The Verdict -- Best Supporting Actress 1953

#5. Marjorie Rambeau in Torch Song: Such a waste of a nomination. In a film that's so overflowing with Joan Crawford's diva attitude, it's bizarre that such a wisp of a performance got the recognition. She's in the movie for such a brief amount of time, and doesn't do anything memorable with that time. Her mannerisms are off putting and   exaggerated, and she doesn't register on any level other than bad.

#4. Grace Kelly in Mogambo: The hardest performance for me to write about, because I just find myself completely ambivalent towards everything about Grace Kelly in Mogambo. I'll admit that she has a pretty thankless role and Clark Gable is terrible, but her inexperience doesn't help. She has moments good, bad, and in between that leads to an uneven performance. She's quite beautiful, though, and that is what I assume helped her get the nomination (along with the gossip columns).

#3. Donna Reed in From Here to Eternity: In the outstanding ensemble cast like of From Here to Eternity, Donna Reed comes off as the clear weak link. It's not that she's terrible, but rather that she is a little too average in a role that should have a lot more vivacity. She starts off strong with a clear eroticism, and descends into mediocrity, and finally ends up horribly awkward. It's tough to see an actress squander such a juicy role with a perfectly okay performance that could go much, much farther than she takes it. Not the worst winner, but perhaps one of the most disappointing in terms of potential.

#2. Geraldine Page in Hondo: The most grounded and natural performance of the bunch, Geraldine Page gives a warm and balanced performance as Angie Lowe. She's given a somewhat unbelievable romance and a ham of a romantic interest, but Page handles it all as best she could. Angie's interest in Hondo grows as each scenes goes by, which Page shows through a series of calculated lingering stares and smiles. It's those scenes where she is allowed to express her interest where Angie really shines in the film. Page's onscreen charisma and grace is on full display, and you can see where this actress could grow to be one of Oscar's favorites. Nothing extraordinary, but solid work.

#1. Thelma Ritter in Pickup on South Street: An easy winner in this weak year, Thelma Ritter's touching performance as Moe would be wonderful in any year. Her character is one that could easily fall into stereotype or gimmickry, but Thelma does an amazing job at creating a complete character that has real emotional moments and every scene is superbly calculated. Her final speech is one of the best scene I've seen in any movie, and sealed the deal for Thelma's win.

The Year in Review: The most agonizing year yet, only because so many of these performances just weren't that good. I apologize that the quality of this 'Verdict' isn't quite up to par, it's just that I haven't felt up to writing about these women for weeks now and just would like to move on. Geraldine and Thelma are proficient enough, but Grace and Marjorie really put a damper on this field. My next year is still to be determined, but I'm hoping that I'll be doing a more recent year to jolt this blog back to life.


All Supporting Actress Nominees Ranking:

1. Patty Duke in "The Miracle Worker" (1962)
2. Dorothy Malone in "Written on the Wind" (1956)
3. Thelma Ritter in "Pickup on South Street" (1953)
4. Linda Hunt in "The Year of Living Dangerously" (1983)
5. Anna Paquin in "The Piano" (1993)
6. Cher in "Silkwood" (1983)
7. Eileen Heckart in "The Bad Seed" (1956)
8. Emma Thompson in "In the Name of the Father" (1993)
9. Patty McCormack in "The Bad Seed"(1956)
10. Claire Trevor in "Dead End" (1937)
11. May Whitty in "Night Must Fall" (1937)
12. Mildred Dunnock in "Baby Doll"(1956)
13. Angela Lansbury in "The Manchurian Candidate"(1962)
14. Geraldine Page in "Hondo" (1953)
15. Alfre Woodard in "Cross Creek" (1983)
    
16. Anne Shirley in "Stella Dallas" (1937)
17. Amy Irving in "Yentl"(1983)
18. Shirley Knight in "Sweet Bird of Youth" (1962)
    
19. Rosie Perez in "Fearless" (1993)
20. Donna Reed in "From Here to Eternity" (1953)
21. Glenn Close in "The Big Chill"(1983)
22. Alice Brady in "In Old Chicago" (1937)
23. Mary Badham in "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962)
    
