July 5, 2015

The Best Actresses of 1927-1930: Revisited


If you were reading Oscargasms last summer you'll know that I went and binge watched/binge blogged through all the available Best Actor nominees of 1927-1931. If you've ever taken a look back at best actresses from the first three years, you'll find hastily compiled round-ups in place of individual profiles. Well because I am an obsessive-compulsive completist as well as an equal opportunist and Feminist, I think it's finally time to show some love for the ladies of 1927-1930!

Since the genesis of this blog I have outright refused to give individual profiles for the Best Actress nominees of '27-'30. I had already done so to some extent on my past few blogs and was too mentally intolerant/frustrated/uninspired to go and do that all over again. But it had to be done at some point--Gloria Swanson and Ruth Chatterton and Janet Gaynor need individual attention as well! Plus, now that I have some additional bandwidth, I can work to wipe out Oscar's earliest years and move on once and for all. Whether or not I will appreciate some of these perfs more or less or move around the original rankings is unknown.

As with the gentlemen, I'm hoping to make these posts short and sweet. Let's see if I can achieve my goal of watching/reviewing by the end of the month! My itinerary below:

1927-1928
and the nominees were: 
Louise Dresser, A Ship Comes In
Janet Gaynor, Seventh Heaven
Janet Gaynor, Street Angel
Janet Gaynor, Sunrise
Gloria Swanson, Sadie Thompson

plus:
Wings

1928-1929
and the nominees were:
Ruth Chatterton, Madame X
Jeanne Eagels, The Letter
Corinne Griffith, The Divine Lady
Bessie Love, The Broadway Melody
Mary Pickford, Coquette

plus: 
The Broadway Melody

1929-1930
and the nominees were: 
Nancy Carroll, The Devil's Holiday
Ruth Chatterton, Sarah and Son
Greta Garbo, Anna Christie
Greta Garbo, Romance
Norma Shearer, The DivorcĂ©e 
Norma Shearer, Their Own Desire
Gloria Swanson, The Trespasser

4 comments:

  1. I hope Gaynor do better this time. Love her!

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    1. I'm sure she'll fare better this time around--I was younger and dumber when I did my first round of reviews on her (must have been like 5 years ago?)

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  2. Sounds good to me; I've never been too depleted for more discussion of Norma Shearer. Did you know, for instance, that just as Garbo was the last major MGM light to make her dramatic talkie debut, Shearer was the first with The Trial Of Mary Dugan. Like Anna Christie it was a big success for studio and star. Shearer's star ascended and Crawford seethed a little more.

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    1. I had a feeling you wouldn't mind revisiting these years!

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