Best Actor 1960: Laurence Olivier in The Entertainer

Laurence Olivier received his sixth acting nomination for portraying Archie Rice in The Entertainer.

The Entertainer is an effective character study in the kitchen sink style British film, about the troubles of an aging third rate vaudevillian.

It is quite interesting to see Laurence Olivier in this role as the very much down on his luck washed up, Vaudevillian. Olivier after all commonly plays Princes, Kings, and rich fellows but not this time. The great part though is he is just as believable in this part than many of the Kings he portrayed. As almost always with Olivier he very much creates a more unique character than even written. The first time one sees Archie Rice is when he performing on stage in a not particularly successful show. Olivier is completely believable as this vaudevillian fully creating a stage character as a fast moving comic performer. Olivier is particularly good here because not only is he believable, but he also makes Rice's performance lacking just enough to make him third rate.

I really loved his stage persona Olivier created for Rice though with his quick talking, and very specific almost stilted mannerisms on stage which fit perfectly for Rice. Olivier is excellent because he does not show Rice flubbing his performance, nor does he show him completely putting his complete an whole self into it. Instead Olivier properly suggests, a performer who knows his routine, knows how to do it, and does put effort into, but has been doing over and over again, probably far too many times.

His cheerful stage persona though hides Archie rather poor personal life with his family. Olivier is quite interesting here because he shows that Archie tends to just put on another facade again when dealing with his family. A slightly happy man, but not major problems going on in his mind, is what Olivier shows on the outside of Archie, but deep within there is far more to him. Olivier shows Archie to almost always being in denial, and for this moment trying to hide his deep sadness and concern over the capture of his son who is in the army, by acting like he barely even knows it happened.

The one thing Archie does care about though is his career, as he is trying to open an another show well his current one is unsuccessful. Olivier shows once again another the facade that he puts on in which he tries to convince people to invest with him. Olivier shows another different one that is a slight change from his stage persona, sorta realistic stage persona. Olivier shows in Archie, a charm he gets out from talking quickly, and again always smiling. Olivier though still shows beneath Archie a true sadness which resides within him.

Olivier shows that through these facades is the only way Archie at all gets through his life, and that he really cannot do without them. He shows that Archie is almost never truthful to anyone really, and when he is it is only for brief moments. He usually though goes right back to a facade. I think one moment in particular that is great is when Archie's wife freaks out over her son, and Archie does let on to himself a little bit, but only briefly quickly going back to being energetic, and charming, which he only does to hide himself from reality.

Only a few times does Archie really break off all his facades and absolutely shows who he is deep inside himself. One scene is when his financial backing falls out for his new show, and he completely finally is unable to put on any facade in a truly fascinating scene by Olivier showing completely honest angry emotions for once from Archie. The other scenes involve moments alone with hid daughter, where he breaks all his facades talking tenderly with her, as well as showing the deep sadness of the man behind all his acts, the man who he himself refers to as dead already.

Archie really is an awful person, who is certainly quite selfish, but Olivier finds humanity in Archie nonetheless. It is an amazing portrait of a man who refuses to face reality, and uses the one thing he knows to protect himself from it, which is performance. Olivier truly shows a complete portrait of a man, who refuses to live his life without his act, and I think his performance is best summed by his last scene on the vaudevillian stage. He once again hides his life problems with song and dance, but this time he cannot do it all the way, showing finally on the stage where his facade was the strongest, his bitterness, and sadness as he makes his final walk of stage in an outstanding final moment to this great performance.

Best Actor 1960: Spencer Tracy in Inherit the Wind

Spencer Tracy received his seventh Oscar nomination for portraying Henry Drummond in Inherit the Wind.

The monkey scopes trial should make an interesting film, but the problem is they are made and based on Inherit the wind. It's historical inaccuracies would not be so bad I guess, if they did not create so many one dimensional characters, and obviously written scenes.

The problems of the characters of the film certainly carry on over to the performances. Fredric March I find overacts a bit by Brady especially with his mouth movements constantly, and is not able to create too much of character, because his character is written as a basically one dimensional religious dunderhead, as all religious people are portrayed in this film. On the other side though the scientific people are portrayed as almost perfect reasonable people (except Gene Kelly's overly cynical reporter), these are just as one dimensional though which include Tracy's Henry Drummond.

