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.

Doris Day in Pillow Talk

Actress/singer Doris Day received her only Best Actress nomination to date for playing Jan Marrow, an interior decorator falling for Rock Hudson in the comedy Pillow Talk. This nomination is very much debated on forums as Doris Day was nominated for her comedy performance, while Marilyn Monroe was snubbed for her work in Some Like It Hot. I think that it is not worth arguing about this as I think they were both nomination-worthy. I think Day was not favored to win, however I believe she received many votes for she was a huge star giving a great comedy performance.

Pillow Talk is a GENIOUS romantic comedy about... sex. I think it's very brave for it's time as it nearly openly discusses this subject which was considered immoral to talk about in movies. No wonder that the brilliant, hilarious and HYSTERICAL screenplay won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar (in fact, this is one of the most deserved wins in this category). The acting is top-class in Pillow Talk including the always amazing Rock Hudson giving a great comedy performance and the supporting cast: Tony Randall and Thelma Ritter are so insanely funny, I think both deserved to win a supporting Oscar (even though I did not use to appreciate Ritter in this).And yes, there's the always charming Doris Day who's simply excellent and almost pitch-perfect as a woman having "bedroom problems".

Comedy performances are extremely hard to judge. You have to turn off your snobism, but also your enthusiasm. They are easy to be loved, but easy to be disliked too. Actually, when comedy acting is great, it seems better than acting in a serious, heavy drama, let's just face it. So I remain very sober while reviewing Day, who left a huge impact on me with her acting.

I don't really know her work (besides this one), however I find her to be immensly talented and a magnificently shining personality (that's why she must have been very difficult to work with, I have a feeling). And this charm (and her sense of humor) always helps her a lot during the movie. She's a professional entertainer knowing exactly when and how to do things to make the audience laugh. 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.

Her line-readings are quite simply hysterical and she's probably the only one of her generation who could deliver the silliest sentences this very funny way (e.g. "don't mind my mind"). When I saw her being that brilliant in this, Irene Dunne, Rosalind Russell and Jean Arthur came to my mind. Day (just like the previously mentioned ladies) kicks ass in these battle of sexes comedies. She's the cheeky, confident and yet charming girl living next door, who turns from the sour spinster to be a passionate woman.

Jan is a single woman and she says she likes it. We immediately know that naturally she doesn't, but Day never shows us the loneliness or isolation of her. She never lets her performance be serious, but she takes the comedy part of it more than seriously. Comedy is very hard to do as you need very much discipline and a skill of timing. Day's timing is more than wonderful: her lines blow up like fireworks and you just can't help bursting out in laughing.

Although she does not have the best jokes she gets the most out of her material. Her crying scene is the best part of her performance and it's really laugh-out-loud funny. Nobody (except for Jean Arthur) can cause as much laughter with crying as Doris Day. That sequence is nearly divine and should be taught at acting classes (I hope it is).

This performance is unfortunately not without it's flaw. Although it's great that she never lets drama get into the movie, she sometimes overdid the mannerisms of this spinster character. It does not help either that sometimes she's outdone by her brilliant co-stars. Although these are not serious problems, they ruin the whole picture a bit unfortunately.

Nevertheless, this was probably, not probably, definitely the most enjoyable nominated performance of the five, however it had some minor flaws which did not damage her overall achievement, only cooled my enthusiasm. It's no big deal however to declare that right now I've just scene one of the greatest comedy performances ever. Excellent job.
What do you think?

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).

Audrey Hepburn in The Nun's Story

Motion picture legend Audrey Hepburn received her third Best Actress nomination for playing Gabrielle van der Mar, a young Belgian girl who decides to become a nun in order to help other people. She goes through the tough process of learning, and she helps at a mental institution before going to the Congo, where her life is changed forever. This is probably the most respected and appreciated performance of the legendary actress and at the time she also won many awards from critics. This is the type of performance for which stars could win at the time, but I guess the "she's already won" thing got in the way of Hepburn.

