Best Supporting Actress 1954

1927/28 through 1997
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Best Supporting Actress

Nina Foch - Executive Suite
5
19%
Katy Jurado - Broken Lance
3
11%
Eva Marie Saint - On the Waterfront
18
67%
Jan Sterling - The High and the Mighty
0
No votes
Claire Trevor - The High and the Mighty
1
4%
 
Total votes: 27

bizarre
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Re: Best Supporting Actress 1954

Post by bizarre »

I have only seen Nina Foch, but what a lovely performance and, I assume, unexpected citation from this picture (Stanwyck's showier but perhaps less complex role - which she performs very well - would probably have generated more talk). She wrings the most out of every appearance, giving an impression of this woman's fierce loyalty, groundedness, relationships and stresses and possible romantic longings curtailed by horrific loss through body language and expression alone in half of her scenes. Her screentime isn't huge but she definitely makes this part seem a lot larger than it is, making it clear that Erica is a far more integral part of this company's operations than her position may suggest. The crux of this performance is in the eyes - her silent reactions when she takes the minutes at that final meeting and the anguished double take when she realises she's laid out a notepad, unconsciously, for her late boss. When Holden discusses voting for a new Vice President at the end of the film, for a second we're sure it could be her. She fits nicely into my picks for the year:

1. Jane Wenham, An Inspector Calls
2. Nina Foch, Executive Suite
3. Thelma Ritter, Rear Window
4. Mercedes McCambridge, Johnny Guitar
5. Teruko Nagaoka, Sound of the Mountain
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Post by ITALIANO »

Yes, I agree - Saint is supporting in On the Waterfront, just like Betsy Blair and Natalie Wood were rightly considered supporting the following year - in their respective movies they had the biggest female role, but they weren't co-leads: the focus was clearly on the male character.

This is a very subjective issue, but I've never seen it as just a matter of screen time; I mean, even if Hattie McDaniel were in each single scene of Gone with the Wind rather than only in lots of scenes, she would still be supporting, and - before the predictable reactions turn up - NOT because of her race or the role she plays. Mary Badham was in 99% of To Kill a Mockingbird, still I can understand why she was put in the supporting race. Diane Varsi has - with Lana Turner - the largest role in Peyton Place, and she's the point of view of the whole movie, yet is she a lead in the movie? I'm not so sure.

And then of course there ARE those who weren't supporting at all - Ritter, O'Neal, but also Don Murray, Timothy Hutton, Jake Gyllenhaal... But this is another story.
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Post by Mister Tee »

Damien wrote:Tee, I thought you hated category manipulation. Saint is a lead actress.
I have my own, slippery standards on this front:

I REALLY hate big-name actors slumming in the category. Much as I revere Paul Newman, I thought his Road to Perdition nod stole a chance from any number of actors who may never be nominated. I was never on-board for Shirley MacLaine in Postcards from the Edge, or Pfeiffer in White Oleander.

As far as the more commonly argued "their roles were too big for supporting" -- I take it on a case-by-case basis. Some, to me, are obviously fraudulent (O'Neal in Paper Moon, and, as recently discussed, Ritter in The Mating Season). But many that have been branded carpetbaggers, both here and in the press, strike me as properly labelled -- Aiello in Do the Right Thing, Geena Davis in Accidental Tourist, Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction, even (ducking) Cate Blanchett in Notes on a Scandal. Others, like the infamous Affleck in Assassination of Jesse James, are clearly misplaced.

My rule of thumb -- clearly not definitive -- is, if you were to place a debatable performance in lead, and then your response as to whether they should win is, No, the part's not big enough, then they should be allowed to rest in support. That's how I see Eva Marie Saint's work...obviously the largest female role in the piece, but every bit as much a supporting player as Malden or Steiger, in a film with only one lead.
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Post by ITALIANO »

Damien wrote:I remember thinking I don't know what she's going on about.
I felt the same actually - but I thought that it was because of my poor understanding of the English language.
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Post by Damien »

I haven't seen Broken Lance in over 30 years, and remember wondering why Katy Jurado received a nomination. So I wanted to rewatch it before piping in here. I thought I had a VHS tape laying about but I was wrong. And my video store didn't have it either. But from what you all have said, my original reaction was widely held. But she's terrific in 1953's Arrowhead.

