Smackdown '57: Sayonara, Peyton Place, and Witness for the Prosecution
Friday, July 10, 2020 at 11:45PM In the Supporting Actress Smackdown series we take a particular Oscar vintage and explore it with a panel of artists and journalists. This time we're talking 1957
THE ACTRESSES & CHARACTERS
In 1957 Oscar voters were in the mood for fresh faces. Four rising stars (Hope Lange, Carolyn Jones, Miyoshi Umeki, and Diane Varsi) were honored along with one Old Hollywood mainstay, the Bride of Frankenstein herself (Elsa Lanchester). The shortlisted characters were a counter culture partygoer, an exasperated nurse, a Japanese newlywed, and two 18 year-old besties in a small town with both love and grief on their minds.
THE PANELISTS
Here to talk about these performances and movies are filmmaker Q Allan Brocka, theater and film critic Kenji Fujishima, Be Kind Reward's Izzy, film critic Kimberly Pierce, writer/ director/ archivist Brett Wood and your host Nathaniel R. Let's begin...
1957
SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN + PODCAST
The companion podcast can be downloaded at the bottom of this article or by visiting the iTunes page...
Carolyn Jones as "The Existentialist" in The Bachelor Party
Synopsis: A promiscuous Greenwich Village woman meets a young married man having a quarter life crisis at a swinging party.
Stats: Then 27 yrs old, 13th (credited) film, 7th billed. First and only nomination. 6 minutes of screen time (or 6% of the running time)
Q Allan Brocka: A scene stealer for sure… but she only had two scenes to steal. ♥♥♥
Kenji Fujishima: As far as I can tell, Carolyn Jones scored a nomination as "The Existentialist" for playing easily the most interesting female character in The Bachelor Party: the most self-possessed, liberated, and unconventional. Jones adds an aura of mystery that actively fights against screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky's middle-class conventionality, in which Charlie's (Don Murray) decision to ditch her in favor of returning to his soul-killing middle-class life with wife Helen (Patricia Smith) is painted as an unironic triumph. For this writer, at least, the Existentialist was too good for him anyway. ♥♥♥
Izzy: What a surprising screenplay for a film called The Bachelor Party! I suppose one should expect the unexpected from Chayefsky. Carolyn Jones might have the shortest screen time of the women on this list and seems to exist more as a plot device or a symbol than as a real person (her character is referred to simply and delightfully as 'The Existentialist'), but she makes every moment count. I like how alien she feels to Charlie—burdened only by trivial run-ins with her landlord and picking out whichever man she desires. She is clear and confident, perhaps to the point of narcissism, and her speech runs like a current, constant and rhythmic, playful and responsive only to its own whims. I'm sad to say that I don't know much about Carolyn Jones beyond her iconic turn as Morticia Addams, but this performance made me excited to check out her work. ♥♥♥
Kimberly Pierce: Carolyn Jones' performance overall is pretty short in the scope of The Bachelor Party, but Jones is doing very interesting work. She easily captures the struggles this woman is undoubtedly experiencing; however, she’s limited by the script. Ultimately, her character doesn’t even have a name. Though, this isn’t to knock Jones’ performance. I do believe that if she'd had a little more screen time to develop this fascinating woman, the award could have been hers. ♥♥
Brett Wood: With just a few appearances, Jones manages to steal the film — remarkable considering the brevity of her scenes and the caliber of the supporting cast. Playing a common ‘50s stereotype — the beatnik — she could have gone for the easy laugh, but instead, Jones endows “The Existentialist” with a fiery intensity that startles both her scene partner and the audience. With her jagged bangs and stream-of-consciousness dialogue she feels like an alien presence in the film’s working-class Manhattan milieu. And at that moment when she suddenly exposes her emotional hunger — revealing it to Don Murray like an open wound — it is both unexpected and deeply moving. ♥♥♥♥
Nathaniel R: In a middling field of nominees this was the slam-dunk winner for me in a completely original role. While much great acting rests on revealing interior depth, that's not always the case in supporting parts where sometimes the skill is more in conveying possibilities of character. "The Existentialist" remains unknowable but Jones is so ultra specific, and so perfectly cast and styled with her enormous eyes and pixie cut, that she leaves a huge impression. And in this kind of role, isn't that the primary ask? After all four movies hers was the single character I couldn't stop thinking about. ♥♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "Loved it, loved it, loved it. Such effortless ranting, those huge eyes, the mood change, the trouble and traumas we have to imagine by ourselves. " - Jacob M (Reader average: ♥♥¾)
Actress earns 21¾ ❤s
Elsa Lanchester as "Miss Plimsoll" in Witness for the Prosecution
Synopsis: A personal health care nurse tries to keep her stubborn just-out-of-the-hospital client alive while he takes on another intense criminal trial.
