The Final Conclusion - Best Actress 1937

1937

So the much anticipated ranking is:

5. Luise Rainer in The Good Earth

This is a decent performance and I can really understand those who love it but I also understand the arguments against it. Still, Luise Rainer gives a very loveable and truly great performance as O-Lan which may not be for the ages but it is certainly very memorable and its emotional nature is truly impressive. Well done work with some incredible moments by a great actress.

4. Janet Gaynor in A Star is Born

I can say that Janet Gaynor is very good as Esther Blodgett/Vicki Lester but I can't say that she really is great. She's very charming, she's very loveable but the limits of her role prevented her from being truly outstanding in this part. As I said, she's really enjoyable but I couldn't help wanting a little bit more. It's lacking work but a good one, at least.

3. Barbara Stanwyck in Stella Dallas

This might be the weakest one of Barbara's nominated performances but I still enjoyed her work as Stella Dallas. Although the character is quite unlikely and even a little bit confusing, Barbara makes her so entertaining in a very weird way. I can't explain why I liked her this much but I was really blown away by some of the scenes.

2. Greta Garbo in Camille

I have to say that Garbo really succeeded in creating a very complex and likeable character and a great performance despite the fact that she obviously has her flaws. Still, Garbo's luminous presence and wonderful personality might make up for the weaker sequences. Overall, it's a great performance that I really liked, I am still feeling a bit strange about her.

1. Irene Dunne in The Awful Truth

When I almost gave up on 1937, along came Irene Dunne to charm me with this incredible performance as Lucy Warriner. Not only does she give, what I consider one of the funniest performances ever, but she also breaks your heart a little bit as you really start to care about Lucy and her life. It's really incredible work and it's 100% right what Cary Grant said about Irene.

So I can proudly announce

that my winner is...

Irene Dunne

in

The Awful Truth

Ready for your speech?

Final thoughts: A good year but not a great one. Irene was an easy winner and the ranking of the nominees was incredibly easy. Only Irene was truly fantastic but Barbara was really-really close to that. Garbo might have even inspired Maria Callas with this role but she left me a little bit colder. Luise was very nice but not enough and the same goes for Janet Gaynor. Overall, I liked this year but it wasn't outstanding in any way. Plus, I had to say goodbye to Barbara Stanwyck as I've written about all of her nominated performances and that makes me really sad. :(

About the next year: Wow, I looked for a special year to celebrate the first anniversary of the reviews and I found it. But before that, I'm doing a less special but interesting year. It's gonna be incredibly obvious after the clue :):

• I want to win! :@ GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH...
• I feel like a ..t on a .o. ..n ..o.!

What do you think?

Greta Garbo in Camille

There cases when an Oscar win is locked. It usually happens when you're at the peak of your career, the critics are on your side and you're even considered overdue. Well, that was the case with Greta Garbo's third Oscar nomination. And shockingly, the winner was Luise Rainer who received her second consecutive Academy Award. I don't know how that could happen. I guess the Academy members loved The Good Earth more than Camille (it certainly received more nominations). I don't think that Garbo was very disappointed, though. She publicly dismissed the glamour of Hollywood and she was not the easiest person, I guess.

Camille is a movie that I really wasn't able to totally warm up to. On the one hand, it has some really great aspects about it, like the great supporting players or the techincal part. On the other hand, it's really slow and sometimes quite boring and I'm not really keen on these romantic stories. Mr. George Cukor's sugar coating on this movie didn't help that much, either. I always feel that he went a little bit too over the top with his movies. They are a bit too much for me. After a while, Camille becomes too sentimental and a little bit ridiculous. Just like Robert Taylor's performance.

However, it's really up to Greta Garbo to elevate the material and make this a better movie. She both succeeded and failed, in a way. Greta Garbo is someone that I do not admire that much as an actress but I do love her as a movie star. She wass always so aware of herself but always in a very good way. She was born to be a movie star. She always showed her beauty to the camera and yet she added very much of her persona to her roles. Garbo herself was a very mysterious person just like most of her characters and that helps her performances so much. And her star never shone brighter than here, in Camille. It's pretty much a legendary performance that's immensely loved by most of the people and it's always kind of strange to notice that you're not that blown away by her. Because I wasn't.

OK, I might withdraw that statement as Garbo had some really terrific moments but I'd prefer to talk about the negative things about performance since I feel that she had an overall positive effect on me, so I really want to make this review a positive one. But my first problem about her was that she made Marguerite a little bit too jovial and those smiles were a little bit annoying after a while. Furthermore, I felt that she could have made Marguerite a little bit darker and colder. I think something like the initial Ninotchka would have helped a lot.

