Round-up: Actress 1928-1929

6. Mary Pickford, Coquette

5. Ruth Chatterton, Madame X

4. Bessie Love, The Broadway Melody

3. Corinne Griffith, The Divine Lady

2. Betty Compson, The Barker

1. JEANNE EAGELS, THE LETTER

IN CONCLUSION: Overall, a better year than I had initially pegged it to be! Compared to my ranking from a few years back--Mary Pickford unfortunately does not improve on a re-watch, and remains dead last. Jeanne Eagels does improve on a re-watch, enough to remain in the top spot as well as enough for me to bump her up a statue. The rest is where it gets kind of funky--I ended up bumping up Griffith and Love by one statue apiece, and kept Chatterton with her original score. Chatterton was initially third, but this time around she slides down to fifth, with the original fifth placer (Griffith), hopping up to third place. I obviously did not re-watch The Barker (though wouldn't it have been nice?) and keep her in second based on how much I loved her on my initial viewing.

In terms of other nominees--there are so many! Compson's co-star in The Barker, Dorothy Mackaill, has a larger part than Compson does and from what I recall, was pretty good, so she might have been in the running. Compson's other vehicle during that qualifying period, The Docks of New York, might have had a hand in some good will leading to her nomination. Clara Bow misses out a second Oscars in a row, this time with her talkie The Wild Party (with my fave!!) I remember watching her last in that one last year and not thinking too much about her, but you'd think her star power might have had her as an also-ran. Lillian Gish in The Wind is pretty wonderful (see: Oscargasms' Honor/Dishonor Roll) but something tells me she wasn't really in the running as the film wasn't a huge hit. And finally, we have the goliath of that period--Renée Maria Falconetti for her legendary and absolutely harrowing performance in The Passion of Joan of Arc. I'm sure she didn't really stand a chance in hell given how that it was a French film, that it isn't an easy watch by any means, and that the Academy was young and unworldly during its infant years, but God knows the woman deserved recognition for her beautifully painful work.