Stats: Then 55 yrs old, 39th film, 4th billed. Her second (and final) nomination. 14 minutes of screentime (or 12% of the running time)
Q Allan Brocka: A bit broad but welcome comic relief. I would have liked to see more of her journey from a rule stickler to the "who gives a $#!&" approach to nursing. ♥♥♥
Kenji Fujishima: It's an unenviable task to have to play most of your scenes off a magnetically hammy Charles Laughton, especially in the type of role that's usually considered thankless. But not only does Elsa Lanchester (Laughton's wife) hold her own as private nurse Miss Plimsoll; she steals scenes from him and crafts a memorable characterization. The juicy screenplay—director Billy Wilder, Larry Marcus, and Harry Kurnitz's adaptation of a popular Agatha Christie play—deserves some credit for Lanchester's success. But the role would not have been half as memorable without her ebulliently exasperated yet empathetic conviction. ♥♥♥♥
Izzy: Undergirded by her insane chemistry with Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester delivers a wonderful supporting performance. The contrast of her perky disposition with his drooping scowl creates such a playful push and pull, drawn out masterfully by Billy Wilder, who captured the knowing, needling undertones that happen only between two people who've known each other for years. I can't say that she particularly stands out within this fantastic cast of actors, but she rounds out the ensemble very nicely and probably has the best material to work with in this category. ♥♥♥
Kimberly Pierce: One of my all-time favorite films. Watching it through once again, Elsa Lanchester's nomination does feel like a bit of a surprise. Like the Carolyn Jones role, this is a fairly small part. That being said, it is an utterly dynamic character part and Lanchester is amazing in it. However, when evaluating the nominees up against each other, Lanchester fades a bit into the background, likely receiving a nomination on her name and previous work than fully for this movie. ♥♥♥
Brett Wood: A wonderful character actress, Lanchester remained Oscar-less probably because she was seldom cast in the kind of flashy roles that Academy voters tend to reward. She is a delight to watch in Witness, as she is in any of her other performances: the curse of being a consummate professional. So while I appreciate the gesture of the nomination, it wouldn’t say much for her career if this were her win. With such a sterling reputation as an actress and memoirist, is a gold-plated statuette really necessary? ♥♥♥
Nathaniel R: A favourite insult directed at great actors getting nominated too easily is that they could do it 'in their sleep'. This might well be true of Lanchester's frankly awesome chemistry with Laughton -- her husband, who she made 12 pictures with and may have occassionally shared a bed with ;) -- but what a funny and perfectly-pitched nap this was! Just the way she held a syringe made me laugh out loud. Not remotely challenging but so what?! ♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "All stiff blustery control and exasperation. She is a delightful component in this Agatha Christie murder mystery" -Joel6 (Reader average: ♥♥♥)
Actress earns 22 ❤s
Hope Lange as "Selena Cross" in Peyton Place
Synopsis: A poor girl, about to graduate high school in a gossipy small town, is raped by her stepfather. And that's just the first of her tragedies!
Stats: Then 24 yrs old, 3rd film, 7th billed ("with" Hope Lange). First (and only) nomination. 39 minutes of screen time (or 25% of the running time).
Q Allan Brocka: Certainly the meatiest role of the bunch. Her face as her doctor outs her rape in public is so perfectly complex and layered. It’s the most powerful moment in the entire film. ♥♥♥
Kenji Fujishima: Historically, having more than one cast member from the same film nominated in the same category has cancelled out both their chances for winning an Oscar. So it was with Hope Lange and Diane Varsi in Peyton Place. Based on sheer amount of screen time, Lange—playing Selena Cross, the victim of her drunken stepfather Lucas's (Arthur Kennedy) sexual abuse—is a more legit contender for the Supporting Actress category than the more prominent Varsi. Lange capably conveys Selena's teary-eyed desperation in trying to keep her incestuous past under wraps from the rest of the eponymous town's gossipy brethren. ♥♥♥
Izzy: Lange has the more challenging role of the two nominees from Peyton Place in this category. It requires extreme sensitivity and emotional intelligence to tamp down some of the more melodramatic elements of the screenplay into a believable package. But she overcorrects, and instead of falling in the trap of becoming overly emotional, she barely shows any emotion at all. It baffled me, that an actress would play a scene in which her friend moves away and a scene in which her darkest secret is revealed to the entire town with the exact same tenor of emotion. ♥♥
Kimberly Pierce: If the nominations had turned out differently I could easily see Lange as one to potentially upset. In fact, I wonder if this result would have even been different had Lange and Varsi not both received nominations. Lange is incredibly strong as Selena, a role which takes her through a tremendous amount of complex and meaty character material. Lange gives an incredibly nuanced performance for such a young actress. As a character, Selena is easy to root for and is very much the underdog and the heart of the movie. ♥♥♥♥
Brett Wood: As Selena, the girl from the wrong side of the tracks (as the locomotive sound effects occasionally remind us), Lange had to endure the greatest indignities of any character in this already sordid exposé of a small-town’s dirty secrets. She accomplishes the tearful breakdowns precisely on cue. But it’s hard not to feel disappointed by Lange’s everyday scenes, where she conveys little of the pain and disappointment of a girl coming to terms with the fact that she will not rise as high as her upwardly mobile classmates. Selena was meant to be positive and optimistic in spite of her social hardships, but another actress might have found a way to suggest cracks in her cheerful facade. ♥♥♥
Nathaniel R: She's gifted with the most traditionally Oscar-bound role in this lineup since the role is chalk-full of sympathy-inducing high drama: poverty, innocent love, long-suffering, violent victimization. She's really quite strong within her scenes of emotional paralysis but more nuance or variety in the other scenes would have helped gone along way towards making this role soar. ♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "I have always had a real fondness for Hope Lange —she does a professional job as the ingenue from the wrong side of the tracks" - Robert K (Reader average: ♥♥♥¼)
Actress earns 21¼ ❤s
Miyoshi Umeki as "Katsumi" in Sayonara
Synopsis: A Japanese woman marries an airforce man against the military's wishes and then fears dissappointing him.