Given its reputation, I was amazed at just how hokey and awful The High And The Mighty is. Jaw-droppingly terrible in dialogue, situations and characterizations.

As Marco pointed out, Claire Trevor laughs and cries in her monologue, but I remember thinking I don't know what she's going on about. Wonderful actress, but this is not one of her finer moments.

Jan Sterling's big scene is certainly startling, but it's also unintentionally hilarious. Still, I'm glad that this fine actress did receive at least one Oscar nomination in her career (I wish her husband Paul Douglas had, as well.)

(Most of the acting performances in The High and the Mighty is pretty bad --Wayne is fine -- but there are two excellent performances: Julie Bishop and an uncharacteristically under-playing Robert Newton, who seemed to be channeling James Mason.)

Eva Marie Saint's a wonderful actress and people I know who have worked with her say that she's also a wonderful person -- a very emotionally generous woman.

Still, I find On The Waterfront a lousy movie cinematically -- it's heavy-handed, self-important, and over-written, and the likes of Don Siegel and Phil Karlson were turning out much more accomplished crime melodramas set in similar milieus on B budgets at the time. (The famous "Coulda Been A Contender" cab scene is ruined by Kazan's cuts between Steiger and Brando -- if ever a scene called for a continuous two-shot take, it's this one.)

Plus, it's politically repugnant and each time it's shown, it's a slap in the face, a kick to the groin of all those courageous progressives who stood up when the fascist tide was high in America. And the people who were members of the Communist party in the 1930s and '40s weren't like Lee J. Cobb, they were much more akin to Karl Malden's priest. I could never vote for anyone or anything connected with this thing. Eva Marie, see you in 1959.

Nina Foch doesn't have a Big Scene in Executive Suite and the first time you see the movie knowing she was tapped by Academy voters, I think you're disappointed. But on a second viewing when you know her Major Moment is not going to come, you can appreciate the subtlety of her work. She conveys so much longing and so much emptiness through so little. (And if Big Scenes = the nominated women from High and the Mighty, thank goodness Foch doesn't have one.) Plus, there was no good reason Foch wasn't nominated for An American In Paris.

Tee, I thought you hated category manipulation. Saint is a lead actress.

My Own Top 5:
1. Thelma Ritter in Rear Window
2. Anne Francis in Rogue Cop
3. Agnes Moorehead in Magnificent Obsession
4. Nina Foch in Executive Suite
5. Kay Kendall in Genevieve
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
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Post by Mister Tee »

A few years ago Damien talked about cases of people being nominated in support for generally hanging around the background of films, not doing anything especially noticeable. I'd put Foch squarely in that category; I kept waiting for her to have a "scene", but it never came. She's perfectly good for what she's asked to do, but nothing beyond that.

I'd agree that Jurado's nomination was probably partly in recompense for the High Noon oversight. She's not special in Broken Lance.

Had High and the Mighty not resurfaced in recent years, I'd have had to rely on a 45-year-old black-and-white memory to rate these two performances. Fortunately, it did turn up, but that doesn't much help the nominees' case. The film is kitsch, and the ladies, though good actresses, didn't transcend their material. Trevor was far better where she won, and Sterling was better in Ace in the Hole (my preferred title for Wilder's lacerating film).

Given that competition, Eva Marie Saint is a pretty easy choice. Whatever political odiousness Kazan can be accused of here, his gift for drawing genuine performances from his actors is in full flower. Saint performs almost exclusively opposite the dominant screen presence of the era, in one of his greatest roles, and she holds her own at every moment. That clearly rates an Oscar win.
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Post by ITALIANO »

Uri wrote:
Big Magilla wrote:Tab Hunter

Is this kind of new, subversive reading of gender boundaries? If so, since I still don't have a proper candidate for best actress of '61, can I go with Hunter's, ahm, buddy Anthony Perkins?

:D

Can you really imagine Big Magilla doing something like that?!

