I've only seen Rita Moreno. She's fine - sharp, charismatic in the musical scenes. But as is unavoidable in a film such as this, her character is paper-thin - even the emoting is drawn in primary colours, and I don't think she does enough that is unusual within the confines of such a laborious project to justify a nomination from me.
My picks:
1. Setsuko Hara, The End of Summer
2. Dolores Dorn, Underworld, U.S.A.
3. Monica Vitti, La notte
4. Megs Jenkins, The Innocents
5. Chikage Awashima, As a Wife, As a Woman
Best Supporting Actress 1961
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Cinemanolis
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Bruce_Lavigne
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Big Magilla
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It was kind of like Brando and Pacino in The Godfather. The "smaller" part with the "star" in it was the top-billed one while the relative newcomer had the larger, more interesting role. The same was true of the original play.
Angela Lansbury in the Dora Bryan role was billed over Joan Plowright in the Rita Tushingham role when it played on Broadway during the 1960-1961 season, but it was Plowright who was nominated for, and won, the Tony as Best Actress.
Angela Lansbury in the Dora Bryan role was billed over Joan Plowright in the Rita Tushingham role when it played on Broadway during the 1960-1961 season, but it was Plowright who was nominated for, and won, the Tony as Best Actress.
Big Magilla wrote:OK, but wasn't Dora Bryan the lead in A Taste of Honey, or at least the co-lead with Rita Tushingham?
Dora Bryan won the BAFTA in '61 in the lead acting category while Rita Tushingham won the newcomer award. The BAFTAs hadn't started handing out their supporting awards then. However, Bryan's role was clearly in support to Tushingham.
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When dealing with movies that didn't score any actual Oscar nominations, I'm willing to fudge my own eligibility rules and go by whatever release date will help me put together a stronger lineup.Big Magilla wrote:A Taste of Honey was ineligible. It wasn't released in the U.S. until April, 1962.
It's a bit of a cop-out, I know, but I feel better about messing with eligibility rules to get Bryant into my lineup than I would about moving Piper Laurie into the supporting race for The Hustler. (I'm a lot stricter about category placement than most; if there's any question in my mind as to whether a performance is lead or supporting, I call them lead.)
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Since my vote-getter is in the lead here with none of the comments so far going in her favor, I'll weigh in.
I find Merkel completely unmemorable in Summer and Smoke, and would have given her spot to Dora Bryant for A Taste of Honey. Garland is fine in Judgment at Nuremberg, but as others have said, there are problems with her performance -- from her age-inappropriateness to the stunt-casting nature of the thing -- that keep her from being worthy of the win.
Honestly, I don't have a whole lot to say about Bainter and Lenya that hasn't already been said. They're both great, and Bainter would easily get my win but for the fact that IMO this is easily Rita Moreno's year. Her Anita is on my list of the all-time great performances in a movie musical, and I guess being the acting standout in West Side Story means a little bit more to me than it does to others here. From this thread and the "1961 shouldabeens," I guess the movie is a little less popular on this board than it seems to be in the popular consciousness, but count me among those who consider it one of the true classics of its genre, and Moreno's galvanizing "triple-threat" performance is a big part of why.
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I find Merkel completely unmemorable in Summer and Smoke, and would have given her spot to Dora Bryant for A Taste of Honey. Garland is fine in Judgment at Nuremberg, but as others have said, there are problems with her performance -- from her age-inappropriateness to the stunt-casting nature of the thing -- that keep her from being worthy of the win.
Honestly, I don't have a whole lot to say about Bainter and Lenya that hasn't already been said. They're both great, and Bainter would easily get my win but for the fact that IMO this is easily Rita Moreno's year. Her Anita is on my list of the all-time great performances in a movie musical, and I guess being the acting standout in West Side Story means a little bit more to me than it does to others here. From this thread and the "1961 shouldabeens," I guess the movie is a little less popular on this board than it seems to be in the popular consciousness, but count me among those who consider it one of the true classics of its genre, and Moreno's galvanizing "triple-threat" performance is a big part of why.
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Big Magilla
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I was channel flipping over breakfast yesterday morning and came across The Children's Hour on TCM. I stayed to watch the confrontation scene between Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine and James Garner on the one side, the two brats on the other and Fay Bainter in the middle. Bainter is even more riveting in this scene than I remembered, though it's her last scene as she slumps against the wall that remains indelible in my mind. Her performance was nothing less than a master class in acting and if I recall correctly - I can find no on-line reference to it - she made the film just after playing Mary Tyrone to great acclaim in the touring company of Long Day's Journey Into Night, at the top of her game in her late sixties. She makes mincemeat of the competition.