Stats: Then 28 yrs old, 2nd film, 6th billed. First (and only) nomination. 17 minutes of screentime (or 12% of the running time.)
Q Allan Brocka: As problematic as the role may seem, I’m not giving any shade to the only woman of Asian descent to EVER win an acting Oscar. Ever. Miyoshi Umeki’s Katsumi overflows with sweetness and I found myself wanting to hear her story over anyone else in the film. I wished the writer had fleshed her out more and given her the opportunity to provide more context to her tragic demise. Hell, this entire story should have been told from her perspective. ♥♥♥♥♥
Kenji Fujishima: Thankfully there's more to Miyoshi Umeki's performance in this well-intentioned but dated romantic melodrama than just her landmark Oscar win. Though she's playing a standard-issue submissive Japanese housewife, Umeki and costar Red Buttons (who also won an Oscar) are so convincing together as a couple in love that they enliven a film that otherwise might have drooped from Marlon Brando's aw-shucks Method mumbling in the lead role. Umeki's performance in Flower Drum Song five years later offers a fuller showcase of her talents, but her innate radiance still shines through beautifully in Sayonara. ♥♥♥♥
Izzy: There are some uncomfortable moments in this film that perpetuate stereotypes of Asian women, but I can't help but be astounded by what Miyoshi Umeki accomplishes in Sayonara. Of course, she remains the sole Asian woman to have won an acting Academy Award, a feat made more impressive by the fact that she primarily speaks her native language in the film (typically another difficult barrier to overcome). She has such a welcoming and warm spirit that allows the audience to understand why Captain Kelly would fall for her, even if we can't understand all of her dialogue. The fight over eye surgery is devastating. We don't get too much insight into Katsumi's inner life, which is a shame because I'd love to see Umeki take on more complex work. Still, I have to give credit to an actress who expresses both the light and dark in a small, yet poignant performance. ♥♥♥♥
Kimberly Pierce: Sayonara took me a little time to warm up to during my watch of the film, particularly as it relates to Umeki's performance. The actress is particularly understated and takes a back seat to the more dynamic performances of Brando and Red Buttons. However, by the second act it becomes clear that she is very much the heart of Sayonara. Despite her restrained performance, she’s magnetic and often pulls focus in her own quiet way. In this group of strong ladies, it is Umeki who stands out with the most intricate and I would argue powerful performance. ♥♥♥♥♥
Brett Wood: She deserved the Oscar not so much for the accomplishment of expressing heartfelt emotion while portraying a woman culturally forbidden to show her feelings, but for the greater achievement of tuning out Marlon Brando’s condescending, painfully artificial performance as an Air Force pilot. At one time, the romantic fable of victorious GIs poaching Japanese women was apparently considered progressive, but the male characters are, across-the-board, so boorish and unappealing. Her story is more tragedy than romance, as she gives up her career and trades one form of oppression for another. ♥♥♥
Nathaniel R: Umeki's role is problematic (the totally subservient Asian wife) but thankfully the performance isn't. She ably serves the film's (limited) vision throughout while also elevating it with sweet innocence and a genuine sense of romantic devotion and endearing shyness. I absolutely bought that she and her husband were in love and that she was often overwhelmed by the circumstances she'd found herself in and the other American she has to keep talking to. Sadly the film doesn't ask even half enough of her. ♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "If only this film had allowed this character to be a central part of the story, rather than a symbol." - Brian R (Reader average: ♥♥½)
Actress earns 26½ ❤s
Diane Varsi as "Allison MacKenzie" in Peyton Place
Synopsis: A valedictorian of a small-town high school dreams of becoming a writer and falling in love. She also fights with her secretive mother.
Stats: Then 19 yrs old, debut film, 8th billed (but the lead). 1st (and only) nomination. 57 minutes of screentime (or 37% of the running time.)
