Best Supporting Actor 1938: Results

5. Basil Rathbone in If I Were King-Rathbone sometimes just gives a rather dull villainous performance, but other times he gives a needlessly strange performance as if the King was a crazy old man.

4. John Garfield in Four Daughters- Yes it is true Garfield has an intense on screen presence, but unfortunately in this case he does not serve it to really create a character. Instead he only ever scratches the surface with his performance, and unfortuantely at the end of his performance he overacts a great deal.

3. Gene Lockhart in Algiers- Lockhart is able to be pathetic enough as Regis the informer, but unfortuantely he always seems miscast in the role. This is because he never seems like a truly convincing slimy rat he should be.

2. Robert Morley in Marie Antoinette- Morley gives a good humorous performance in his first half, and than an effectively sad performance in his second half. It never is quite a great performance, and he is forgotten for a good deal of the picture, but it remains a good one.

1. Walter Brennan in Kentucky- Yes Walter Brennan is one actor the academy got absolutely right, every time he won, he deserved to win. Brennan gives an effective performance as an old man with a grudge, as well as love. Brennan who transforms himself to almost double his age seamlessly also manages to show the grudge as something the old man simply cannot shake since it has been something with him for so long, as well as his love for horses as something just as deep as the hatred, even deeper, since Brennan carefully shows it overcome his feelings of hatred.

Deserving Performances:
Pat O'Brien in Angels With Dirty Faces
Edward Arnold in You Can't Take it With You

Best Supporting Actor 1938: Robert Morley in Marie Antoinette

Robert Morley received his only Oscar nomination for portraying King Louis XVI in Marie Antoinette.

Marie Antoinette tells of the rather troubled life of the Queen of France.

Robert Morley plays the rather pathetic King Louis XVI who is in over his head from the very moment he appears on screen to make his speech to Marie Antoinette, and barely even being able to do that well. In these moments Morley brings out the right humor from just how pathetic, and incompetent Louis is, something Basil Rathbone was not able to do nearly as well as another Louis. Morley makes Louis the right kind of overgrown child, particularly in his first private talk with Marie (Norma Shearer) where he talks about caring far more about being a lock smith than a King or a husband.

Unfortunately for Morley, Louis is forgotten about for a good long time, and when he does show up he just is not humorous as he was before, since the routine eventually does get a little old. He mostly is just there for a great deal of the film, and it is very easy to ignore him. His big scene where he finally speaks up against his grandfather the King, is done well enough by Morley, but I think it could have been a great moment either in terms of comedy, or character development, but it just never reaches that height.

Later on the film when he becomes King his incompetence no longer is funny and just really is very sad. Morley actually handles this transition very well, and does fairly effectively create a portrait of a little boy who simply never should have been King. He has the right degree of sadness, in all of these moments as he finally must face his people, a particularly standout scene is when he completely fails to rally his troops behind him, Morley excels in simply the failure of Louis. Morley gives a good performance that manages to avoid the stuffy feeling of much of the rest of the film, although it could perhaps been an even better performance it stands as a good one.

Best Supporting Actor 1938

And the Nominees Were:

Gene Lockhart in Algiers 

John Garfield in Four Daughters

Walter Brennan in Kentucky

Basil Rathbone in If I Were King

Robert Morley in Marie Antoinette