The Final Conclusion - Best Actress 1951

1951

So the much anticipated ranking is:

5. Eleanor Parker in Detective Story

I just don't want to bash Eleanor's work here. I found her approach to the part totally wrong and I thought that she wasted a lot of important opportunities in her character that would have made a lot of difference in the movie and her performance. However, I was still intrigued by her and her magnetic presence kept me interested in her character whose storyline was the most interesting one in the movie. I'm confused.

4. Katharine Hepburn in The African Queen

Katharine Hepburn gives a wonderful, enjoyable performance that really makes her movie an exciting, interesting and memorable experience. She uses all her charm and talent to create a character, which she makes twice as intriguing as you would expect. She fills the role of the spinster with real spirit, which makes her a welcome presence everytime you see her. And her her chemistry with Humphrey Bogart is indeed perfect.

3. Shelley Winters in A Place in the Sun

Shelley Winters gives a wonderful, heartwrenching performance as Alice in A Place in the Sun. She took a very simple character and made her an intriguing personality, with whom you can easily sympathise. You feel for her from the beginning to the shocking end and the way Shelley develops this character is just extraordinary. Truly memorable, haunting piece of work that really elevates and enriches its movie, one that stays with you long after the credits roll.

2. Jane Wyman in The Blue Veil

Jane Wyman gives a beautiful, touching and heartwarming performance that's really worth waiting for it. I instantly connected to the character and Jane constantly captivated my heart and soul. It really is a piece of work that doesn't seem to be a big achievement and yet it really is something special for me. Although I might be a bit too sentimental about this work of Wyman, I'm not ashamed to say I was deeply moved by Wyman's acting here. 

1. Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire

Vivien Leigh's performance as Blanche DuBois is indescribable. No matter how much I'm sweating and trying to point out parts of her brilliance, I constantly fail as you have to see Vivien's acting for yourself to feel her brilliance. Her acting in A Streetcar Named Desire is something that words cannot really describe so if I have to give a brief summary about what a brutally, unbelievably amazing performance hers is, I have to turn to Brando who said: Vivien Leigh was the best Blanche. She was Blanche DuBois.

So I can proudly announce

that the winner is...

Vivien Leigh 

in 

A Streetcar Named Desire

This stranger also loved you, Viv.

Final thoughts: What a brilliant, endlessly intriguing year! I've wanted to do it for so long and being able to finally see all the films... I'm amazed. The winner was no surprise, naturally, if it was, check into the next hospital. Yeah, it's all about Vivien (who became a two-time winner joining Jane, Great Glenn, Liz and Barbara), but the others were excellent as well. I have positive feelings even about Eleanor who's the weakest link here. Anyway, I don't want to say too much, it's been one of my favorite years so far. 

Omissions:

• Elizabeth Taylor in A Place in the Sun

About the next year: We have not one, but TWO winners of the predicting game, so congrats Marc and Nues20! Joe also found it out after the usual deadline (which has always been so), but since he wants 2007 so badly, it'll be AT LEAST the first year I'll do from now since I forgot about the deadline myself. :) So you guys pick a year and those will be the next ones! :) You'll make my life easier because I had no idea what to do next. :) It stars on Monday, I know that for sure. :) 

What do you think? Any thoughts on your mind?

Shelley Winters in A Place in the Sun

Shelley Winters received her first Oscar nomination for playing Alice Tripp, a simple factory worker girl in the Best Picture nominated adaptation of Theodore Dreisler's novel, A Place in the Sun. Shelley must have wanted to win very much as she wrote in her autobiography that she actually heard Ronald Coleman announcing her as the winner. I suppose the fact that A Place in the Sun was the Best Picture front-runner might have helped her become a distant second after Viven Leigh's celebrated work, but the thing is, nobody had much of a chance of beating Ms. Leigh.

That being said, A Place in the Sun is an amazing movie, simple as that. I'm just as stunned as people at the time that it lost Best Picture to An American in Paris. Streetcar must have been a bit too modern for Hollywood's taste so A Place in the Sun seems to be a sensible and great winner to me. George Stevens won a well-deserved Oscar for his excellent direction, which wonderfully created tension and real drama on the screen. Naturally, he needed a great actor for George Eastman who really knocked it out of the park. And boy, did Montgomery Clift do so! My goodness. Although some consider his nomination a result of the movie's sweep, I feel that not only did he deserve it, he also deserved to win the Oscar. He's nothing short of  amazing. 