Q Allan Brocka: This was really a lead role pretending to be supporting, while Lana Turner was a supporting role pretending to be a lead. Categorization aside, Varsi does what she can with it, but the character is the least interesting of the bunch for me. ♥♥
Kenji Fujishima: Even in as large an ensemble as Peyton Place's, Diane Varsi being slotted in the Supporting Actress Oscar category feels like an especially egregious case of category fraud. In many ways, Peyton Place is Allison MacKenzie's coming-of-age story (she is our voiceover narrator, after all), and Varsi does a startling job conveying both the character's innocence and her innate sense of maturity beyond her years. Considering how Varsi more or less walked away from Hollywood not too long after this debut performance, maybe she brought more of herself to the role than anyone realized at the time. ♥♥♥♥♥
Izzy: Although the film tracks several storylines, as narrator Varsi feels like the lead. Varsi plays the docile good girl with a very low energy, almost too wide-eyed and innocent to the point that the viewer loses the sense of frustration and ambition that should fuel Allison's eventual rebellion against her mother. As a consequence, I found her transformation in the latter half hard to buy. I'm sure it's difficult to share the screen with Lana Turner, whose main quality as an actress is that she oozes magnetism. But it seems Varsi was not up to the task. ♥
Kimberly Pierce: Newcomer Diane Varsi steps in as the other half of the Peyton Place split in a fine debut. While her character gets plenty of screentime she doesn't actually have much to do. As such, the character is left feeling like a standard 1950s sitcom teenager until the last half of the movie. This isn't to say that it's a bad performance . While Selena is the heart of the movie, Allison is the entry point for the audience and Varsi brings home a heck of a performance in what could have been a thankless part. ♥♥♥
Brett Wood: In a community swirling with melodrama and scandal, it was essential that the central character, through whose eyes we witness Peyton Place, be plain and neutral. Those are qualities no actor wants to put on (the equivalent of a beige tweed suit), but Varsi embraced the challenge. She fully embodies the plain-Jane character of good girl Allison MacKenzie, trying to figure out who she is, physically awkward, unnoticed and unheard, while being overshadowed by so much scenery-chewing, oxygen-sucking, capital-D Drama. ♥♥♥♥
Nathaniel R: This feels so foreign to type for this actressexual but of the 'teen' cast of this particular high school movie, best in show is easily the boy: Russ Tamblyn. But we're not here to talk about Tamblyn (even though I really want to!) but his onscreen sort-of girlfriend. Varsi hits authentic marks in her petulance with Turner and there's a neat amount of mystery in her scenes with Tamblyn as to what she actually feels for him (though that might be the happy accident of an untrained novice rather than an intended feature of the work). Beyond that it's a stiff performance. ♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "Throughout the film, she makes daring, glorious acting choices, blessed with the film's most compelling character arc" - Joseph J (Reader average: ♥♥⅓)
Actress earns 19⅓ ❤s
Miyoshi Umeki won the Oscar and repeats that win here. What's unusual (for the Smackdown) is a virtual three-way tie for runner up status with Lange, Lanchester, and Jones all bunched up within a fraction of a hearts distance. Technically Lanchester is the runner up but by just a ¼ of a heart over Jones.
THE FULL PODCAST CONVERSATION
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NEXT UP: The 1991 Oscar race will be discussed on July 28th. Watch The Prince of Tides, Cape Fear, Rambling Rose, Fried Green Tomatoes, and The Fisher King before then to maximize your enjoyment of the next Smackdown. [All Previous Smackdowns]
Reader Comments (33)
While I was rooting for Jones, I'm nonetheless delighted by Umeki's victory. It's a surprisingly under-discussed performance while it's also a great historic achievement.
Anyway, here are my votes:
1) Carolyn Jones in THE BACHELOR PARTY, ♥♥♥♥ (four hearts)
Playing an unnamed girl in Paddy Chayefsky's dark night of the soul for the working-class man, Jones steals the film in only two scenes. At first, she's a beacon of urbanite confidence that seems eager to rid herself of unwanted male attention. However, by her second appearance, the actress allows us to see more of the mystery that is The Existentialist. Talking like she's afraid of the silence, Jones suggests a world-weary young woman that's hungry for a connection, any connection. She can't be alone at night, she can't be alone with herself, and that despair oozes from the cracks of her façade like blood coming out of an open wound.
2) Miyoshi Umeki in SAYONARA, ♥♥♥ (three hearts)
A performance that's conscripted by the limitations of a thankless role, Miyoshi Umeki's Katsumi still manages to leave a lasting impression on the viewer. Her wifely devotion may come off as stereotypical, but the actress plays it with such sincerity that we believe in her. We believe she's a person rather than a witless script device. Her reaction to the bunraku show is particularly great. For a moment, the audience can see a specific woman and, in her teary adoration for tragic love, a hint that her unhappy situation wasn't something she unknowingly fell upon, but a conscious choice from someone that prefers the ardor of passion to the stability of a respectable existence.
3) Elsa Lanchester in WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION, ♥♥♥ (three hearts)
Playing a terminally cheerful nurse, Lanchester uses her gleefulness like a blunt weapon with which to bludgeon her screen partner and real-life husband, Charles Laughton. Their antagonistic chemistry is superb, as hysteric as it is hysterical, but always feels organic rather than forced. Lanchester's role isn't a complicated one, but she plays it with great brio and telegraphs her subtle character arc with good humor and emotional clarity. Slowly, this nurse comes to love her curmudgeon patient's judicial vocation, and, in the end, she's the one that enthusiastically encourages his next misadventure.
4) Hope Lange in PEYTON PLACE, ♥♥ (two hearts)
More solid than awe-inspiring, Hope Lange has the benefit of having what is arguably Peyton Place's meatiest role. As an impoverished young woman that his raped by her stepfather and then kills him in self-defense, the actress breathes life into the sudsy melodrama of the screenplay with as much raw feeling as she can manage. Still, there were times where I longed for a more sophisticated approach to the role, one that possessed a greater tonal variety. That being said, her steely shame upon hearing her doctor's testimony during the climactic trial is my favorite acting beat of the whole production.
5) Diane Varsi in PEYTON PLACE, ♥ (one heart)
Saddled with a leading role that's more reactive than proactive, Varsi should be a sturdy anchor for the emotional pyrotechnics that go off on Peyton Place's narrative. However, there's nothing solid about this novice's unsure take on teenage petulance giving way to rebellious maturity. I found her youthful innocence to be terribly overplayed and her later, more interesting, inexpression to be frustrating to watch. All in all, I never felt invested in her fate and found her mother-daughter relationship with Lana Turner to be unconvincingly bloodless.
