Actor Round-up: 1937

5. SPENCER TRACY AS MANUEL IN CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS

"Manuel is a terribly one-dimensional character...He has no angle--there's nothing that he wants, nor does he develop...this one irks me because there's not much to Tracy outside of being a loud racial caricature. It's a little baffling that this was the second year in a row where Tracy got nominated for playing second-fiddle to somebody else...This is a borderline insensitive, trite, and The Blind Side-esque piece of work that's aged poorly and not nearly as imaginative as it aims to be."

4. PAUL MUNI AS EMILE IN THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA

"From a purely physical standpoint, Muni is thoroughly convincing as an older Zola, down to the way he carries his body when he moves--looking at Muni, I really felt he was somebody else. Nevertheless, Muni's acting style as always been a peculiar merging of naturalistic and over-the-top...My feelings towards his work here are just about the same as my feelings towards his work as James Allen--I'm just okay with it."

3. CHARLES BOYER AS NAPOLEON IN CONQUEST

"Boyer's portrayal of Napoleon is filled with potential, but he isn't able to make something truly magnificent out of it due to the film's misdirected aspirations. He has a stern and commanding air to him, and he packs enough charm to make Conquest worth watching whenever he's onscreen...With just enough charisma and just enough douche infused into him, Boyer makes his Napoleon very hypnotic in a way...Ultimately, while I feel his work has its positives, the film is much too substandard to allow any of Boyer's strengths to really flourish."

2. FREDRIC MARCH AS NORMAN IN A STAR IS BORN

"There's three parts to March's performance: Norman the alcoholic who is charming and funny, Norman the supportive and charming husband, and Norman the alcoholic who is deeply depressed. March is at his best in that third part, and he taps into a heartbreaking display of acting...this is a simple-minded (not to mention rushed) portrait of a troubled man. I couldn't help but feel that his overall performance could have been so much better if there were darker overtones of his struggle with alcohol. I'll blame the screenplay for wasting Norman Maine's potential as a fully realized character, as I really do believe that March would have been spectacular with deeper material to work with."

1. ROBERT MONTGOMERY AS DANNY IN NIGHT MUST FALL

"There's two sides to Danny here, the charming front he puts on and the psychopath that lies beneath it...Montgomery shades this complicated man with such interesting facets--the fear that consumes him when he thinks he's been found out, the mental turmoil that wreaks havoc on him while in the privacy of his own room, his realization that he has Olivia in the palm of his hand, his deranged invincibility complex...Montgomery brings a complicated sense of emotional frailty that's engrossing to watch...This is hypnotic work, and a vivid study of one of the most fascinating characters to be nominated for Best Actor from this era."

IN CONCLUSION: a bit of a lackluster year, with a handful of alright performances and one undeserving win. But 1937 is ultimately saved by a spectacular tour-de-force that really wowed me. In terms of other contenders, if people had to nominate someone from Captains Courageous, I'd have preferred Freddie Bartholomew get the nod even though he annoys the hell out of me. There is also the case of Cary Grant being snubbed for his work in The Awful Truth...one wonders how he didn't manage to get a nomination despite AMPAs being so fond of comedic male performances in the prior years. There's also Jean Gabin in Grand Illusion--but it's not like the Academy was open-minded enough to acknowledge a foreign language performance. One also wonders about Paul Muni's chances as Wang in The Good Earth (cue me rolling my eyes) since it was a big hit in '37, as well as the previously nom'd Ronald Colman in Lost Horizon.