The Nun's Story is a moving, credible and in short excellent movie, which shows the life and sacrifices of nuns with dignity and respect. It's by no means a standard religious drama, so a non-religious person can also identify with the subject and in my opinion it's a great achievement. The movie features several Academy Award winning and nominated actors (although most of them were not nominated at the time), who give excellent and memorable supporting performances. I must give special mention to Dame Edith Evans, who was most definitely worthy of the Oscar nomination (and the win too in that weak year if you ask me). But it's also nice to see Beatrice Straight, Peter Finch (both won for Network 17 years later) and Peggy Ashcroft.

They all pale in comparision with Audrey Hepburn, who gives her ever-best performance in this movie. This role was tailor-made for her and I actually cannot really imagine anyone playing this role, as Hepburn is more Hepburn in this movie than ever, despite the fact that this is her most dramatic performance. Until right now I was one of those, who thought that Audrey Hepburn is mostly loved and appreciated because of her charm, but The Nun's Story was like a revelation to me: yes, Audrey Hepburn had enourmous talent, a one-of-a-kind screen presence and a nearly angelic personality. This role had to come in her way, it was destiny.

We can see even in the first scenes what we will get from her. Her whole performance is in that scene: she's quiet, doesn't say much with words, she expresses her feelings with her face and yes, her beauty. It's almost unbearable to see her say goodbye to her previous life as her actions and reactions are so heartbreakingly real, her doubts and insecurities are so well presented even in the beginning.

Her changes during the learning process are extremely impressive and again prove Hepburn's immense talent. Again we see the doubts of this inexperienced girl, who tries to overcome her weakness in order to sacrifice her whole life to God. She wants to make this commitment, but we also feel how inconfident she really is.

When she prepares for her trip to the Congo, her subtle excitement and enthusiasm we feel is almost unspeakable. Even then she has to deal with a moral dilemma and again she's full of doubt and inconfidence. At the mental asylum we get to know a new face of this girl: young, inconfident, unprepared and scared. Her true fear, when a scizophrenic woman attacks her is almost again unbearably real. She shows the human side of this character and we also see how much she has to learn to become a good nun.

Probably the most dangerous part of her role comes with the Congo part, where her character works as a nurse with the doctor played by Peter Finch. We don't get the standard nun performance, with the lovely and yet strict personality. We actually realize the hardships of this lifestyle. They also have doubts and fears like all of us, after all they are also people. This seems very harsh, but the human side of nuns is rarely shown in movies. And the scenes where she tries to defeat her attraction towards the doctor is an excellent proof. She fears from the consequences and cannot get close to any man. In a scene where she's praying she says that the more she tries to be perfect the more imperfect she becomes, that's probably the most brilliantly acted moments in the motion picture history (but praying scenes can alsways have a great effect on the audience.

Although Hepburn does well with the technical part, her performance completely relies on emotions while acting. She has an effect on you which cannot be got across, you can only feel her brilliance with your soul. This sounds quite corny I know, but it cannot be more true about Audrey in this movie. She 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.






If you'd like to see The Nun's Story click here. Also to see Suddenly, Last Summer click here. So what do you think? Tell me in your comments (also your predictions).

Elizabeth Taylor in Suddenly, Last Summer

Legendary Elizabeth Taylor received her third Oscar nomination in a row for playing Catherine, a mentally unstable young woman in the 1959 movie, Suddenly, Last Summer alongside Kate Hepburn and her good friend Montgomery Clift. Liz was favored to win her first Oscar for this performance (with her friend Audrey Hepburn as her biggest rival), however she lost the Oscar in a huge upset. She got her makeup award a year later though (for a movie that was not only hated by the critics but also by Liz herself)

I'm not going to go into the details of the movie again as I've already done that. I just have to tell how dangerous the part of Catharine really is. It's really difficult and one can extremely easily can go very-very over-the-top with it. This danger gets even more terrifying if we consider the fact that Elizabeth Taylor is playing Catharine. Taylor is a brilliant and talented performer which she proved many times (Virginia Woolf naturally) and whom I love immensely and without conditions, but she can/could very easily get hysterical and way too over-the-top (BUtterfield 8) with her roles and then she becomes so annoying that you want to slap her.