However, the rest of A Place in the Sun is pretty great as well: I'm very surprised that Elizabeth Taylor's very much praised and very memorable performance didn't get more attention from the Academy. I guess, in the end they couldn't resist Shelley Winters' more tragic and heart-breaking storyline. It's quite odd that Shelley Winters, a respected and well-known supporting actress managed to receive a leading nod for her borderline supporting performance. It's also surpising to see her being so quiet and subtle on the screen. I got to know her from her roles in A Patch of Blue and The Poseidon Adventure and as a result, she came off as an overwhelming character. So it was especially interesting to me how she would manage with such a simple character. I can say without any hesitation that Shelley perfectly solved her task. 

Even people who admire her work wonder if Shelley's leading nomination is justified since her character is borderline supporting and she probably would have fared better in that category. I suppose her case is very much like Greer Garson's in Goodbye, Mr. Chips: you can have arguments for both sides. Althoguh her impact on the story cannot be denied, she doesn't have much screentime and her character doesn't appear in the second half of the film. But, as you probably know, supporting performances in the lead category do not upset me as much as leading performances in supporting. Moreover, I don't think anyone can come up with a convincing enough argument in these cases.

Alice is just not an impressive girl: she talks little, her beauty is a bit limited, especially compared to the overwhelming beauty, sexiness and intelligence that just shines from Elizabeth Taylor's character, Angela. Alice represents the old life of George Eastman: poverty and simplicity. However, Angela (as her name suggests) is indeed an angelic presence and it's this contrast between these two ladies is what makes George's struggles even more believable and intense. You can spot this in the approaches of the two actresses: Liz is as graceful as a queen, Shelley is simpler, more quiet and much less radiant.

Shelley's work is one of those rare cases when the performance becomes truly engaging and impressive because of how unimpressive and clumsy the character is. For most of the time, we can see Shelley with an almost dumb expression on her face, which she gradually fills with emotion and real depth. Shelley could have stayed on the surface and would have been just as impressive and yet she chose to go deeper into the mind of this poor girl and we can see the understanding she has for Alice, but in the end she still remains a little bit pathetic and a bit annoying.

Both Monty and Shelley make their characters almost miserably and hopelessly naive, whic makes their respective performances even more astounding and effective. It feels like they are both drifting and are terribly helpless and exposed. In a way both of them want to get higher and in both cases it's Alice herself that's the ultimate boundary. Shelley reflects on the hearbreaking fact that Alice cannot be good enough for George and her gradual awakening is one of the saddest parts of the film. As a result, the way Shelley shows how Alice desperately clings to George becomes even more painful.

Shelley's absolutely devastating in the scene where Alice turns to a doctor after she gets 'into trouble'. Her gradual quiet breakdown is absolutely stunning just like last scenes, which are just masterful and incerdibly haunting, especially when she calls George where you can almost touch Alice's desperation and devastation. Shelley completely loses her vanity and pride along with her character and was not afraid of being pitied. 

Shelley also uses her little screentime to her advantage: she almost becomes like a ghost during the movie. In fact, I thought that she was much more haunting this way as her appearances always brought some tension to the idyllic moments of George and Angela.

Probably my only issue with this performance is that it's sometimes overshadowed by the greatness of Monty Clift and her own movie. If I was reviewing her in the supporting category, this wouldn't be an issue at all as she did perfectly what a supporting part required. I tended to overlook her, even despite the fact that I found her terrific all around. Sometimes I couldn't focus on her, because there were things that amazed me even more and that made her performance a little bit paler and not as grand as it could have been. Don't get me wrong, she was amazing, it's just that she could have kicked ass a little bit more.

Still, Shelley Winters gives a wonderful, heartwrenching performance as Alice in A Place in the Sun. She took a very simple character and made her an intriguing personality, with whom you can easily sympathise. You feel for her from the beginning to the shocking end and the way Shelley develops this character is just extraordinary. Truly memorable, haunting piece of work that really elevates and enriches its movie, one that stays with you long after the credits roll. 

What do you think?

The Next Year

1951

So the nominees were:

• Katharine Hepburn in The African Queen
• Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire
• Eleanor Parker in Detective Story
• Shelley Winters in A Place in the Sun
• Jane Wyman in The Blue Veil 

A rarely talked about year where the (legendary) winner seems to be a very easy one with everyone else a little bit ignored (party because the movies are pretty hard to find). Let's see if I go for the very popular winner or one of the four other ladies. 

What do you think? Who's your pick? What's your prediction for my ranking? :)