Anyway, it's easy this year. Eva Marie Saint will win, partly because she deserves to, and partly because honestly I doubt most people here have seen the other three movies (The High and the Mighty was almost impossible to find till a few years ago).

Katy Jurado had this strong, beautiful Mexican face and some talent - both used much better in High Noon than in Broken Lance; since she hadnt been nominated for Zinnemann's movie, I guess this was the usual Academy's way of making up for past mistakes. She's better than the movie itself though.

Nina Foch may not have much screen time or a showy part in Executive Suite, but this time the Academy should be praised - for having selected her over her many, more famous co-stars (most of them with much bigger, and louder, roles). Foch's performance is discreet, reserved, but quite nuanced, all her pain kept inside but still evident; I'd say her nomination wasnt undeserved.

Of the two High and the Mighty ladies, for once Trevor is the less impressive. She has a long monologue towards the end of the movie, where she starts laughing and ends crying - the only reason, as far as I can see, why she was nominated. Otherwise she doesnt do anything that she hadnt done before - and better. Jan Sterling is a different case. She was an interesting actress who for some reason never had the kind of career she could have had - too edgy for those times maybe? So it's good that she got at least one Oscar nomination for this, one of her best performances; the famous scene where she takes away her make-up to reveal her ageing face under it is something that not many "blonde and beautiful" actresses of the 50s would have dared to do - it's an impressive moment and quite unforgettable.

But, as I said, Eva Marie Saint, with her pale face, expressive eyes and natural approach to acting, should win here. It's the kind of performance which could have led to an important career; this never really happened and Saint never became a major star. But she's good in On the Waterfront, very good.




Edited By ITALIANO on 1276016902
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Post by Reza »

I’ve been bred on Bollywood flicks all my life so Katy Jurado’s subservient matriarch in Broken Lance is a figure that is SO familiar and a part of our world here that I easily voted for her…….although I know that from modern Western standards the character is totally outdated today. I love this performance and find her heartbreaking……..it’s all in her eyes!!

Nina Foch is good as the lovelorn secretary but Barbara Stanwyck stands out more in Executive Suite.

Eva Marie Saint is superb in her debut and has great chemistry with Brando.

Claire Trevor & Jan Sterling also do well in The High and the Mighty but I prefer other performances that year to theirs.

My top 5:

Katy Jurado, Broken Lance
Kay Kendall, Genevieve
Eva Marie Saint, On the Waterfront
Barbara Stanwyck, Executive Suite
Mercedes McCambridge, Johnny Guitar




Edited By Reza on 1275999480
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Post by Uri »

Big Magilla wrote:Tab Hunter
Is this kind of new, subversive reading of gender boundaries? If so, since I still don't have a proper candidate for best actress of '61, can I go with Hunter's, ahm, buddy Anthony Perkins?
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Post by Big Magilla »

Thelma Ritter and Pearl Bailey at their wisecracking best in Rear Window and Carmen Jones respectively; Beulah Bondi as the holier-than-thou mother of Robert Mitchum, Teresa Wright and Tab Hunter in Track of the Cat; Mercedes McCambridge as Joan Crawford's gun toting nemesis in Johnny Guitar and Barbara Stanwyck as the dead man's mistress and corporate power holder in Executive Suite were far more interesting than most of the nominees this year.

Nina Foch had little to do other than bring William Holden, Fredric March, Walter Pidgeon, Dean Jagger and others papers in Executive Suite. Katy Jurado's dialogue in Broken Lance consisted almost entirely of the broken Enlgish "yes, my houseband" to Spencer Tracy until he died and then "yes, my son" to Robert Wagner for the remainder of the film.

Jan Sterling had her best role since Ace in the Hole in The High and the Mighty and Claire Trever her best since Key Largo but the film itself, a huge hit in its day, has been copied and mimicked so many times since that neither the film nor its performances seem all that special any more.

That leaves Eva Marie Saint whose stunning screen debut in On the Waterfront is actually the film's female lead, but come on, would anyone have voted for the already veteran TV actress over Grace Kelly and Judy Garland for Best Actress? She virtually had the supporting category all to herself, which may not have been the case had they given her more interesting competition. She gets my vote.
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