Actor Round-up: 1938

Leslie Howard, Pygmalion

as PROFESSOR HENRY HIGGINS

Won: Venice Film Festival - Volpi Cup for Best Actor

By now, there've been two types of performances I've seen from Leslie Howard. That of the thankless supporting character (re: A Free Soul, Gone with the Wind) where the focus of the film is geared toward the leads and thus doesn't have much room for Howard to shine, and that of the thankless lead part (re: Of Human Bondage, Romeo and Juliet) where Howard comes off as stiff and dull because the films themselves are stiff and dull and because his female counterparts are the scene-stealers. And then there's Berkeley Square, a film anchored by Howard which completely sinks because both actor and picture are so devoid of life...but we'll forget that one ever happened. So I hadn't any expectations going into Pygmalion, and I was pleasantly surprised watching him here because for once Howard looks as though he's actually having fun with a part.

James Cagney, Angels with Dirty Faces

as ROCKY SULLIVAN

Won: New York Film Critics Circle - Best Actor

I'm assuming that James Cagney didn't really stand much of a chance at winning the Oscar, if only because his Rocky Sullivan is the most flawed individual out of 1938's Best Actor lineup and the Academy was a long way's away from being privy to rewarding wicked characters. Cagney's got the perfect mug for bad guy roles, with the structure of his face giving him an unusual look and feel, such that when Cagney grimaces or is even slightly displeased he looks positively sinister. That's what I think is so interesting about him in this film--he's innately threatening yet coolly charming, quite a nice personification of an irresistible type of danger that's alluring but lethal.

Charles Boyer, Algiers

as PEPE LE MOKO

Prior to watching Algiers, I figured I had to first see 1937's Pépé le Moko as a way of honoring the original. And as it would turn out, I ended up really enjoying the picture as well as Jean Gabin's performance. But I should have known better--as is usually the case with remakes, Pépé le Moko was all I could think about while I was watching Algiers, and what Gabin did as Pépé le Moko was all I could think of while watching Charles Boyer. So the challenge here lies in separating Boyer's work from my own biased idea of what the work really ought to be.

Spencer Tracy, Boys Town

as FATHER FLANAGAN 

Won: Academy Award - Best Actor

Third time's a charm, right? After somehow getting nominated in lead for a supporting role as a priest who helps reform a morally unruly man, and after winning an Oscar the subsequent year for playing a Portuguese fisherman who helps reform an unruly boy, Spencer Tracy comes back (in his third consecutive attempt to win my heart) as another priest who puts it upon himself to build an orphanage that'll serve to reform a couple hundred unruly boys. And he got a second consecutive Oscar for doing it. So by now it just feels as though the members of the Academy back in the mid-to-late thirties were fixing to troll us all. I know I know, it's of the norm for Oscar to get his panties in a bunch over someone and spoil them rotten with his love in the process, but this is frankly the most preposterous instance I've ever seen where blind, unadulterated adulation is being flung on an actor for literally rehashing the same monotonous schtick over and over again.

Robert Donat, The Citadel

as DR. ANDREW MANSON

On paper, The Citadel doesn't seem like a very exciting film and Robert Donat's Dr. Andrew Manson doesn't seem like a very interesting character. A movie that seeks to tackle moral truth as well as exposing the adversity faced in a well-respected profession made me assume that The Citadel would be like Erin Brockovich except singed with 1930's triteness and corny dialogue. Besides, I've already seen this type of film before--it was called The Story of Louis Pasteur and it was a big fiery pile of hokum crap. But, as it happens, I was proven wrong: The Citadel ended up being a pretty absorbing film, perhaps because it was made outside of the states and co-produced by a British studio, making it possible to escape the cheesy conventions and ideals of American filmmaking. Further, Donat proved to be an even bigger pleasant surprise than The Citadel was--he grabbed my attention from his very first frame and holds on to it for the entire picture.