24. Holly Hunter in "The Firm" (1993)
25. Thelma Ritter in "Birdman of Alcatraz" (1962)
    
26. Winona Ryder in "The Age of Innocence" (1993)
27. Grace Kelly in "Mogambo" (1953)
28. Mercedes McCambridge in "Giant"(1956)
29. Marjorie Rambeau in "Torch Song" (1953)
30. Andrea Leeds in  "Stage Door"(1937)

Marjorie Rambeau in Torch Song

Marjorie Rambeau received her second and final Oscar nomination for her performance as Mrs. Stewart in Charles Walters' Torch Song. I suppose that after the phenomenal experience that was Pickup on South Street and Thelma Ritter's performance, I think I sort of needed Torch Song and Marjorie Rambeau's performance to bring me back down to reality. It's not even that I hated the movie, I actually found it entertaining in a 'watch Joan Crawford play Joan Crawford' sort of way, especially her awkward and unnecessary blackface musical number. It's basically about Jenny Stewart, a diva theater actress and her romance with a blind pianist (a very Alan Cumming-esque Michael Wilding). Still, it's nothing revolutionary and was very, very slow. Marjorie Rambeau has 3 scenes, two that are probably somewhere around two minutes and one that is longer and (I'm assuming is the reason she received this nomination) has some emotional weight. 

I'd talk about those first two scenes if I felt that I had something to say about them. At the start of the film, Mrs. Stewart is implied to be taking advantage of her daughter's wealth, but when we meet her Jenny doesn't seem to mind. It is kind of difficult to tell what exactly her purpose in the film is in that way. She's not the horrible mother but also not completely the quirky comic relief either. The only real memorable or funny moment in those first two scenes is a amusing moment when Rambeau has to say "We're just poor people" while flinging a fur coat over her shoulders. Those first two scenes basically give us a slight preview of what is to come in her final scene.

Her big 'Oscar moment' is the third scene, in which Mrs. Stewart helps her daughter to decide to pursue Wilding despite Jenny's trepidations about him. It's a very strange scene, and Rambeau bounces back and forth between awkward actorly mannerisms and an endearing spunk. She overplays each and every reaction with terrible eye-rolling and over exaggerated pantomimes of exasperation. This is the type of material that justifies a performance like Rambeau's, but not the nomination itself. Were she not nominated I might have found her awesomely terrible and perfectly in line with Joan Crawford's melodramatic tendencies. Rambeau obviously knew that she was supposed to be some kind of comic relief or quirky character, and she does accomplish the feat of making Mrs. Stewart likeable in a giddy, adorable sort of way.

But in the end there is no denying that this performance should not have come anywhere close to the Academy Awards. I can only assume that the members of the Academy found her performance endearing and wanted to honor her long career with this nomination, like they so often do. But against three young things and an even more revered screen veteran as her competition, she obviously didn't have a chance. It's a joyfully bad performance if not nominated, but a truly terrible one since it was. 2/5 Thelmas.

Best Supporting Actress 1953

And the nominees were....

• Grace Kelly as Linda Nordley in Mogambo
• Geraldine Page as Angie Lowe in Hondo
• Marjorie Rambeau as Mrs. Stewart in Torch Song
• Donna Reed as Alma 'Lorene' Burke in From Here to Eternity
• Thelma Ritter as Moe in Pickup on South Street

The Field: What I like about this year is the diversity of both the films and nominated actresses. This line-up includes two Oscar favorites (Ritter and Page), an actress who would become better known for her TV roles (Reed), an emerging movie star (Kelly), and an old screen veteran (Rambeau). The only one of these films I've seen is the eventual Best Picture winner, From Here to Eternity, so once again I get to go into these performances mostly fresh and without any preconceived notions. Also, with this year Thelma Ritter becomes the first person that I get to write about twice, which is fitting because she's this category's biggest loser. This group of actresses has me very excited, so I'm glad to get started on year #6.

I'll start this year in a few days, but tomorrow or Monday I should have up an announcement about another new project I'm going to be starting. It's going to be one that's very relaxed and I expect to take some time, but I'll keep doing these Supporting Actress years at the same time. I also hope to get some more posts about other subjects going, but don't hold you're breath. I'm notoriously flaky. =)