June 12, 2016

1949 - 22nd Academy Awards


WOOHOO!!

And The Nominees Were:
Broderick Crawford, All The King's Men
Kirk Douglas, Champion
Gregory Peck, Twelve O'Clock High
Richard Todd, The Hasty Heart
John Wayne, Sands of Iwo Jima
Jeanne Crain, Pinky
Olivia de Havilland, The Heiress
Susan Hayward, My Foolish Heart
Deborah Kerr, Edward, My Son
Loretta Young, Come to the Stable

And so it has finally come to this: the last year of a wretchedly formulaic and unadventurous decade of Oscar films and performances. By the time these are over and reviewed, it'll have been nearly two years since I ventured into the 1940's -- this is a bit longer than I was hoping (considering 1927-1939 took me a little over a year), and while I definitely can attribute some of that lag to work, I can also blame it on the fact that this entire decade's worth of nominated fare was generally dull and sparked little enthusiasm on my end to write 'em up. Here's hoping that the fifties will fare better (I'm sure it will).

It's not like we're ending on a good note either; 1949's set of offerings is pretty much more of the same--Gregory Peck, Richard Todd, and John Wayne will offer up more WWII flicks for my viewing pleasure, I feel like I've already seen Kirk Douglas in the form of John Garfield (and, to a lesser extent, Robert Montgomery), Susan Hayward is back with another character that "drinks too much", I hear Deborah Kerr is serving us with another small wife part, and we're given another person of God in the form of Loretta Young. Cannot. Wait. For. This. To. End.

So follow me as I plow through these last ten performances and put the final nail in 1949's coffin. As always, let me know which of these folks you think I'll love or hate, and tell me which ones are your fave :)!

June 4, 2016

Jane Wyman, Johnny Belinda

as BELINDA MCDONALD
Won: Academy Award - Best Actress | Golden Globe Award - Best Actress

Behold, the first silent performance for me to review since the 2nd Academy Awards! I will preface this post with the reiteration that I've never been all that great at reading into and interpreting silent performances--they're not quite my cup of tea, and I've always found them to be more limiting than those that utilize the sound medium. To that note, I wasn't huge on Jane Wyman's performance in Johnny Belinda, and I'm thinking it's due to a mix of her own acting as well as the film's writing.

June 1, 2016

Lew Ayres, Johnny Belinda

as DR. ROBERT RICHARDSON


Perhaps feeling a collective sense of regret for not nominating him 18 years earlier for All Quiet on the Western Front, the Academy decided to give Lew Ayres his first and only nomination for Johnny Belinda, thereby allowing him to be an Academy Award Nominated Actor. However, in the tradition of many an actor to have a sole nomination to their names, this is not a very memorable performance.