Good news to both the fans and the haters: here she's (quite frankly put) both. For the first time around, I was mesmerized by her performance (mainly because of her last scene), but now I looked at her performance very carefully from a safe distance. And I can safely say, that I liked it (in a way) again as she gives a memorable performance, which is not for the ages probably, but not bad either.

In her very first scene, I was so afraid that I was going to see the hysterical, over-the-top Liz, but my fears became less intense towards the end of it (it should not have unfortunately). Yet, as much as I want to, I cannot really say many bad things about her performance. The first thing is that she portrays Catharine as a very seductive woman in some of the scenes, which I did not really get. I think Catharine is scared of everyone and everything, including the doctor who tries to help her and I also felt that it was very illogical that she seduced him (and kissing him). Sometimes Taylor used the wrong emotions and I cannot say another term for her acting, rather than moody and unpredictable.

Being unpredictable is not essentially a problem, but here I felt a bit annoyed by it. The big Oscary scenes, the loud cries and screams of her character turned out to be a bit funny in the end. And it's a huge problem if you want to shock, but end up being a bit ridiculous. Also, the tone of her voice could get really exaggerated sometimes, which again annoyed me. Where she hugs and kisses Montgomery Clift and says that she's very lonely is the most flawed of all. I definitely think that Taylor could have done much-much better for she has the potential of being amazing (again the example is Virginia Woolf), she just missed so many opportunities with this movie. Not to mention that she's overshadowed by Kate Hepburn so much, that it's almost a sin (though everyone pales in comparision with her, so it's a bit unfair from me).

I have to admit though, that her big scene is dead on and is probably the reason that I tend to be forgiving of all her flaws and mistakes. It's so full of emotions and it's probably the only scene where I could really understand the over-the-top nature of the performance. It was essential for that scene, if she had been subtle, she would have sucked and would not have had a huge impact on the audience.

So, to sum up I can say that this performance needed over-the-topness and Elizabeth Taylor, but I felt that it was way to 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.

So what do you think? Did you like Elizabeth Taylor?

Katharine Hepburn in Suddenly, Last Summer

Katharine Hepburn received her eighth Best Actress nomination for playing Mrs. Violet Venable in the psycho-drama based on the play of Tennesse Williams, Suddenly, Last Summer. I am 100% positive that Hepburn did not have much chance to win the Oscar (maybe her name helped her a bit) as her co-star, hot superstar Elizabeth Taylor was favored to win the award. They both lost however to French actress Simone Signoret.

Suddenly, Last Summer is an impressive and sometimes even shocking movie, talking about the difficult (and sore) subject of lobotomy in a very brave and innovative way, even though the homosexual subtexts of the original play were obviously deleted and censored (which were in the original play). Montgomery Clift has the most screentime of the actors I think, yet he seems to be more supporting than leading. I am going to talk about Liz Taylor's performance later so I won't spoil the suspense until than. I liked Mercedes McCamridge the first time I watched this movie, but this time I found her to be incredibly annoying (but great in the last scene). Nevertheless, I cannot complain about the great and always masterful direction of Mr. Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who had already made many masterpieces.

Katharine Hepburn is a loved and respected personality, who's widely considered to be the greatest American actress ever lived (though some give the title to Bette Davis, but let's not argue about that). I used to think that Hepburn was extremely overrated, which I don't like to admit, but I do right now. It's true that she has certain mannerisms that one has to get used to. (and this is probably the performance that made me love her) .

On an imdb board (oh, I hate them) I read that this was Hepburn's worst performance of her career. I would like to reject that right now and explain why. Lots of people also argue that her performance is supporting instead of leading, which I again refuse to accept, even though there might be some truth in it. In my opinion she completely commands the screen and by the way she does not have much less screentime than her co-star Elizabeth Taylor, her time is just not divided into little sequences, but mostly into a 25-minute-long first scene, 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.

