Here are the five nominees: (Winner in Bold)
Biggest Snub:
Ann Southern – A Letter to Three Wives
My Overall Thoughts:
This is a year with 4 pretty powerful performances and one so-so one, but strangely enough, it was also the only time in Oscar history where there were 2 nominees from two films and one lone one which probably had much effect on the ultimate choice of winner.
My Rankings:
Supporting Actress
5. Mercedes McCambridge
4. Elsa Lanchester
3. Ethel Waters
2. Ethel Barrymore
1. Celeste Holm
Movies
3. All the King’s Men – Not as good as I had hoped for a Best Picture winner, but was pretty good.
2. Pinky – Very enjoyable film that tries to tackle the race issue from a different perspective than usual. It’s a bit unbelievable how Crain is meant to be a black woman, but the way that she is treated by the townspeople leads to much problems especially when dealing with the work she does for a wealthy old woman and it’s reparations. Crain still was able to garner a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance here. Barrymore and Waters were both nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars for their work here, but they unfortunately probably cancelled one another out. The climatic courtroom drama brings some some very interesting ideas and it’s too bad that the film doesn’t try and find a way to focus more on those aspects because it would have made this film even better.
1. Come to the Stable – Interesting film that is able to show how the appearance of two women trying to make a change in the world can affect everyone in the town in a very poignant way. Young and Holm are both great as the nuns and make us believe that they are truly doing pure work. Along with Lanchester, Holm and Riley all were nominated for Oscars for their work; Young for Best Actress and both Holm and Lanchester for supporting actress. Really liked the way that the story of how they came to this particular place to build their hospital feels like a fairy tale or myth and that adds so much more to the impact of this story. The plot is filled with some nice twists and turns that raise the suspense level of things even if the story is pure drama. This is truly a film all about having faith.
Do I agree with the Oscar winner? – Not at all! I think that MM gives the weakest performance of the 5 nominees, but since the other four are each duel nominees from the same film, they probably cancelled each her out which led to MM taking home Gold.
Let me know what you think about these films and my rankings!
MovieRob 