Gregory Peck, The Yearling

as PENNY BAXTER

Won: Golden Globe - Best Actor

Call me crazy and save me from myself, because I didn't think The Yearling was half bad. For a film about a boy, his pet deer, and his parents which runs a little over two hours, I found it to be well-paced and engaging. And so Gregory Peck is back again, going from Father Francis to the literal Father Penny Baxter, in a performance that is, unsurprisingly, more of the same.

1946 - 19th Academy Awards

And the nominees were:

Fredric March, The Best Years of Our Lives

Laurence Olivier, Henry V

Larry Parks, The Jolson Story

Gregory Peck, The Yearling

James Stewart, It's A Wonderful Life

Olivia de Havilland, To Each His Own

Celia Johnson, Brief Encounter

Jennifer Jones, Duel in the Sun

Rosalind Russell, Sister Kenny

Jane Wyman, The Yearling

I've done a lot of bitching about how much I've despised the nominated films of this decade, but at least 1946 is looking a smidgen better. I've no qualms about getting to watch It's a Wonderful Life, The Best Years of Our Lives, and Brief Encounter. I'm uncertain of my feelings about sitting through the combined 4.5+ hours of Duel in the Sun and Henry V. And as always, there're two biopics to look forward to, a Best Actress winning-film that sounds strikingly similar in plot to a previous Best Actress winning-film, and...Roz Russell as a nurse. Plus...The Yearling. So here goes...and as always, let me know who you think I'll love and dislike :) 

Round-Up: Actress 1945

Round-Up: Actor 1945

Joan Crawford, Mildred Pierce

as MILDRED PIERCE

Won: Academy Award - Best Actress

Mildred Pierce is the film that Joan Crawford is known for. In many ways, the iconography of Mildred in the film nails the image in my head of what I think Crawford to really be--seeing Crawford, steely eyed, stroll about and into a police station, adorned with fur all over her body, only reiterates the perception of Crawford as a glamorous Old-Hollywood icon. On the flip side, seeing this woman play submissive to the characters and circumstances within the film completely contradicts the Mommie Dearest image that has ingrained itself onto Crawford's legacy. In other words, she is as expected and is as not expected here--but overall, she's magnificent.