The material of Tennesse Williams helps a LOT to his actors (brilliant roles all) and they are parts for middle-aged actresses to kill for. Those teary-eyed monologues are could have been over-the-top and annoying, but Hepburn here did not make the same mistake she did in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner in 1967. She soberly solves the problems avoids all the traps of the scenes, and her presence is not only magnetic, but also hypnotizing and strange. With her you never know, what's real and what's not, she shows the (not so inner) manipulative nature of this character so thrillingly well, that in the beginning, we believe everything she says (of course until we see the tortured Elizabeth Taylor).

Mrs. Venable is a tricky character. Although she's far from being moody, she gets so unpredictable and manipulative, yet in a strange way, she's someone you feel sorry for as she's the oone having real mental problems. Towards the end of her big scene (and the movie) we get to see the madness of this woman. At first she seems to be in deep grief over the loss of her only son, but we get to see how unstable and neurotic she really is. She does not only love or admire her son, there's some incestous attraction she feels for him. She's almost a maniac of the good reputation of her son, for which she's even able to destroy that innocent and also mentally unstable girl (She also blames her for the ultimate death of Sebastian).

Her scene at the mental institution towards the middle of the movie is top-class and nearly mind-blowing. Her refusal to accept that nothing happened in the reality how she tries to prove is unbelievably real and also (again manipulative). Unlike Angela Lansbury's character in The Manchurian Candidate (I think it's not that great of a cmoparision but still), she's not vicious, but desperate, inconcolable and bitter. And we must not forget her very last scene which I don't want to give away. I just say that it's breathtaking and unforgettable.

To sum up, I hope 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. Gutwrenching, masterful achievement of a towering talent and a movie legend.

P.S.: It is so ironic to give Meryls to Hepburn. LOL

So what do you think? Tell me I'm curious.

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. :)

The Final Conclusion - Best Actress 1963

About the field: three terrific and two weaker, but entertaining performances. These five actresses all impressed me to a degree, so I'm definitely shocked that this year is so rarely talked about. These performances are definitely worth watching and reviewing and I hope you watched the movies too, when you could. We saw five simple, working class women dealing with everyday problems: out-of-wedlock pregnancies (in three of the cases) or a violent man's love (in two cases). Despite the similar natures of the characters, the five ladies could not have been more diffenrent. This is actually a very exciting race, and each performance and movie was worth the time. A true pleasant surprise (which I expected a bit). The ranking was really difficult for me and only the #3 was obvious for me (and eventually #1). So here it is:

5. Shirley MacLaine in Irma La Douce
During the movie I was quite impressed and I liked her, but while I was writing the review I suddenly had complaints, doubts and I finished it sourly, struggling to go on. Too bad, as I wanted to love Shirley and I did in a way, it's her performance just lacked something which would have made it special. Still, she's very entertaining and sometimes even hilarious.

4.Natalie Wood in Love with the Proper Stranger
Wood's charm always helps her performance a great deal, because she's so beautiful and radiant, that you can never take you eyes off her. I liked her a lot during the movie, but found flaws in it when I was writing the review about it. I still appreciated it a lot and it certainly impressed me to a degree. But again it's not totally enough to totally satisfy me.

3.Rachel Roberts in This Sporting Life
Roberts is always in control of the character technically, although her performance mostly relies on the emotions and the impact on the audience. This is one of the most effective performances I've ever seen and the most brilliant (and smart) thing about is that you really don't recognize at first how tricky Roberts is with you, the viewer.Heartbreaking, natural, simple, unforgettable.

2. Patricia Neal in Hud

Neal uses her face and mostly her eyes to tell the story of Alma. Yes she speaks much, but she doesn't tell much with words, it's her facial expressions that let you inside her mind. I cannot really think about any performances like hers among actresses. She hits you hard with her subtlety like a bus, grab you and doesn't let you take your eyes off her.

1. Leslie Caron in The L-Shaped Room
This is not performance with a nice packing and absolutely no content in it (I can say numerous hailed performances lacking content), this is hundred per cent reality. Brutally real, brutally heartbreaking. One of the truly great achievemnents I've ever seen. This is Acting with capital A. The most subtle dynamite. Very few performers are able to achieve such greatness.