A very weak year for this category:
1.Elsa Lanchester, but Marlene Dietrich is better in the same movie.
2.Carolyn Jones, a small but juicy role.
3.Miyoshi Umeki; for me she's one of the worst winners of all time in this category.
4.Hope Lange: maybe she was the best among the ladies in her movie, but nothing special.
5.Diane Varsi; she didn't deserve the nomination.
Other possibilities: (some of them you can consider leads)
-Marlene Dietrich (Witness...)
-Patricia Neal (A face in the crowd)
-Isuzu Yamada (Throne of blood)
-Bibi Andersson (The seventh seal)
-Sylvia Sims (Woman in a dessing gown)
Surely Valerie Hobson was The Bride of Frankenstein, Elsa was the monster’s bride.
I had only seen two ’57 films before binging the year in anticipation of the smackdown –American and Britamerican essentials The Bridge on the River Kwai and 12 Angry Men. I added 32 to the total and my top ten for the year is:
1. Throne of Blood
2. The Cranes Are Flying
3. The Seventh Seal
4. The Bridge on the River Kwai
5. 12 Angry Men
6. Paths of Glory
7. Nights of Cabiria
8. The Edge of the City
9. Wild Strawberries
10. Sayonara
A weak year in the supporting actress field for sure. The only nominee I would keep is our winner, Miyoshi Umeki. I would round out the category by moving Lana Turner from Peyton Place to supporting where she belongs, Ruby Dee from The Edge of the City, Kay Thompson from Funny Face, and maybe Argentina Brunetti from The Brothers Rico.
Wow, look at the wildly divergent ratings on Varsi! You simply love to see it.
I'm delighted with the close race, I prepared myself by listening to the podcast "And the Runner up is..." for 1957. Miyoshi Umeki was very impressive, glad to see she won. God Marlon Brando was terrible in that film. Glad we all agree on that!!
Why didn't Hope Lange go on to a bigger career?
Peyton Place is SUCH a fun melodramas but nobody in that cast deserved a nomination.
A very interesting Smackdown: I'm not blown away by anyone here, but I like Jones, Lanchester and Lange a lot. I like the fine analysis of Izzy about how Lange "overcorrects" her part, and the way Nathaniel refutes the "She could do it in her sleep" argument about Lanchester.
A performer in an obscur film I wish was nominated is Joan Blondell in Lizzie, as Eleanor Parker's concerned aunt.
And I don't know what to do about this, but Atogt Reminder Lists says Street of Shame was in the running that year, though Imdb says it's a 1959 release in the USA. Now, talk about japanese actresses who deserve the actual trophy: Michiyo Kogure, Machiko Kyō, Hiroko Machida, Aiko Mimasu, Ayako Wakao!
Holy Shit! I've always heard Umeki's Oscar spoken as undeserved, especially back in days of things like IMDB forums. It was always Lanchester of maybe a few Jones, but close to never Umeki. Now I actually want to see Sayonara so thank you all. (I did just make the mistake of skimming and reading 'tragic demise' lol)
This could bode well for Tandy not being robbed in the next Smackdown. Although as others have stated, that 89 Pfeiffer grudge is going to pull her down a bit. Hopefully it only affects Nathaniel's voting and that he hasn't deliberately stacked the deck with his fellow 89ers.
I am so pleased to see the fine work of Miyoshi Umeki is still revered. I think it is important to remember the behind the scenes actions of Marlon Brando and Audrey Hepburn in how this young nightclub performer found herself being cast in an important Hollywood feature film.
When Josh Logan was tasked with directing Sayonara, he wanted Audrey Hepburn as his leading lady. Despite Logan's ardent pursuit, Hepburn was adamant in not taking the role of Hana-Ogi. Though Jennifer Jones had won an Oscar nomination on two years earlier in yellow face in Love in a Many Splendored Thing, Hepburn had no interest and forcefully declined, "I "couldn't possibly play an Oriental. No one would believe me; they'd laugh. It's a lovely script, however I know what I can and can't do. And if you did persuade me, you would regret it, because I would be terrible."
Sayonara lead Marlon Brando echoed Hepburn's remarks. He was vocal in his objections to casting a white woman in the role and outspoken about the treatment of Asians in Hollywood films in general.. Logan and the film's producers retreated and employed two Japanese women, Miyoshi Umeki and Mikko Taka in the roles. Of course, that didn't stop them from ludicrously casting Ricardo Montalban as Nakamura.
It is the purposeful effort to cast Japanese women in these significant roles that grounds Sayonara in truth. The film examines the prospect of interracial marriages between American GIs and Japanese citizens. Approximately 10,000 such weddings occurred. James Michener's (who married a Japanese woman) novel and the subsequent film adaptation made significant inroads in establishing tolerance for such pairings in that era.