Spencer Tracy's character luckily for him is not required to do much more than espouse his belief in evolution, and attack the others beliefs. This allows plenty of scenes of Tracy giving loud speeches in the court room, and more quiet scenes of breaking apart particular witnesses. I will say that his performance is fine in showing his character's passion for his cause which is strong, and energetically portrayed by Tracy.

He is fine as well in breaking apart witnesses, as well as breaking up his opponents ideas as well, being properly quick, and adept in his manner. I think something quite lacking though is his lack of competition in the court room. I also think he was good in portraying Drummond with particular mannerisms with making them completely realistic, although I can't say that add that much to his performance on a whole. I think his performance could have been more interesting if the film allowed Drummond to really have to fight with a more intelligent Brady.

The film could have still portrayed Drummond as being in the right, but it could have allowed for far more interesting if the people Drummond was proving wrong weren't just portrayed as complete fools to begin with. This makes it so Tracy's passion, and persuasion in the role although good, it really did not really need Tracy to truly be persuasive or as powerful, which perhaps it could have if the film was written more intelligently.

Tracy is completely fine throughout his performance, and has some good moments, but I never felt it was much more than fine. He had his moments of big actory speeches which he handles well, but his performance is lacking because the film itself requires less of him than it might if it simply had been a better more fully written film. Overall his performance is good, but his character is lacking as are his scenes.

Best Actor 1960

And the Nominees:

Jack Lemmon in The Apartment

Laurence Olivier in The Entertainer

Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry

Trevor Howard in Sons and Lovers

Spencer Tracy in Inherit the Wind

Well it's Spencer Tracy's final chance, can he finally win, or is someone else the best?

Best Actor 1938: Results

5. Spencer Tracy in Boys Town- Spencer Tracy's performance is not really bad, but he is not required to do anything more than be nice.

4. Charles Boyer in Algiers- Although I liked what Boyer did with what he had. Boyer was properly smooth, but the character just did not have enough to it to create a really interesting performance.

3. Leslie Howard in Pygmalion- Leslie Howard is quite effective as Henry Higgins, not only in creating an entertaining portrait of the pompous professor, but also a more in-depth complex portrait of a cold man as well.

2. Robert Donat in The Citadel- Donat brings an effectiveness and believability of every single phase of his character. Donat's performance is powerful, charming, and very effective. 

1. James Cagney in Angels With Dirty Faces- Cagney does his usual gangster performance for part of the performance which is good, but the best part of the performance is showing the soft side of the gangster as he tried to help his old friend who is priest. Also his last scene is amazing.

Deserving Performances:

Best Actor 1938: Charles Boyer in Algiers

Charles Boyer received his second Oscar nomination for portraying Pepe le Moko in Algiers.

Algiers tells of the police trying to catch jewel thief Pepe, Algiers begins interesting, but it slowly turns to very little.

Charles Boyer is Pepe Le Moko a theif who hides from the police by staying a complex section of the city called the Casbah. Boyer actually despite the film being entirely about him, strangely is not in the film as much as you may think he would be since much of the film is about how others try to catch him, or how they react to him.

Boyer though when he is on screen certianly instantly reflects exactly the type of character Pepe should be. He shows a complete understanding of his surroundings, and naturally has an entirely complete control of his situation. Boyer's whole manner is perfectly fitting of his intelligent and suave thief.

Boyer also has the right manner throughout his performance, and I find his romances in the film interesting, because he is not particularly warm with the women in the film. He shows this as a different kind of more commanding and control of them instead, that fits well for Pepe le Moko, much better than if he was overly lovey in his performance. 

Although I felt Boyer was technically with what he did, I felt there was something lacking about his entire character. Not because of Boyer's performance, but rather because there was simply lacking in Pepe as written. You just do not see enough of who Pepe le Moko is rather than being just a smooth criminal, and a smooth romantic. Boyer is indeed good at being quite smooth, and gets probably the most out of what he has, but I needed a little more.

Best Actor 1938: Leslie Howard in Pygmalion

Leslie Howard received his second and final Oscar nomination for portraying Henry Higgins in Pygmalion.

Pygmalion is the story of Professor Henry Higgins, and his attempt to turn a lower class flower girl Eliza Doolittle and turn her into a proper lady.

This is the first of the two times someone was nominated for portraying the phonetics professor Henry Higgins.  The second time being of course Rex Harrison in the musical My Fair Lady. It is interesting to note the similarities and differences between these two performances. At the beginning of the film they both begin as the rather pompous Henry Higgins, as he declares his abilities in front of everyone around.