Among these contenders, the performance that I've seen most recently is Rita Moreno's, and that was back in the summer of 1976, so I'm abstaining from this one.
I will say, however, that I wouldn't have minded a win for Una Merkel as a lifetime token of appreciation. But at least she won a Tony award a few years earlier,
I will say, however, that I wouldn't have minded a win for Una Merkel as a lifetime token of appreciation. But at least she won a Tony award a few years earlier,
"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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Another group that doesn't much thrill me. For me, the best supporting actress of the year was clearly Piper Laurie in The Hustler; none of this crew comes close to her.
I've always viewed Summer and Smoke as extremely minor Williams -- even just compared to Sweet Bird of Youth, hardly top-tier itself. Merkel's nomination was a kindly salute to a substantial career, but not especially deserved.
I don't particularly dislike Garland's work in Nuremberg, but I also don't admire what she does enough to overcome my distaste for Kramer's stunt-casting.
Moreno is the life of what is, I agree, a pretty lackluster acting party. I can easily see why she won, and it's far from one of Oscar's worst choices.
Bainter is, as you'd expect, solid in a role well suited to her talents. But there's something half-hearted about all of The Children's Hour -- especially compared to the much superior even if expurgated These Three -- that prevents me from responding enough to throw a vote her way.
Which leaves Lotte Lenya, and I, like Italiano, find her the most impressive, despite not thinking much of her film. Like most Americans, I haven't seen her do much else (aside from James Bond), so I can't rate this in the full context of her career. But in Roman Spring she jumps off the screen as the most compelling element, and that merits my support in this desultory year.
I've always viewed Summer and Smoke as extremely minor Williams -- even just compared to Sweet Bird of Youth, hardly top-tier itself. Merkel's nomination was a kindly salute to a substantial career, but not especially deserved.
I don't particularly dislike Garland's work in Nuremberg, but I also don't admire what she does enough to overcome my distaste for Kramer's stunt-casting.
Moreno is the life of what is, I agree, a pretty lackluster acting party. I can easily see why she won, and it's far from one of Oscar's worst choices.
Bainter is, as you'd expect, solid in a role well suited to her talents. But there's something half-hearted about all of The Children's Hour -- especially compared to the much superior even if expurgated These Three -- that prevents me from responding enough to throw a vote her way.
Which leaves Lotte Lenya, and I, like Italiano, find her the most impressive, despite not thinking much of her film. Like most Americans, I haven't seen her do much else (aside from James Bond), so I can't rate this in the full context of her career. But in Roman Spring she jumps off the screen as the most compelling element, and that merits my support in this desultory year.
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The President's Lady wasn't that bad, but Bainter was wasted in it. She was far from idle in the eight years in-between films, acting in many TV shows, which she continued to do even after The Children's Hour. Her last appearance was in a 1965 Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode.ITALIANO wrote:Fay Bainter's most recent movie had been a dreadful vehicle for Susan Hayward that I had the misfortune of seeing, so it's good that William Wyler gave her the chance to end her film career with a much better performance in a much better movie.
Una Merkel had made countless movies and was a popular (and talented) comic actress; she was undeservedly nominated for her one-note crazy mother of Geraldine Page in Summer and Smoke but I guess (hope) it was really for her whole career.
If one had to pick the best performance in West Side Story, it'd be certainly Rita Moreno's, but then the movie isn't really about great acting (the two leads being especially bland), and even for Moreno a nomination would have been enough.
Much has been written - even on this board, in other threads - about Judgement at Nuremberg and the actors in it. I like the movie - as historically valid today as it was back then, and that wasn't easy - and I generally like the acting in it. It's true - Stanley Kramer quite cynically used the deeply problematic (and well-known) aspects of the private life of two of his stars (Clift and Garland) to achieve a sort of morbid pity towards the concentration-camp victims they played; but it's an often-practiced, and I'd say understandable, strategy (and movie stars always bring to their roles the emotional perception we have of them). I don't know if Judy Garland is that great in the three scenes she has in the movie, but she's definitely effective.