However, I must admit that I was totally taken away by Garbo's luminous presence. She may not have been the best actress ever but she was a real, 100% star. When she's on the screen, you cannot take your eyes off her because of her unique beauty and shining personality. Some could be complaining that she relies on her charm too much but I don't think that with a performer of her greatness it's that much of a problem. I think she was just using what she had. And she did it beautifully.

Moreover, it was great to see Marguerite change from a carefree/careless woman to a responsible lady. I loved the way that Garbo gradually developed Marguerite. That's something that I noticed with her before, namely in Ninotchka. Just like the Russian agent, Marguerite also goes through a complete transformation and she's just blossoming. When she falls for this young man, Marguerite illuminates the screen. There's so much harmony and Garbo's just wonderful at showing happiness. I actually felt good for Marguerite. It's interesting that my favorite scene of the movie wasn't the last one but her walk with Robert Taylor in the middle. Somehow, right there I was so taken away by the great Garbo. It was just amazing.

It might be surprising that I actually loved the moments of Marguerite's sacrifice and ultimate death. Naturally, the were wonderful and really moving. I must underline the accuracy and brilliant timing of her last scene (though if you look at her eyes, her death is a bit funny) and it was certainly quite an effective sequence. Still, I loved Marguerite's happiness the most.

So I have to say that Garbo really succeeded in creating a very complex and likeable character and a great performance despite the fact that she obviously has her flaws. Still, Garbo's luminous presence and wonderful personality might make up for the weaker sequences. Overall, it's a great performance that I really liked, I am still feeling a bit strange about her. This is a true superstar performance with all its advantages and drawbacks.

A 4 might be surprising but I'm trying to be less lenient.

What do you think? Janet Gaynor is next.

The Next Year

1937

So the nominees were:

• Irene Dunne in The Awful Truth
• Greta Garbo in Camille
• Janet Gaynor in A Star is Born
• Luise Rainer in The Good Earth
• Barbara Stanwyck in Stella Dallas

A fantastic looking year. All five of them are interesting in their ways and I can't wait to take a closer look at them. Unfortunately, this will be the last reviewed performance of the brilliant Barbara Stanwyck, so I'll write her review last. I'm curious about how I will react to Rainer, Dunne and especially Garbo for the second time and if I'll like Gaynor more than Garland. We'll see.

Could Barbara gain another win from me or will it be someone else? What's your ranking? What's going to be my ranking? The predicting contest is naturally on.

The Final Conclusion - Best Actress 1939

About the field: This was a legendary year for Best Picture and pretty great for Best Actress. And I can say this very easily. I was so happy to (re-)watch these performances and movies. I liked them all, though sometimes I was a bit disappointed as that nominee is praised everywhere. So that was the only disappointing thing here, but that performance grew on me a bit. My #5 may not have belonged to this category, but actually there wasn't any other Best Actress performance I would have nominated instead of her. #4 was very good, though a bit uneven, I was mesmerized by #2 and #1 (big surprise) REALLY blew my socks off. This was one of the easiest rankings so far, though I believed (before starting) that it would be much more difficult. But let's just see the results (which are not surprising if you read my reviews):

5. Greer Garson in Goodbye Mr Chips

This was a heartwarming and charming performance, which wasn't full of opportunities, but Garson did her best in my opinion and was able to show her immense charisma for the first time on screen. Leading or supporting? Doesn't really matter. 

4. Bette Davis in Dark Victory

I saw a performance that disappointed me to a degree (mostly because the movie is so horrid), but there are extremely strong scenes so I really cannot say that I did not enjoy it (and it considerably grew on me). I did not find her as great as everyone else, but she's quite good.

3. Greta Garbo in Ninotchka

This performance is also quite unusual as it basically consists of two different performances.I can say that I was impressed by Garbo once again and she gave an excellent performance full of charm, humor and her grabbing persona.

2. Irene Dunne in Love Affair

In a movie, which was her personal favorite, Dunne was able to create a lively, charming, emotional and lovely performance, which might be a bit slow for others, but I was a total sucker for this one. Excellent, intelligent work.

1. Vivien Leigh in Gone With the Wind

Do I need to explain this? We can be grateful for the miracle that was born on-screen 71 years ago. I could go on and on, I could write a novel as long as Gone with the Wind itself about her, but I just wrap up by saying that I was overwhelmed, entertained, delighted, amazed, moved, amused and mesmerized by Vivien Leigh.

