Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1954: Results

5. Clifton Webb in Three Coins in a Fountain- Webb is a bit wasted in his film, but he does well to create a warmer take on his most frequent role as a snobbish intellectual.

Best Scene: Shadwell confesses both his love and the fact that he is dying. 

4. Raymond Burr in Rear Window- Burr certainly gets help from his director, but in very key moments his performance as well amplifies power of his character within the film.

Best Scene: Thorwald notices Jeff.

3. Fred MacMurray in The Caine Mutiny- MacMurray makes for an excellent villain playing the part with such charm that he tricks you into thinking that he is not even the villain.

Best Scene: Keefer suggests the officers mutiny. 

2. Peter Lorre in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea- Lorre is a very likable and lends some very nice lighthearted relief in his film as the endearing sidekick Conseil.

Best Scene: Any scene between Conseil and Ned Land.

1. Van Johnson in The Caine Mutiny-Johnson gives the best performance not nominated for an Oscar this year through his moving down to earth portrayal of a man who tries to do the right thing despite tremendous pressures all around him.

Best Scene: Maryk takes the stand in his court martial. 

Overall Rank:

1. Toshiro Mifune in Seven Samurai 
2. Humphrey Bogart in The Caine Mutiny
3. Rod Steiger in On the Waterfront
4. Lee J. Cobb in On the Waterfront
5. Karl Malden in On The Waterfront
6. Alastair Sim in An Inspector Calls
7. Fredric March in Executive Suite
   
8. Peter Finch in The Detective
9. Van Johnson in The Caine Mutiny
10. Peter Lorre in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
11. Kuroemon Onoe in Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto
12. Richard Basehart in La Strada
13. Fred MacMurray in The Caine Mutiny
14. Raymond Burr in Rear Window
15. Ken Uehara in Sound of The Mountain
16. Van Johnson in Brigadoon 
17. Geoffrey Keen in Carrington V.C
18. John Williams in Dial M For Murder  
19. Eitaro Shindo in The Crucified Lovers
20. Jose Ferrer in The Caine Mutiny 
21. Geoffrey Keen in Doctor in the House
22. Louis Calhern in Executive Suite
23. Clifton Webb in Three Coins in a Fountain
24. Edmund Gwenn in Them!
25. Rene Dary in  Touchez Pas Au Grisbi
26. John Williams in Sabrina 
27. Allen Cuthbertson in Carrington V.C
28. Brian Worth in An Inspector Calls
29. Robert Cummings in Dial M For Murder
30. Minoru Chiaki in Seven Samurai
31. Bryan Forbes in An Inspector Calls
32. Isao Kimura in Seven Samurai  
33. Lee Marvin in The Raid
34. Emile Meyer in Riot in Cell Block 11
35. Broderick Crawford in Human Desire
36. John Hamilton in On the Waterfront 
37. Paul Fix in The High and the Mighty
38. Walter Pidgeon in Executive Suite 
39. Otto Kruger in Magnificent Obsession
40. Seiji Miyaguchi in Seven Samurai
41. Pat Henning in On the Waterfront 
42. Alexander Knox in The Divided Heart
43. Yoshio Inaba in Seven Samurai 
44. Lino Ventura in Touchez Pas Au Grisbi
45. Robert Newton in The High and the Mighty 
46. Geoffrey Keen in The Divided Heart
47. James Robertson Justice in Doctor in the House
48. Walter Brennan in The Far Country
49. Paul Douglas in Executive Suite
50. Rentaro Mikuni in Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto
51. Richard Widmark in Broken Lance
52. Ernest Borgnine in Johnny Guitar
53. Donald Houston in Doctor in the House
54. Arthur Young in An Inspector Calls
55. Walter Hampden in Sabrina
56. Dean Jagger in Executive Suite 
57. Edmond O'Brien in The Barefoot Contessa
58. Wendell Corey in Rear Window 
59. Brock Peters in Carmen Jones
60. Harry Morgan in The Glenn Miller Story 
61. Charles Bronson in Vera Cruz
62. Ernest Borgnine in Vera Cruz 
63. Robert Stack in The High and the Mighty
64. Paul Muller in Journey to Italy
65. John McIntire in The Far Country
66. William Holden in The Country Girl 
67. Cesar Romero in Vera Cruz 
68. Jack Carson in Phffft
69. Dean Jagger in White Christmas
70. Charles Bickford in A Star is Born 
71. Cecil Parker in The Detective 
72. E.G. Marshall in Broken Lance
73. Russ Tamblyn in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
74. Noah Beery Jr. in The Black Dakotas
75. Rory Calhoun in River of No Return
76. Tom Tully in The Caine Mutiny
77. Sidney Blackmer in The High and the Mighty
78. Louis Jordan in Three Coins in a Fountain
79. Jack Carson in A Star is Born 
80. John Broomfield in The Black Dakotas
81. Rossano Brazzi in Three Coins in a Fountain