It is interesting to see how they convey this flamboyant pompousness demeanor in rather different fashions. Where Harrison portrays Higgins in a completely outwardly and perhaps more obvious fashion, after all he is in a musical, Howard portrays Higgins in a far more restrained and realistic fashion. His more restrained approach is quite interesting because he is still portrays the pompous nature of the character quite well suggesting more of the internal pathos of Higgins, but still in rather entertaining way.

Howard's portrayal of Higgins' teaching of Eliza manners and diction is rather interesting, because in this version he basically pounds the change into her, rather waiting for it to come as in My Fair Lady. Howard is properly domineering actually as he drills her, to mold, and create her into a proper lady. Howard puts the right gusto into as well, making Higgins both articulate, and energetic in his command of Eliza.

Howard continues to be strong when Henry takes Eliza and presents her to many various well to do people. Howard is quite strong in these scenes because he is always perfectly apt at showing Henry's complete enjoyment of knowing he knows more than anyone else in the room. His reactions to every step of the deception are properly amusing, and effective because of the sheer fun he shows that Henry has with his whole project.

The greatest moments of his performance though are after his project is done and his relationship changes with Eliza. Howard here shows that his pompous exterior does indeed hide what is in some ways a cold and very complicated man. Higgins does not want Eliza to marry someone else, yet he refuses to show that he has an actual care for her.

Howard shows the various emotions of Henry especially well. He conveys his want to control Eliza, as well as a hint of a very much hidden love for her, as well as a facade of his usual uncaring all at once, showing that Henry is not the simple yet articulate pompous professor he claims to be. It is terrific because Howard never lets one side of Henry take over and mixes all facets of his character together creating the complete portrait of a man. His final reaction I think shows this the best which could not be better where he shows a surprise and his joy in seeing Eliza, but his change back to his pompous fashion in an instance, an incredible final moment to this strong performance.

Best Actor 1938: James Cagney in Angels With Dirty Faces

James Cagney received his first Oscar nomination for portraying Rocky Sullivan in Angels With Dirty Faces.

Angels With Dirty Faces tells the story of a criminal Rocky, and his affairs in the criminal scene, but also his relationship with his childhood friend, a priest Father Jerry Connolly (Pat O'Brien), who is concerned with the local neighborhood boys (The Dead End Kids) who view Rocky as an hero.

James Cagney is no stranger to playing a criminal, and usually is best identified by his many roles as various criminals. I will say I am not all that schooled in the matter of Cagney as a criminal, and I have only seen a few of his performances. His performance in Angels here is quite different from his later criminal performance in White Heat. In White Heat he is quite impressive as a just about pure evil psychopath, but here as Rocky he is not a completely hardened criminal. Cagney is decisive as many of the popular actors of this period are because of his distinct voice, and acting style. I will say that Cagney's style neither annoys me, but I don't exactly find it riveting. In this particular film though, I will say it works pretty effectively for Rocky. Rocky in many ways is a standard gangster trying to deal with back stabbing head gangster, and Cagney's style does work well for a rough charismatic and energetic gangster like Rocky.

Cagney's whole movement, and tough command make Rocky a believable character, and I do not doubt his ability to do what Rocky does. This is standard gangster from Cagney in these scenes. This is not something I think should be overlooked though, or underwritten. Cagney was the only person who could play Rocky exactly like this, and he handles these scenes properly and effectively enough. I think he is particularly effective at showing that killer edge of Rocky in the shoot out scenes. Although this portion of his performance is good, but I think the best part of his performance is Rocky's relationship with his old friend Father Connolly. This allows Cagney to show more of Rocky than just a rough gangster side of Rocky. He and Pat O'Brien create an honest friendship between their two characters. Cagney subtly shows a small little soft spot Rocky still has with for his old friend, even with their small conflicts. I like how he shows an honest love for his friend that is deep within his harsh exterior.

I enjoyed Cagney's performance up until just before the end of the film. I felt he showed an effective portrait of a rough criminal, but also strangely heartwarming in his friendship with the priest. In fact his warm friendship with the priest showed an actual heart in Rocky without at all forcing it, or undermining the rest of the character. It is this heart that made me honestly sad, and sorry for him when Rocky (spoiler) is sentenced to death. Cagney though does top his performance in his final scene where he possibly "turns yellow" at the electric chair. He is chilling because he honestly sounds like a real man who is pleading for his life, an amazing end to a strong performance.