emile Zola

Paul Muni received his fourth Oscar nomination for portraying French writer Emile Zola in The Life of Emile Zola.

The Life Emile Zola is not a great movie by any means, and it takes a very long time to get going. I feel it does when it reaches the Dreyfus affair but it should probably have just been called the Dreyfus Affair with Zola being an important character. I think that would have made a better film.

Muni here plays a character who is almost always in the right and likes to tell other people how they are wrong, all through his life. Muni role is simple in this way, as Zola is rarely conflicted and almost always right. I will say an actor can actually excel in roles like these like Gregory Peck in To Kill A Mockingbird, but Muni does not quite excel. He moves along throughout the film with a fine adequate performance, even though at times he certainly does overact especially in the opening scene. He throws up his arms and makes some over the top faces for no real reason. He does these at times throughout his performance they are never that distracting but always stick out in a bad way.

He does do something well in this film and that is quite well. He ages incredibly well in this film. I really believed him as the elderly Zola, and thought he did a good job doing the mannerism of older age without over doing it. The other thing he does well enough are his speeches. I will say some he is a little annoying, but he is always properly passionate in the role. His best speech is his one to the Jury where he wants proper justice. He delivers this speech particularly well and certainly does a good job of it. His performance works well for the film, and I think he was right for the part. I would say I could have done without his overacting at times, but still he delivered the "goods" so to speak when he had to in this performance.

Best Actor 1937

And the Nominees Were:

Fredric March in A Star Was Born

Paul Muni in The Life of Emile Zola

Spencer Tracy in Captain Courageous 

Robert Montgomery in Night Must Fall

Charles Boyer in Conquest

Who do you pick, and predict? The drunken actor, Emile Zola, the guy who looks like he is drunk, the man who has more than smoking on his mind, or Napoleon Bonaparte.

Best Actor 1929: Results

4. Chester Morris in Alibi- Chester Morris gives a rather standard gangster performance, he is not charismatic enough to be as manipulative as the character is, and his big final scene I do not know what to make out of it.

3. Paul Muni in the Valiant- In the Valiant Paul Muni is consistently fine, and quite good in his final moments, he never is great, but he never is bad either.  Also interestingly enough he never has his overacting moments as he does in his later performances.

2. Warner Baxter in In Old Arizona- Warner Baxter performance suffers only a little bit from its age. He really does make a very memorable character out of the singing bandit called the Cisco Kid. He is very good throughout and particularly strong when showing the darker side of the character. 

1. George Bancroft in Thunderbolt - Bancroft delivers a well attuned performance that manages to delivery the brutish but also charismatic qualities of his strangely likable gangster.

Best Actor 1929

1929's nominees include Lewis Milestone The Patriot which is basically lost, and George Bancroft in Thunderbolt which I checked for everywhere and only found on eBay, but I am hardly going to payout the cost to by the actual reels of the film which is all I could find. I will get back to any of these if they ever become easier to find, but for the moment I will reduce the nominees to:

Warner Baxter in Old Arizona

Chester Morris in Alibi

Paul Muni in The Valiant

Who do you pick? Who do you predict?

Best Actor 1936: Results

5. Spencer Tracy in San Francisco- Tracy gives a nice supporting turn here, and does a good job supporting the other actors in San Francisco. He was just nominated in the wrong category.

4. Paul Muni in The Story of Louis Pasteur- Muni gives a nice performance as Pasteur but the part just never seems to be that much of a challenge.

3. Gary Cooper in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town- Cooper may not have the best voice in my book, but his silent looks are just perfect. Cooper has some really memorable scenes here, especially the court room scene.

2. William Powell in My Man Godfrey- Powell is a superb romantic lead in this screwball comedy. He gives his nice sarcastic delivery which works to excellent effect.

1. Walter Huston in Dodsworth- Huston is great as Dodsworth. His enthusiasm at first is so perfect especially when he is conflicted with his disappointment later on. Huston strikes all the right notes here.