Next Year:  1993 supporting

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1954: Raymond Burr in Rear Window

Raymond Burr did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Lars Thorwald in Rear Window.

This is not a usual performance by any means as Lars Thorwald is at first just one of the many people being watched by James Stewart's L.B. "Jeff" Jefferies as he tries to pass the time as his broken legs slowly heals. At the beginning not one of the windows really stands out especially as they are all seem to do their own thing, but slowly something odd seems to come up when Lars the man in the apartment across from his window seems to no longer have his invalid wife with him.

In many ways this is an impersonal performance as we seem Thorwald only from a great distance from Jeff's apartment and we rarely hear him. When we do here Thorwald it is distance and faint. For the most part it is easy to argue that really all of the performances out the window are very much a product of Alfred Hitchcock the director and not as much by the actor. I would say that is possibly quite true for some if not most, but I would not say that really is that case as Thorwald who becomes the most interesting person out the window.

Thorwald of course becomes the most fascinating when Jeff suspects that Thorwald may have killed his wife. Before the suspicions we just see Thorwald which Burr does well as a tired and not particularly happily married man of his wife. There is nothing that one should expect really expect from him, as he may be just a normal unhappily married man. After suspicions arise though Jeff starts to look more closely, and more comes from Burr's performance as Thorwald. After the murder Burr does just right with his part as a man doing some sort of job, but the question is what he is doing.

Burr creates the mystery of Thorwald well suggesting something very dark about Thorwald, but still leaving it entirely open that Jeff just might have too much free time on his hand. This becomes less likely though as we see more of Thorwald, and more of Burr. In the close up moments Burr does his best to make the most out of them to actually create Thorwald into a villain that works well for the film and actually even a more in depth character than one would expect given the circumstances.

In his very short moments where we see his reactions to the accusations, Burr does not portray just a blunt one dimensional villain, but more effectively portrays a very scared man suggesting that perhaps Thorwald's murder was something quite sudden and hasty. This is not to say though that Burr does not make Thorwald a proper threat. In his face he conveys a certain instinctual violence that is properly freighting. It is not that Thorwald is exactly a serial killer, but Burr shows that he is certainly capable of murdering to protect himself.

My two favorite two moments of his performance sum up the success of his performance. The first moment being when Thorwald finally looks and sees that Jeff is watching him. Burr's look of contained anger, and fear is very chilling creating a great deal of dread as he leaves his apartment and goes to Jeff's. The second moments is finally when he confronts Jeff and Thorwald asks Jeff why he is doing this. Burr is terrific in this moment as Burr does not deliver the questions so much like threats but rather like pleads. In strange way Burr actually makes you feel a little sorry for him, becuase he actually manages to humanize Thorwald. He makes Thorwald honestly a character, but as well still a proper villain for the film.

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1954

And the Nominees Were Not:

Peter Lorre in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Raymond Burr in Rear Window

Clifton Webb in Three Coins in The Fountain

Van Johnson in The Caine Mutiny

Fred MacMurray in The Caine Mutiny