Round-up: Actress 1943

Jennifer Jones, The Song of Bernadette

as BERNADETTE SOUBIROUS

Won: Academy Award - Best Actress | Golden Globe - Best Actress

The Role: as a sweet and sickly girl who has visions of the Virgin Mary, this was undoubtedly a "star is born" type of role that shot Jennifer Jones into Hollywood stardom for the duration of the 1940s. I'll say now that my discontent towards religious fare really didn't play into how I feel about The Song of Bernadette and Jones' performance all all (though it does get exhausting after awhile), and in fact, I did like the film/was quite engaged at times. But the role of Bernadette and this over-stressed archetype of saintly womandom is what I found most unsavory here, and while that's no fault of Jones', I think that she's at a crossroads of not being able to do much via the material as well as not possessing the skills to do much with the material either.

Jean Arthur, The More the Merrier

as CONNIE MILLIGAN

The Role: as a woman who sublets her apartment to two men during the WWII housing shortage, I was initially a little perplexed as to how Jean Arthur managed to snag herself her sole nomination for a role that on paper didn't seem very striking. And besides, The More the Merrier isn't exactly the most renown flick out of Arthur's filmography. I've now watched Arthur in a number of Capra flicks, and I hadn't really thought her to be particularly arresting or awful--always somewhere in between.

Ingrid Bergman, For Whom the Bell Tolls

as MARÍA

The Role: as a 19 year old orphan who has experienced savage cruelties during the Spanish Civil War and falls deeply in love with Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman makes her Oscar debut here. Say what you will about For Whom the Bell Tolls and Bergman's performance, but it's always interesting to me watching the very first nominations of the greatest actresses. You catch a glimpse of what they're showcasing to the world, and you can sense that hunger they have in proving themselves. What Bergman does with María in this film is no different from what Kate Hepburn does in Morning Glory or what Bette Davis does in Of Human Bondage--it marks the arrival of a woman who would go on to become one of the great Hollywood icons.

Greer Garson, Madame Curie

as MARIE CURIE

The Role: as the pioneering scientist who *overcomes all odds* to discover radium, and in turn redefining the face of science, this is the kind of role that Oscar will eat up over and over and over again. It's the kind of role that inherently stands for *importance*, thus typically ensuring an actor an Oscar nomination very handily (because what could be more important than the story of real people doing important things?). So I can't begrudge this nomination by Oscar's reigning Best Actress and decade Golden Child Greer Garson; anyone else playing it would have nab herself a spot in the top five as well. But I can begrudge how dull both picture and actress are.

Joan Fontaine, The Constant Nymph

as TESSA SANGER

The Role: As a lovestruck schoolgirl with hastily-timed heart problems, we once again find Joan Fontaine playing up the innocuous, doe-eyed girl schtick. As is to be expected, Tessa is essentially cut from the same meekish, breathy cloth as Lina and the second Mrs. de Winter, perhaps the only difference being that she is literally called a "girl" frequently in the film by a number of other characters, and the more luxe wardrobe pieces in Rebecca and Suspicion are replaced with braids and schoolgirl outfits.