Ginger Rogers, Kitty Foyle

as KITTY FOYLE

Won: Academy Award - Best Actress

Ginger Rogers' Academy Award winning performance is one of those wins that you don't hear a whole lot about nowadays, not necessarily because it's bad per se but because the work and films of three of her competitors have held up much better in the 70+ years that have passed. Yet it's easy to see why the folks of 1940 took to Rogers so strongly at the time—for starters, it's an old-fashioned little picture which features the everyday working woman faced with issues of class (how modern!), yet it's also a melodrama that thrusts its heroine through a slew of tearjerking situations (how gutwrenching!), and if there's anything Oscar likes about his ladies, it's a de-glammed long-sufferer. But in spite of the film's out-of-date and confused attempt at purveying feminist modernity, Kitty Foyle is actually quite a charming little flick, made all the more watchable by Rogers' lovely presence.

Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator

as ADENOID HYNKEL / A JEWISH BARBER

Won: New York Film Critics Circle - Best Actor

For some odd reason I've never really taken to Charlie Chaplin's films as enthusiastically as all other cinephiles. Trust me when I say that I've certainly wanted to love! his films, and if anything, I've always thought them to be perfectly fine works of comedy, but I've always only ever liked The Circus and City Lights and Modern Times. The same thing applies to Chaplin's performances in these films—it's hard for me to be duly enthusiastic about them when you feel as though you've seen it all before, because there's only so many Tramp-in-wacky-uncompromising-physically-comedic-scenarios one can take before the novelty wears off and an otherwise great piece of work is just plain "good", or the "usual". And so with that I went into The Great Dictator, Chaplin's last (or technically first and only, believe what you want) nominated performance, knowing very well that I was going to leave being pleased at best.

Henry Fonda, The Grapes of Wrath

as TOM JOAD

It is said that James Stewart claimed to have voted for Henry Fonda for Best Actor in 1940, and there seems to be a general consensus that Fonda was robbed a victory that year for his work in The Grapes of Wrath. These allegations of an Oscar misfire intrigued me, considering the fact that I don't ever really recall being all that interested in the character of Tom Joad while struggling to get through the novel back in sophomore high school English. In truth, I wasn't really all that interested in The Grapes of Wrath period, so I was quite tickled to find that director John Ford had managed to take a drab chore of a novel and turn it into a compelling and poignant picture. Fonda, in all his brooding, stoic glory, does a good job, but I was left more taken by the film than by him.

Raymond Massey, Abe Lincoln in Illinois

as ABRAHAM LINCOLN

As with the third recipient of the Best Actor Academy Award, Raymond Massey too was an actor whose career-defining work came from playing a famed government leader. And in reference to Massey's performance as the legendary Abraham Lincoln, the New York Times exclaimed that "you will simply think of him as Lincoln, while you think of all the rest...as members of a notable troupe who have played their roles excellently." In my opinion, that's a rather futile proclamation, considering no one—not even New York Times reviewer Frank S. Nugent—could possibly know enough of what Lincoln was like to warrant the assertion of someone just being him...it's not as if we have YouTube videos of Lincoln dating back to 1860. If anything, we can only make base judgments on all film Lincolns based on how closely the actors look like Abe, the rest being up in the air for our own imaginative figurings. But in any case, Massey certainly does look the part, and despite being in a stifling film he still turns in some solid work.

1940 - 13th Academy Awards

and the nominees were:

Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator

Henry Fonda, The Grapes of Wrath

Raymond Massey, Abe Lincoln in Illinois

Laurence Olivier, Rebecca

James Stewart, The Philadelphia Story

Bette Davis, The Letter

Joan Fontaine, Rebecca

Katharine Hepburn, The Philadelphia Story

Ginger Rogers, Kitty Foyle

Martha Scott, Our Town

And here we are! Coming into this year I have only seen one of these films, which at the time I enjoyed quite a bit. As for my beloved Best Actress category, this is the first year so far where I am actively excited for all the ladies nominated. This also makes me sad at the same time knowing that I'll be kickstarting the 1940's with my most anticipated batch of ladies and then have no other year to look forward to for the rest of the decade. Overall it's a diverse bunch of films--we've got stage plays, comedies, a biopic, a drama based on a book I was forced to read in the 10th grade and hated with all my being, and two dark gothic/noir pics perfectly suited for the month of October. Feel free to share with me your favorites out of this group as well as some guesses as to whom I'll love and not love!