Round-Up: Actor 1942

Ronald Colman, Random Harvest

as CHARLES RAINIER/SMITH

After having trekked through some pretty shit movies over the last month, Random Harvest proved to be a breath of fresh air. Sure it's a bit melodramatic, and loses a lot of stream in its last act, but it's all held together wonderfully by Ronald Colman and Greer Garson (in the performance that she should have been nominated for, but I suppose this one wasn't propagandic enough.) As you may already know, I had loved him in Bulldog Drummond, so expectations were pretty high this time around. And for the most part, I'd say he delivered.

Walter Pidgeon, Mrs. Miniver

as CLEM MINIVER

The movie is called Mrs. Miniver. Walter Pidgeon plays Mr. Miniver. Mrs. Miniver is not about Mr. Miniver. Cue the big, bright red flag. It's funny because we often see unrewarding, glorified supporting performances coming from women the form of faithful and strong wives, and here's Pidgeon, breaking that glass ceiling for all men everywhere with his Oscar nomination for one of the most basic if not the most basic Best Actor nominated-performances I've seen thus far. What little I've seen of Pidgeon hasn't been too bad. He seems like an interesting enough actor. But man, is this nomination is a joke.

James Cagney, Yankee Doodle Dandy

as GEORGE M. COHAN

Won: Academy Award - Best Actor | New York Film Critics Circle - Best Actor

Yankee Doodle Dandy is quite literally a two hour commercial about how great America is / a two hour WWII recruitment video. I wanted nothing more but to straight up hate it (and I pretty much did for much of the first half) but ultimately beyond the shitty dialogue it's still a solid song and dance show, and I love me a good song and dance show. I had my qualms with James Cagney--because like Gary Cooper before him, I wondered if he had won the Best Actor prizes that year because the picture and role pandered flawlessly to America's fears and mindset at the time. Like Alvin York, George M. Cohan is damn near saintly, without a single flaw to be mentioned of (though apparently the picture ignored the fact that Cohan was married twice). You and I both know that there was most likely a sentimental bias that factored into Cagney's victory, but I was pleased to find that he's pretty good.

Monty Woolley, The Pied Piper

as HOWARD

Monty Woolley and The Pied Piper are another two cases of an actor and a film which are only remembered by a select few (you, myself, and a handful of other Oscar obsessives) today for their Academy Award nominations. And on paper it’s a no-brainer that a film and a performance like these would get attention back then. It’s a story about an old man who is in charge of bringing a hoard of children to safety in the midst of World War II. And if you’re a cynic like me, then you would assume that Woolley’s nomination is wholly due to the heroism of the character and the tangential respect people might have had for his bravery rather than the actual merit of Woolley’s work itself. But as much as I wanted to hate it from the get-go, I couldn’t. It’s much more bearable than I was anticipating, and that alone can be attributed to Woolley.

Gary Cooper, The Pride of the Yankees

as LOU GEHRIG

In 1942, Gary Cooper solidified his place as the poster child for Americana by following up his Oscar-winning performance in the awfully corny, trite, Pro-Murica biopic of a lovable WWI war hero with an even cornier, triter, Pro-Murica biopic of a lovable baseball icon. As much as I inherently dislike Cooper's pandering to American heartstrings, in a manner so blatant that it's practically insulting (what could possibly be more American than the one-two punch of guns, God, and Baseball?), I surprisingly didn't hate him in this film as much as I hate the actual film as a whole. This is my second time watching The Pride of the Yankees, which is two times too many, and if I'm lucky I'll never have to watch it ever again. But at least this time around Cooper is able to demonstrate some acting chops that weren't really required in Sergeant York.