The Final Conclusion - Best Actress 1959

About the field: I can again say that I saw brilliant performances by brilliant actresses. This was the second time that my pick was 100% obvious for me as I think that she was way ahead of the competition, giving one of the best performances ever. However I saw four fantastic performances and a so-so one. I enjoyed their acting immensely and this was probably one of the most versatile years. A woman having an ugly nervous breakdown, a possessive mother, a single woman, a nun and an unhappy actress. And I must also mention that they starred in excellent movies, two of them even must-see ones. And this was also the first time that I previously saw all the movies (well, I saw The Nun's Story when I was 7 and I only remember being horrified that Audrey's hair was cut). So here's my ranking (which was the easiest to make so far besides 1998):

5. Elizabeth Taylor in Suddenly, Last Summer
This performance needed over-the-topness and Elizabeth Taylor, but I felt that it was way too much for me and sometimes she got quite annoying. I said some bad things but still it's not that bad, just a missed opportunity far from being a disaster or a tragedy. Nice work but not enough from Elizabeth Taylor.

4. Doris Day in Pillow Talk
Doris Day never lets her performance be serious, but she takes the comedy part of it more than seriously. She's always in charge of the character technically as her acting mostly technical and you can see how carefully worked on and excellently crafted her peformance realy is. One of the greatest comedy performances ever.

3. Simone Signoret in Room at the Top
Simone Signoret is one of the greatest actresses ever and in Room at the Top she was able to put on an amazing performance, which I liked much more for the first time, but it was still fantastic to watch as she gave a really strong and memorable performance. Magnificent work by an extraordinary talent.

2. Katharine Hepburn in Suddenly, Last Summer
I lined up a great deal of arguments why this is not one of Kate Hepburn's worst performances but is one of her best works ever. in which she deals with all the possible difficulties of a performance with such ease and brilliance that she nearly makes it too easy, which might be true for her, but not an ordinary performer. Gutwrenching work.

1. Audrey Hepburn in The Nun's Story
A revelation: Audrey Hepburn gently amazes you, her dignity and grace on screen leaves you speechless and makes you think about her for a long time. Haunting, effective work and an amazing accomplishment by a true legend at her finest and one of the greatest performances that I have ever seen in my life. A real onscreen miracle.

So I can proudly announce that my winner for 1959 is...
Audrey Hepburn in The Nun's Story
Truly unforgettable work by an amazing actress.

I will do another year, which I will finish until next Monday. It's going to be a bit fast, but I won't be able to write until August. But we have a year and naturally I give you clues to find out:

• Who's the First Lady of movies?
• You Rang, M'Lady?
• My, your, his, her...
• It's all about women...

I will reveal the secret tomorrow, but until then I'm waiting for your thoughts, opinions and guesses of course.

Simone Signoret in Room at the Top

International star Simone Signoret received her first Best Actress nomination and a surprise win for playing Alice Aisgill, a lonely and bitter married actress, who begins an affair with a younger man in the movie Room at the Top. It's really a miracle that Signoret was able to win the Oscar for this performance. Not because she was bad, but Room at the top is a rather small British movie and also two of Hollywood's greatest stars were expected to win the coveted award. Eventually they both went home empty-handed, while Signoret won the award and got another nomination six years later.

Room at the Top is a good English free cinema movie, which I liked very much for the first time, but now I felt extremely bored sometimes, though there were things about this movie that I liked much more this time around. Also, the ending was not very satisfying. One of those things is the performance of Laurence Harvey, who in my opinion was superb, despite the things people say about his talent. In this movie, he rocks and probably even deserved the Oscar (though I'm not sure whether he gets my vote over Jack Lemmon's legendary performance, time will tell). Also there were things I was truly amazed last time, but now caused me minor disappointment.

If you don't understand the clues, I'll tell you. It was as much of a shock for me as it will be for you, but it was Simone Signoret. Last time I wrote a review about this movie I could not stop hailing Singoret's performance, but this time my love has cooled a bit. She's no longer in my Top 10, I'm afraid. I do NOT want to suggest though that she was bad or mediocore, I just felt that she was a bit underwhelming this time.

The part of Alice is not very baity, it has many opportunities to show Signoret's brilliance, but it's not the type of role that gets love from the Oscars. I can only compare her to Rachel Roberts in This Sporting Life: they become victims in the end and they are the characters you feel sorry for eventually. I must also say that just like in the case of Roberts, I cannot really imagine anyone play Alice with the passion and deep understanding which Signoret used in this movie. Sometimes I even identified Signoret with Alice.

Signoret was an actress with a unique and (I even dare to say) odd talent, whose presence is nearly magnetic and you cannot take your eyes off her. Her inner beauty and radiant personality shine through the movie so much, that you are instantly amazed by her and do not really care about the others onscreen. She does not steal the scenes, not at all, in fact she makes the scenes and everyone else pales in comparision with her. When she's there, it's her an nobody else. I also must mention that her weird accent in this movie adds so much mistery to this character about whom we don't know much, yet we feel everything she went through in her life, all the disappointments and all the hurtful moments.

Alice is an unhappy, lonely woman, who longs for a bit of happiness, which she finds on the side of a man much younger than her. Because of the way her husband treated her she became bitter and deeply devasted. Alice does not expect much from life, yet Signoret shows us how desperately she wants to find some joy in her life. The first time she meets Joe (the character Harvey play) we do not feel that anything's going to happen between them and their relationship begins from being friends eventually ending up being a fatal affair.

And once she finds happiness, Alice does everything possible to keep it. She never lets Joe treat her like her husband did, but we can easily see how vulnerable and unstable she is in fact. Because of Joe's greed, Alice has to lose everything, which meant happiness and comfort to Alice later. She has to be unhappy again and she's too weak and broken-down to put up with this state.

The scene where she says goodbye to Joe is almost heartbreaking: she (along with the audience) knows that it is the end of their relationship despite the fact that Joe always say "this is just the beginning". Alice breaks down and desperately wants to get her happiness back. What used to mean her whole life is gone in a second and she cannot accept it. Signoret brilliantly portrays this emotions on-screen and sometimes this much pain is unbearable to watch.

So to sum up, I think Simone Signoret is one of the greatest actresses ever and in Room at the Top she was able to put on an amazing performance, which I liked much more for the first time, but it was still fantastic to watch. A very unusually heartbreaking performance and now understand all the love and criticism it gets. But I can't really deny how fantastic she really is, so ironically, her original rating almost remained here. Magnificent work by an extraordinary talent.
So what do you think? This is the last opportunity to share your predictions with me, which I accept (you can still predict next time, but it would be to easy to find out then).

The Next Year

After a bit of rest after our previous, less talked about, but rich year, here's the next one, which is not ferquently mentioned either. But I can't help loving these years. When it's mentioned they mostly talk about the snub of Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot. Nevertheless, we have five world-famous superstars starring in classic movies. Yes, it's 1959 (Fritz guessed correctly).

Again we should try watching the movies together (and except for Pillow Talk), I can help you with that in case you haven't seen them. So let's enjoy the performances and the movies together.

So the nominees were:

• Doris Day in Pillow Talk
  
• Audrey Hepburn in The Nun's Story
• Katharine Hepburn in Suddenly Last Summer
• Simone Signoret in Room at the Top*
• Elizabeth Taylor in Suddenly Last Summer

I am also waiting for your fearless predictions, but that's just natural. :)