 

So I can proudly announce that my winner for 1963 is...
Leslie Caron

in

The L-Shaped Room

Yes, yes, Ms. Caron.

Also worth of a nomination that year: Ingrid Thulin in The Silence, Klári Tolnay in Skylark, Gunnel Lindblom in The Silence

So, our next year is also a secret that I will reveal tomorrow, but of course I can give you clues (now I give four).

• Comedy, why not?
• Blondies suck...
• Viva La France!
• Please don't get mad!

Natalie Wood in Love with the Proper Stranger

Popular, beloved actress Natalie Wood received her third and last Oscar nomination for playing Angie Rossini, a pregnant Italian-American girl, who has to deal with responsibility and the father of her unborn child (Steve McQueen) in the dramedy movie Love with the Proper Stranger. I am quite sure (just like in the case of Shirley MacLaine) that Wood received many votes from the Academy as she was Oscarless and a huge star (and was expected to win for Splendor in the Grass). It did not turn out to be enough for her to win the Oscar, which people do not complain much about, except for maybe her biggest fans.

Love with the Proper Stranger is a lovely and enjoyable little movie by Robert Mulligan which cannot live up to his previous masterpiece (To Kill the Mockingbird), but it's still very entertaining. It received five nominations altoghether, which were justified in my opinion. The actors give decent, but not too brilliant performances. Steve McQueen was a good actor, but he was not given that much to do in this movie and he's miscast in my opinion as he does not seem very Italian, if you know what I mean. However, I must mention the actor, who plays Columbo, the clumsy young man courting Natalie.

Natalie, beautiful Natalie. What can I say about her performance here? She could give heavy dramatic performances and there were occasions where she was terribly miscast (West Side Story ahhhem), but one cannot deny her radiant personality, her beauty and above all, her great acting talent. She moves with such ease and naturality in front of the camera, I think she was born to become a movie star. With the character of Angie, she made very wise decisions in my opinion. Although it doesn't have many opportunities, Wood really lifted the not very complicated material. At the beginning of the movie I did not like her performance as it mostly consisted of Italian-American stereotypes and mannerisms, but in time she got me with her warmth and naturality.

Wood shows the most vulnerable and miserable side of this character, her insecurity is so heartbreaking in the scenes where she considers abortion or the scene where she's getting undressed, but breaks down eventually. Those scenes gave me creeps and they were quite probably the highlights of Natalie's whole performance, which turned out to be more lightweight in the end, which is not a big problem to tell the truth, but you have to expect that heavy drama could only be found towards the middle of it, where all the insecurites of Angie are revealed. For those sequences it is definitely worth watching this movie.

It's interesting that this year, two actresses were nominated for playing single and pregnant young girls. Leslie Caron showed the dark side of the situation with her minimal and breathtaking acting, Natalie Wood did not go that deep into the character's mind. I know that it's not fair to compare them for it is also the screenplay's and the director's fault, still I believe that Wood's character should have been a little deeper and probably more complicated.

This whole thing does not mean though, that I wasn't utterly charmed. Wood's charm always helps her performance a great deal, because she's so beautiful and radiant, that you can never take you eyes off her. A brilliant example for that is when she's expecting Steve McQueen for dinner and watches herself in the mirror, being worried and by this she perfectly shows the excitement of the real first date.

Wood dealt with the comedy parts well, although she was did not do wonders with the material (like MacLaine for example). However, I must tell that she was not very convincing in the dinner scene with Columbo's family, where she's very clumsy and almost damages everything, burns herself and so on. I think it was needless and useless in for the movie. When she talks in the same scene about love, it's not solved perfectly either and is probably her weakest part of her performance.

To sum up, I saw a performance again that I liked a lot during the movie, but found flaws in it when I was writing the review about it. I still liked it a lot and it certainly impressed me to a degree. But again it's not totally enough to totally satisfy me. Something's missing.

