Actress Round-up: 1936

Gladys George, Valiant is the Word for Carrie

as CARRIE SNYDER

Melodramatic is the word for Valiant is the Word for Carrie. In fact, it's probably one of the most melodramatic films the best actress category has ever seen--and that's a bold statement to make given all the thirties films I've seen up to this point! At times it feels as though the author of the original novel looked up the definition of "valiant" in the dictionary and then set off to write a story entirely around the adjective without any respect to narrative fluidity. The plot itself takes a ton of bizarre turns, but to star Gladys George's credit, she manages to do the best she can as waves and waves of ridiculous narrative crash onto her (and us).

Carole Lombard, My Man Godfrey

as IRENE BULLOCK

Irene Bullock is a curious little creation. For starters, this is a role that's at a threshold where it feels about right to deem her as a lead character, yet her sole purpose in My Man Godfrey is to support William Powell's character. Secondly, Irene doesn't go through much character development. There is no a ha! moment in which she learns a lesson or transforms from A to B, she's just sort of written to be exactly the same from the second we meet her to the second the film ends. I've read comments from people on the internet where they complain that Irene never grows up or develops throughout My Man Godfrey. I for one could not care less about that. I thought Lombard was positively glorious in this role. It's a tricky character to pull off, and a less talented actress probably would have made Irene more annoying. However, Lombard brings so much life and joy into the film and her performance. She hits all the right notes, so much so that I found it impossible not to smile while watching her.

Irene Dunne, Theodora Goes Wild

as THEODORA LYNN/CAROLINE ADAMS

I've had some strange reactions to the performances of 1936 thus far. First, I ended up liking Luise Rainer in The Great Ziegfeld as well as Norma Shearer in Romeo and Juliet a lot more than I was initially expecting to. Then, contrary to much of the internet, I ended up not liking Walter Huston in Dodsworth all that much. And then came along Theodora Goes Wild, a film I expected to like instantly based off of the fact that it's about a lady who under a pseudonym publishes a naughty book which pisses off the conservative folks in her small town. On top of that, our heroine transforms from a proper girl to a scandalous woman with a bad reputation, and that really ought to have just sealed the deal with me. But for some reason, I had a hard time sitting through the film. It bored me. And much like with Walter Huston, I wasn't sure what to make of Irene Dunne.

Norma Shearer, Romeo and Juliet

as JULIET

At the age of 34, Norma Shearer was about twenty years too old to be playing Juliet in Shakespeare's classic tragedy. I've seen this factoid brought up quite a bit in articles regarding the 1936 Romeo & Juliet...but at the end of the day, does it really matter? After all, the earliest actors who played Juliet were men. Plus, this is a story that has a boy and a girl meet one evening, fall in love right on the spot, decide later that night that they are to be married, get married less than 24 hours after having first laid eyes on each other, and then die for each other by the end of the week. Needless to say, Romeo & Juliet is a play that teeters a bit onto the unrealistic. I had my doubts, but all that really mattered to me was whether or not Shearer could bring anything interesting to such a world-renown character.

Luise Rainer, The Great Ziegfeld

as ANNA HELD

Won: Academy Award - Best Actress | New York Film Critics Circle - Best Actress

There's a quote from William Powell on Luise Rainer that I believe is very fitting in terms of what she contributes to The Great Ziegfeld: "she is one of the most natural persons I have ever known...She is an extremely sensitive organism and has a great comprehension of human nature...Everything she does has been subjected to painstaking analysis. She thinks over every shade of emotion to make it ring true." I thought that The Great Ziegfeld was terribly manufactured, stuffed with characters and subplots and musical numbers that lacked integrity. However, I did feel that Rainer was the most organic offering in a film that otherwise feels annoyingly faux and refined. She's definitely the lesser of all The Great Ziegfeld's evils, and whether you love or hate her performance, I am firmly of the belief that she is the only reason to watch the film.