Fay Bainter's most recent movie had been a dreadful vehicle for Susan Hayward that I had the misfortune of seeing, so it's good that William Wyler gave her the chance to end her film career with a much better performance in a much better movie. Ok, not a masterpiece - even Wyler wasn't THAT Wyler anymore - but still better than The President's Lady, trust me, and anyway a movie which is still famous today as being the first American production to explicitly deal with lesbianism. Bainter's character is another of those typical Lillian Hellman's dignified but basically stolid old ladies; she does it well, and her best scene is the one in the car where, sitting next to the overacting, miscast child actress playing Mary, her facial expressions are a model of that kind of subtle, expert acting that other actresses don't seem to learn about even after decades in the profession.
Anna Magnani had been offered the role of the Contessa in The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone and, quite predictably, refused. It's a pity - the Contessa is, after all, a very Italian character, a typical example of the Roman aristocracy that, after the II World War, when Italian became a Republic, lost its money and its dignity and had to resort to other ways to survive (now they take part in reality shows). Magnani would have had the right accent and of course the talent to nail a kind of character she knew well - but otherwise she would have been completely wrong for the part. She was essentially healthy, positive, and a few years later she would stubbornly reject Zeffirelli's offer to play Albee's Martha on stage in Rome (a legendary event) for more or less the same reason - she couldn't "get" the character. So in the end the Contessa was played by a non-Italian, Austrian actress Lotte Lenya - and it was a great choice. The movie isn't good - Rome unrealistically re-built in London studios, Leigh again as her masochistic, ageing self, and a tanned Warren Beatty as convincing as an Italian as I'd be convincing (accent included) as an American from Virginia. But Lenya is quite unforgettable - greedy even just from her hawk-like appearence, cynical and sleazy, you can almost smell the bad perfume she's probably wearing. Another actress would have tried to show a trace of humanity in her character, but not Lenya - she's decadence personified in the movie, uncompromisingly so, and even just for her courage she gets my vote.
If one had to pick the best performance in West Side Story, it'd be certainly Rita Moreno's, but then the movie isn't really about great acting (the two leads being especially bland), and even for Moreno a nomination would have been enough.
Much has been written - even on this board, in other threads - about Judgement at Nuremberg and the actors in it. I like the movie - as historically valid today as it was back then, and that wasn't easy - and I generally like the acting in it. It's true - Stanley Kramer quite cynically used the deeply problematic (and well-known) aspects of the private life of two of his stars (Clift and Garland) to achieve a sort of morbid pity towards the concentration-camp victims they played; but it's an often-practiced, and I'd say understandable, strategy (and movie stars always bring to their roles the emotional perception we have of them). I don't know if Judy Garland is that great in the three scenes she has in the movie, but she's definitely effective.
Fay Bainter's most recent movie had been a dreadful vehicle for Susan Hayward that I had the misfortune of seeing, so it's good that William Wyler gave her the chance to end her film career with a much better performance in a much better movie. Ok, not a masterpiece - even Wyler wasn't THAT Wyler anymore - but still better than The President's Lady, trust me, and anyway a movie which is still famous today as being the first American production to explicitly deal with lesbianism. Bainter's character is another of those typical Lillian Hellman's dignified but basically stolid old ladies; she does it well, and her best scene is the one in the car where, sitting next to the overacting, miscast child actress playing Mary, her facial expressions are a model of that kind of subtle, expert acting that other actresses don't seem to learn about even after decades in the profession.
Anna Magnani had been offered the role of the Contessa in The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone and, quite predictably, refused. It's a pity - the Contessa is, after all, a very Italian character, a typical example of the Roman aristocracy that, after the II World War, when Italian became a Republic, lost its money and its dignity and had to resort to other ways to survive (now they take part in reality shows). Magnani would have had the right accent and of course the talent to nail a kind of character she knew well - but otherwise she would have been completely wrong for the part. She was essentially healthy, positive, and a few years later she would stubbornly reject Zeffirelli's offer to play Albee's Martha on stage in Rome (a legendary event) for more or less the same reason - she couldn't "get" the character. So in the end the Contessa was played by a non-Italian, Austrian actress Lotte Lenya - and it was a great choice. The movie isn't good - Rome unrealistically re-built in London studios, Leigh again as her masochistic, ageing self, and a tanned Warren Beatty as convincing as an Italian as I'd be convincing (accent included) as an American from Virginia. But Lenya is quite unforgettable - greedy even just from her hawk-like appearence, cynical and sleazy, you can almost smell the bad perfume she's probably wearing. Another actress would have tried to show a trace of humanity in her character, but not Lenya - she's decadence personified in the movie, uncompromisingly so, and even just for her courage she gets my vote.