So now I've finished the reviews and now I'm thinking the whole race over. Only one place is already decided in my ranking, I don't really know how to rank the others, but time (and me too) will tell. If your interested in Love with the Proper Stranger just click here. I am waiting for opinions and predictions in comments! :)

Rachel Roberts in This Sporting Life

British actress Rachel Roberts received her only Academy Award nomination for playing Mrs. Margaret Hammond, a widow having a stormy and tragic relationship with the aggressive and violant rugby player, Frank in This Sporting Life a movie directed by Lindsay Anderson. It's an interesting fact that her husband, Rex Harrison was also among the 1963 nominees in the Best Actor category. And they both went home empty handed, but I don't think that it was much of a shock as when performances like this won, it was always a huge upset (=Simone Signoret in Room at the Top).

This Sporting Life is a typical member of the depressing free cinema movies or as I like to call them, chimney movies. It's quite tragicand mostly raw and tough, however the direction of Lindsay Anderson is great (though it's not as fantastic as If...), the actors give very good and subtle performances even though only the two leads stand out to be honest. Richard Harris' acting is great, though it took me some time to like it or even get used to it (I don't know somehow I felt he was miming Marlon Brando a bit). Nevertheless, I feel he deserved the nomination, but not the win (at least not over Sidney Poitier).

And of course, there's Rachel Roberts. Nowdays, she's not frequently mentioned in discussions about movies in general, despite the fact that in my opinion she's one of the most underappreciated actresses. Her presence is very intense and raw, in my opinion she was born to play these disappointed wives having stormy affairs with violent men (just like in Saturday Night, Sunday Morning, check that one out). She caught the problems of these simple, working-class women with such sympathy and deep understanding, that is quite uncommon among actresses. I never actually felt that it was Rachel Roberts there, acting. I always saw a devastated, ashamed woman, terrified of what she and her life in general is becoming. She's always concerned about her reputation, pride and her children naturally.

The way Roberts captures the grief of this woman is truly outstanding and harrowing. She can never admit that her husband's death (always cleans his boots) was not pure accident and she cannot really live without him or with Frank either. She's doesn't know how to act and this uncertainty is truly heartwrenching to watch. Margaret is a very conventional and simple woman, but Roberts brilliantly shows that she dreams of something better and that she deserves a much better life. Her scene at the restaurant is simply marvellous: she does not know how to act, she's like a scared little animal, but she's simply heartbroken and deeply ashamed of Frank's behaviour. The way she says thank you to the waiter, nearly made me sob: it was so real, so natural and it felt so unforced. Only a real acting genious could do that.

Roberts is always in control of the character technically, although her performance mostly relies on the emotions and the impact on the audience. This is one of the most effective performances I've ever seen and the most brilliant (and smart) thing about is that you really don't recognize at first how tricky Roberts is with you, the viewer. I would not say that her presence is magnetic, because this is not that type of acting, she (just like Leslie Caron and Pat Neal) kills with her naturality and realism. Another perfect example is when she puts the Christmas presents into her children's stockings. Her kindness and love shines through the scene and it becomes nearly divine, which fills your sould with feelings that are hard to desribe.

I must also mention her breakdown scene towards the end, when she's confronted by the sheer, ugly truth about her husband in a very merciless way (led by the selfishness and anger of Frank). She's just unforgettable as she does not want to listen, only wants to hide from the world and get her husband back the only one who could make her happy.

Roberts also brilliantly shows how the relationship between her and Richard Harris becomes more intense and complicated. At first she's very hostile to him, but in the end she's just disgusted and terrified of him. When she leaves the restaurant, we know that everything is over.

So, finally I can say that this is the third fantastic performance of this bunch (in a row and it's so great), so it will be really tough to do that ranking in the end. Heartbreaking, natural, simple, unforgettable. Four words that perfectly describe Roberts' acting in This Sporting Life.
This time I can't give you a link unfortunately. But let's discuss in case you've seen this movie. I'm also waiting for some predictions. Tomorrow, I'll do Natalie Wood in the morning and the final conclusion in the evening or the following day.