Actress Round-up: 1938

5. FAY BAINTER AS HANNAH IN WHITE BANNERS

Of all the nominees, Bainter's role is by far the most archetypical, and with that comes the challenge of really having to rise above the material to make the performance intriguing. But ultimately I didn't think she did anything special with her part. That's not to say that I felt she was bad, but there wasn't much of a wow factor in the performance for me.

4. WENDY HILLER AS ELIZA IN PYGMALION

She's pure lowbrow fun in the first half of the film as the unrefined Eliza, and she makes the poor Cockney Eliza so silly and endearing. Once the second half comes along and it's time to be the sophisticated Eliza, Hiller becomes less naturally interesting and her seriousness sort of sucks the air out of the performance for me. All and all entertaining, if not a little inconsistent.

3. MARGARET SULLAVAN AS PAT IN THREE COMRADES

Sullavan really takes ahold of her part and milks it for what it's worth. It's not the largest role and it could easily have been another clichéd performance, but the tenderness and fragile spirit Sullavan imbues into Pat provides the heart to Three Comrades and makes the film worth watching.

2. BETTE DAVIS AS JULIE IN JEZEBEL

Full of self-restrained vivaciousness, Davis is a force to be reckoned with in Jezebel and does a great job delivering much of what makes the character interesting--be it the cool cutting glances Julie shoots when she's displeased or the silky southern charm that permeates through her. It's not the most excellent performance I've seen from her, and there's a sizable distance between her and my victor, but it's an admirable effort nonetheless.

1. NORMA SHEARER AS MARIE ANTOINETTE IN MARIE ANTOINETTE
Shearer, in her last Oscar-nominated performance, goes out with a bang. In respects to her five prior nominations, everything about Marie Antoinette is big--the sets, the running-time, the hair, the costumes, and of course...the performance! She goes through a whole transformation, from idealistic teen to neglected wife and queen-in-waiting to heartbroken lover to dethroned royal...by the end of the film I was exhausted much like Marie herself. This is an excellent performance, as fun as it is formidable, and it's the best Shearer performance I've seen thus far.

IN CONCLUSION: Overall a solid year and a much better improvement over 1937. A peddler from Indiana, a Cockney flower girl, a fallen German aristocrat, a French queen, and a New Orleans southern belle--certainly a diverse little batch of characters! The biggest snubs of the year would have to be Katharine Hepburn for Holiday and Bringing Up Baby. Though it was highly unlikely that Hepburn would have gotten nominated anyways seeing as she was considered "box-office poison" and all, I enjoyed her in both films and would have no problems with her getting nominated for either, though I much prefer her eccentric and flighty Susan in Baby over her eccentric socialite in Holiday. Other than that...I got nothing!

WHAT'S NEXT: I just did the whole graduating college thing and have just begun the whole relax-and-be-as-lazy-as-possible-and-maybe-travel-a-little thing before I inevitably go and do the work-for-the-rest-of-my-life thing. I'm not so sure how frequent my posts will be beyond the next few months, but the major goal at hand is to be done with the 1930's sometime this summer. And I'll be shaking things up a bit (just a little!) in terms of the next batch of reviews.