I literally had no idea who would take top honors for this Smackdown, certainly due in no small part to this being such an odd, overall underwhelming crop of nominees. Each of the actresses had handicaps from the outset (having a variously tiny, undistinguished, or underwritten part) so while it was a mild competition, it was certainly interesting...I'd had my heart set on Carolyn Jones being the victor, but at least she was a strong contender! Anyway, it was all really enjoyable. Special kudos to Nathaniel who I have to say is a total pro at hosting the podcast, keeping things lively while making sure everything runs smoothly. Thanks again, and I guess it's time to get ready for 1991 now. I'm going to start by watching Prince of Tides again. Aside from Kate Nelligan's nominated performance, it'll be fun to reassess Bab's overall work on it (and in it).
Kelly - WOW. I'm so impressed. I wish i had time to do that with each smackdown because I would love to get a broader sense (especially of these earlier years). My 1957 viewing is not what it should be overall. But we share a top two!
Joe -- technically true I suppose but if you say "bride of frankenstein" everyone pictures Elsa
"Sayonara lead Marlon Brando echoed Hepburn's remarks. He was vocal in his objections to casting a white woman in the role and outspoken about the treatment of Asians in Hollywood films in general„ Are you kidding me? Have you ever watched a film called the Teahouse of August Moon? Guess which character Marlon Brando played!
Tea house of the August Moon and Brando’s subsequent advocacy for Japanese actors in Sayonara is an interesting change. Clearly something educated him between shooting the two films. I have been reading but not found reference to it yet.
Great read!
I'm a bit surprised that Miyoshi Umeki won so handily. The performance was a fine one but I've never seen it as the best.
When I voted I went with Hope Lange as my winner out of these contenders (and I still think her performance a good one) but now as it has for Nathaniel Carolyn Jones's performance is the one that has lingered.
I detested The Bachelor Party more than I can say and rewatching it for this was a slog alleviated only by those few brief minutes when Jones pulled the movie out of its own funk. If only they had realized what they had in her while they were shooting and given her more too do!! Unfortunately that could hold true for most of her Hollywood career. She did have a short run of decent roles that she made more vivid by her presence. King Creole, Career and A Hole in the Head are where she's seen to her best advantage even if the last two are secondary roles. A wonderfully idiosyncratic actress usually wasted and gone much too soon. Interesting tidbit-she was a natural blonde who dyed her hair black because she rightly felt it made her face more distinctive.
My ballot at the time of voting:
Carolyn Jones-The Bachelor Party-Her role is miniscule but boy does she bring this excruciating exercise in misery to life by her brief appearance! In the first of her two scenes she’s fresh and flip and gone in what seems two seconds. It’s that second scene when she chatters like a magpie about an inconsequential story while the entire time those great expressive eyes of hers are darting this way and that betraying her nervous energy and isolation in that crowded party. When she and Don Murray move to another room the mask falls and you see she is lost and unmoored looking for a safe harbor….if only for the night. Then she’s gone and you desperately want her back. 3 ½ hearts. I would amend this to 4 1/2 now for lasting impact making her my winner.
Elsa Lanchester-Witness for the Prosecution-All stiff blustery control and exasperation she is a delightful component in this Agatha Christie murder mystery but she is easily overshadowed by both Laughton and the woman who should have been here in her place-Marlene Dietrich (had she been nominated here she would have been my choice in a walk). Elsa as always is a treasure but when you’re the third most memorable player that doesn’t say winner. 3 hearts.
Hope Lange-Peyton Place-Her role of Selena Cross has by far the most meat to it. Hope bites into the part and explores the many currents that run both on the surface and below. In her early scenes she open and bright, except around her stepfather, but once the assault has happened her physicality changes ever so slightly but perceptively as she becomes wary and haunted. 4 hearts.
Miyoshi Umecki-Sayonara-At first I didn’t understand this nomination. In her initial scenes she’s gentle, sweet and properly subservient as the culture seemed to dictate but hardly revelatory. But then comes the scene where Red Buttons discovers she plans to alter her appearance to what she thinks will make her more acceptable. She’s heartbreaking in her anguish, her reserve stripped away by her desperation to be what she thinks she needs to be in order to stay with the man she loves. It’s not enough to make me think the win was other than tokenism but it is a good piece of work. 2 ½ hearts.
Diane Varsi-Peyton Place-Bland and generic, though apparently quite the firebrand behind the scenes, she gives a surface performance of what should have been a complex character. Lana, Hope, Arthur Kennedy, Betty Field, hell even Lloyd Nolan all make more of an impact than she does. A tagalong nomination if ever there was one. 1 ½ hearts.
However if it were up to me the list of nominees would have run thus:
Bibi Andersson-The Seventh Seal
Marlene Dietrich-Witness for the Prosecution-Winner
Carolyn Jones-The Bachelor Party
Kay Kendall-Les Girls
Ingrid Thulin-Wild Strawberries
Honorable Mentions: Joan Blondell-Desk Set, Beverly Garland-The Joker is Wild, Mitzi Gaynor-Les Girls, Elsa Lanchester-Witness for the Prosecution, Hope Lange-Peyton Place, Ruth Roman-Bitter Victory
Someone mentioned Patricia Neal in A Face in the Crowd as a possibility and she brilliant but she’s the female lead. Even taking into consideration how magnificent Joanne Woodward is in Three Faces of Eve had Pat Neal been nominated there she’s be my choice for that Oscar.