So I can proudly announce

that my winner is (hands down)...

Vivien Leigh 
in 
Gone With the Wind

Tears of a WINNER! :-)

So my next year: I thought it would be very uncertain and I had more years to pick from after all, but somehow life decided it for me. This year is very often talked about but mostly only two of the nominees (especially one). So the clues:

• #1 hated loss
• Far From Heaven: The Origin
• Deglam forever!

I think huge fans found it out from the first clue immediately. :-)

Greta Garbo in Ninotchka

Greta Garbo received her fourth and final Best Actress nomination for playing Ninotchka, a communist woman in the movie Ninotchka by Ernst Lubitsch. I'm quite sure that Garbo would have won the Oscar if it wasn't for Vivien Leigh, as she was Oscarless and a huge star in an unusual role. I think she was the third after Davis that year, but I guess I should watch the results somewhere. No matter what, Garbo finally had to make do with an Honorary Award.

Ninotchka is a very entertaining and funny movie (in an old-fashioned way) and it has some very satirical thoughts which I especially loved. It makes fun of communism, capitalism, Lenin, the Russian royals, everything, of course in a very subtle way. Although some of the jokes might seem dated, they are all extremely witty and charming. The situations however are excellently directed and acted by all the actors. Melvyn Douglas is quite amusing, but this is far from his best works.

But nobody can deny a sequence that made movie history: "Garbo laughs". Yes, that was pretty special considering Garbo's ice queen personality in movies and in real life. Therefore, I think that this movie's (and performance's) enourmous popularity is mostly due to this one unforgettable and charmingly weird scene.

This performance is also quite unusual as it basically consists of two different types of acting. In the first half, it's Garbo's usual ice queen and in the second half Garbo is so unusually charming and lovely that it was a bit distracting for me. Now it's needless to say that I preferred the first half, which is more usual, but in my humble opinion much stronger and ten thousand times funnier.

In Greta Garbo's first scene, we see a stoned-faced, serious, humorless, loveless, cold, merciless, unkind, grumpy feminist and communist, who just stands there and says a fast and brilliant line: "Please don't make an issue of my womanhood". We can see how much Ninotchka sticks to her principles and how much she cares about her country and the people in it. And she's brutally hilarious and deadly witty.

I think her greatest scene in this movie is when she wants to cross the street and asks how much time she has to wait until the next whistle. Garbo so easily makes fun of this cold character and also herself. There's so much self-irony in this part, that's certainly very impressive. She had so much effect on me and her presence was extremely strong and magnetic the whole time.

Also, there are some small details of her performance that I loved: the movements of her face, her eyes, eyebrows and the way she walks. Moreover, I loved that she added a touch of dramatic depth to the character. I felt a bit sad when she left the apartment of Melvyn Douglas after the phone call. It was again, simply brilliant.

But who could ever forget the laughing scene? I saw this movie years and years ago without knowing about the "Garbo laughs" thing, but that's the only sequence that I remembered. And deservedly so: it's so lovely, charming and unforgettable. You just want to go there and give Garbo a hug. She just cannot be resisted and you laugh along with her and everyone else. This is a really great achievement.

But that scene is unfortunately the end of Garbo's true brilliance in the movie as the other part of the performance comes, which lacks the (self-)irony I loved the most about the first half and Garbo's acting goes a bit downhill. It's far from not being enjoyable, but it's not that magnetic and hilarious anymore. Actually, she's less dramatic with more drama and less funny with bigger opportunities. This was quite a dangerous part, because it's so easy.

I must admit though that I was charmed once again by her drunk scene, which was hilarious and I liked the ending too, but I just missed the wit and simplicity of the beginning.

However, I can say that I was impressed by Garbo once again and she gave an excellent performance full of charm, humor and her grabbing persona. Rating is not that easy however: the first half is a very easy five, however the second is not more than three and a half. Four would be a bit low for her and four and a half would be high for her. Great performance nevertheless.

So what do you think? Now it's time to give your last predictions! :) I accept them until I post Irene's profile.

The Next Year

Now we are moving along with the next year, which is said to be the best year of movies ever. So it's quite understandable that I can't wait to see the performances and the films. Let's just start 1939.

1939

So the nominees were:

• Bette Davis in Dark Victory
• Irene Dunne in Love Affair
• Greta Garbo in Ninotchka
• Greer Garson in Goodbye, Mr Chips
• Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind*

So what are your predictions? Even I don't know what it will look like as I have seen only two of them. We'll see. I'm quite excited.