Adrian S-G --- i always find that so fascinating when it happens. Unfortunately in this case i'm on the con-side. I think my two hearts was... generous. ;) but I really do like PEYTON PLACE. It's not a "great" film but it is so watchable/discussable.
Not my favorite group of nominees, but it was fun hearing Nathaniel talk about discovering Witness for the Prosecution. Didn't include it in my Whodunnit series because it's more of a "Did he do it?" Dietrich was an absolute delight and took my Actress prize.
Isuzu Yamada would have been my winner here, but I think I may spend my morning checking into Umeki's career.
Has anyone seen Miyoshi Umeki in Flower Drum Song? It’s on Prime. There are parts of it that seem “problematic” today but there are things I like about it too and I liked her performance a lot.
Hmmm. So Hope Lange has the highest reader average, but comes in fourth place overall. I don't think it's even a contest, she blows the competition away. Otherwise, an unimpressive lineup, but then again, there isn't really anyone else among the non-nominees who cries out for attention. The only one I can think of is Lee Remick in A Face in the Crowd. She scorches the screen with her sexuality.
Flower Drum Song is so godawful, a true embarrassment, although James Shigeta is always something to behold (yowza!). The only saving grace is the I Enjoy Being a Girl number, which is so jaw-droppingly sexist you'll want to watch it with your most ardent feminist friends just to watch them blow their tops with each couplet.
Hope Lange (Peyton Place)- 3 stars. it's been a while (i watched this last summer)... so i don't remember a lot specific about her performance.
Carolyn Jones (The Bachelor Party) 4 stars. The movie was truly awful, but I did enjoy her big eyes and poetry. Just 2 short scenes??
Miyoshi Umeki (Sayonara) - 1.5 stars. So many great performances by Asian women over the years, it's hard to believe that this barely-written role of a shy wife is the only one Oscar has recognized in the last 90 years? I would have gone with Miiko Taka whose performance was more memorable. What does it say about Hollywood that there were no Japanese actors w/ any significant speaking roles in this movie? I did appreciate the context the podcast provided that Ms. Umeki was having a career outside of this movie and maybe the win was a career-momentum thing. But if all you have to go on is this particular role...
Elsa Lanchester (Witness for the Prosecution)- 3 stars. perky fun, though kinda one note
Diane Varsi (Peyton Place) 3 stars. The things I most enjoyed about this movie weren't the 2 nominated supporting actresses unfortunately. The movie was way too long and felt a bit of a chore by the end. But i did get a kick out of the SUPER paternalistic doctor and the introduction (to me) of young nerdy Russ Tamblyn. I had seen him of course w/o knowing who he was in WSS and a few others, but since seeing Payton Place I've been renting a lot of his early stuff. thanks!
My personal 1957 faves:
Nights of Cabiria (also a sentimental fave as the first movie I saw at the Castro Theater over 20 years ago)
The Devil Strikes at Night
A Kiss for a Killer
Il Grido
Throne of Blood
Demoniac
and Pal Joey is fun for the scenes of mid-century San Francisco!
Thanks to the smackdown guest who recommended Le Notti Bianchi.. catching up with it now!
Carolyn Jones- The Bachelor Party
What is this? How? Jones has at most 5 minutes of screen time. Some actors, like Ethel Barrymore, are able to give us an idea of the character's life in very few minutes. But with Jones, I don't know what is going on. She is good in the first few seconds, being understandably uncomfortable with the rowdy men around her, but what else does she do? And WHY is she doing it? I have no sense of the character or why she is doing things, or what she is thinking. 1 heart
Diane Varsi- Peyton Place
She's lead right? Like an undeniable lead character. So points off already. Maybe she was put in supporting because her character is so bland and her storyline the most forgettable that you forget about her. For someone who is narrating the entire movie, Varsi got the short end in regards to plot and character. 1.5 hearts
Miyoshi Umeki- Sayonara
I mean she is there. She has a sympathetic role. But it doesn't help Umeki that all the women in the movie are giving better and livelier performances then she is. Her big scene, where her husband discovers that she wants dangerous surgery to look more American, is really about her husband and Red Buttons is great in it. He is in most of her scenes and is doing better then she does. Was Miiko Taka campaigned as lead? Otherwise there is no excuse for her to not be here. 2 hearts
Elsa Lanchester- Witness for the Prosecution
I want to love it. I tried. She gets some funny moments stretching words outs "Your Injections!" Her final scene where the fussy mannerisms drop and we get a sense of her seriousness is also good. But we get a full movie of her playing a more silly less magical Mary Poppins for grumpy seniors first. I like Lanchester but there isn't enough shadings of her character. I get that she is supposed to be the comic relief but she is singing one note almost the whole time. 2.5 hearts
Hope Lange- Peyton Place
Lange is Selena, the girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Where Varsi has a boring plotline, so much happens to Lange ranging from rape, to miscarriage, to murder, to emotional trial. Selena is a juicy part but I give Lange credit for not playing it that way. Lange doesn't seize the part and make a show of acting for us. Instead, she tries to make Selena get through the day with her dignity intact. Lange lets us see that Selena is very aware of her reputation in town and what people think of her. Selena wants a better life, but knows what her lot in life is, and is also determined to protect her smaller brother from the town and it's over eagerness to shame. The whole movie is filmed as a very well produced soap opera, but Lange keeps her character grounded. 3 hearts
To me, Lange is the only contender I would even consider nominating but so many missed the cut. In addition to Taka, there is Terry Moore in Peyton Place, Una O'Connor in Witness for the Prosecution, Bibi Andersson and Gunnel Lindblom in Seventh Seal, Cathleen Nesbitt in An Affair to Remember, and Isuzu Yamada in Throne of Blood. If only The Ten Commandments had been released a year later, Anne Baxter would probably have a second Oscar.
I think the '50s are generally an unappreciated time for cinema. The undercurrrents in the US are fascinating, and filmmaking in Europe and Japan had really matured; so many of the great international auteurs established their reputations during the 1950s. That said, this was not one of my favorite Smackdowns. I preferred Umeki (though not strongly), thought Jones was impressive in extremely limited screentime, and was bored by the others. Dietrich should have been nominated, particularly over Lanchester. I do remember a recent discussion on Roz Russell when someone noted that she felt she was too big a star to be nominated in the Supporting category for Picnic - perhaps that was the case for Dietrich as well....
Wow, I'm the complete opposite in my choices:
1. Varsi
2. Lange
3. Jones
4. Lanchester
5. Umecki
I'll be honest, the nomination for Umecki completely baffles me. It's a nothing part and she does nothing with it.
Hope Lange (3 1/3 stars)-I originally placed Elsa L. at the top, but since Marlene D. is the complete winner of this category and that film, I couldn't say that EL was the best. Hope -she seemed like her character had to endure the most hardships/ordeals of everyone in this category. Guess it was the best 'reveal' in the courtroom that caught my heartstrings (even though Dietrich's courtroom scenes had my complete attention).
Elsa - (3 stars) - Her's was a character that you Wanted to see in every scene. She had such a magnetic chemistry with Charles L. that each scene was a joy.
Carolyn Jones - (2 stars) - I will give her 5 hearts for her strut while crossing the street. Otherwise, I needed one more follow-up scene with her. Where was the 'meet me at the bar around the corner' scene? Her ping-pong eyes were riveting, yet she was just a fascinating chatterbox.
Miyoshi U. - This performance/win I just don't get. Upon revisiting this film, I somewhat classify this win as one of the weakest wins ever. First of all - I'd replace her with Marlon Brando's love interest (Miiko Taka) who, at least, had some character background/a history of American racism to overcome. She at least danced in the film and had some movement and expression. ForMU - she was always the 'tragic Japanese wife.' If you can't speak the language, give me some expression (see Holly Hunter/The Piano, Patty Duke, John Mills, Marlee Matlin, The Artist). Taka had some expression to emote. If you're learning to speak a new language, guess I need some vocal noise (see PCruz/VCBarcelona), not that Taka had fire in her voice. The entire film-MU was just so downcast and blank that I wanted to replace her with Carolyn's Jones' big eyes.
The big 'plastic surgery' scene felt out of place (why did she decide this? Where did this come from?! I thought she was 'out of the loop?' Did she experience American servicemen marriage racism before amongst her community?) Guess the scene was soured by the movie's constant need to Explain the meaning of every Japanese word and it's meaning to its audience (it is an armchair, it is an all male troupe,that word means all female dance troupe, it is a hot drink, this poster means she wants to have plastic surgery on her eyes!.) And at the teary 'suicide' performance-didn't move me. Taka seemed to have more genuine tears in her eyes throughout the back and forth with Brando. This movie really should've featured MU's character more. To me, there wasn't enough and she didn't give enough.
Diane V. - (1 1/2 stars) - Very wooden. At points, I had wished that Hope Lange played this character instead. Hope looked very innocent (in a good Eva Marie Saint/OTWaterfront/Edie way), could've been bred from Lana Turner and could go toe-to-toe with her mother. I could'nt picture DV moving to mean old New York and making it on her own there-HLange could survive in that city.
Not to be racist but Umeki’s eyes aren’t expressive, but other orientalists have compensated for that.
I love how modern Carolyn Jones' performance is, put her in winged eyeliner and I have met this girl at a party
For me, this one's a fairly easy call - Lange. Umecki was a fabulous actress (see FLOWER DRUM SONG) but her SAYONARA role is woefully underwritten and she doesn't markedly elevate it, though I do think she and Buttons ring very true as a couple.
I'm v surprised so many pple wanna category fraud Marlene into supp here?!! She is def a co-lead in Witness for the Prosecution, not a supp. She IS the Witness for the Prosecution!! 😂
Perhaps slightly off-topic, but with all the negative references to The Bachelor Party, maybe OK to ask—When the Jack Warden character repeatedly tries to get them all to go to a “nutty” bar (in Greenwich Village), are we to assume that means gay bar and make further assumptions about the character?
Nick -- i didn't even think about that but that totally tracks with how I viewed that character who I think wants to sleep with the bachelor! Their energy together is... well, it's there. At least in one direction.
Sincerely, Hope Lange delivers in "Payton Place" a legendary performance.
She's absolutely brilliant and stunning. Certainly, one if strongest performances in this category I've ever seen.
The character is deep and extremely complex; the actress nails it with intelligence, sensibility, maturity and powerful strength. Lange's talent shines in every scene.
I like others nominees, but there's no real competition here.
I sill can't understand how she wasn't the winner and took that deserving Oscar to home.