Smackdown '46: Duel in the Sun with the King of Siam
Saturday, June 26, 2021 at 12:38AM Welcome back to the Supporting Actress Smackdown. Each month we pick an Oscar vintage to explore through the lens of actressing at the edges. This episode goes back to the 19th Academy Awards honoring 1946. It isn't a particularly beloved Oscar vintage though the Best Picture winner, The Best Years of Our Lives, is sublime. Apart from the winner and the Christmas film It's a Wonderful Life, the Academy all but ignored the most enduring pictures of that post-war year (Notorious, Gilda, The Postman Always Rings Twice). But we're here to discuss Best Supporting Actress and these five women were having a moment...
THE NOMINEES For the 1946 Oscars the Academy invited back two previous winners (Gale Sondergaard & Ethel Barrymore), tossed a bouquet in the form of 'career' nomination to a legend (Lillian Gish), honored a character actress for stretching (Flora Robson) without realizing how poorly that kind of stretch would age, and invited a new starlet (Anne Baxter) into the club. That's a typical mix in some ways though the films were a fun mix of genres rather than five straightforward dramas. We've got a culture clash historical epic (Anna and the King of Siam), a thriller (The Spiral Staircase), a camp western (Duel in the Sun), a post-war spiritual journey (The Razor's Edge), and a restless genre-hopping whatsit (Saratoga Trunk).
THE PANELISTS Here to talk about the performances and films are (alpha order from left to right), playwright Peter Duchan, film critic Guy Lodge, Statueseque's Allen Nguyen, and Actor Tory Devon Smith. And, as ever, your host Nathaniel R. Let's begin...
SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN + PODCAST
The companion podcast can be downloaded at the bottom of this article or by visiting the iTunes page...
ETHEL BARRYMORE as "Mrs Warren" in The Spiral Staircase
Synopsis: A dying proud widow, living with her two sons in a huge spooky house, fears for the safety of her mute servant girl after other disabled girls are murdered in town.
Stats: 67 yrs old, 17th film, third billed. Second nomination (of an eventual four). 13 minutes of screen time (or 15% of the running time)
Peter Duchan: She clearly understands the (narrow) assignment, making the most of a seriously limited role. Barrymore conveys a sense of knowing what we expect the role to be—imperious invalid who is kind underneath—and offers moments of mischievous subversion to keep our attention. I wish her final act hadn’t been so easy to foresee (who else could have had possession of the missing gun?) but her campy line reading—“Murderer!”—had me in stitches. ♥♥♥
Guy Lodge: Unlike in Robert Siodmak's other, better 1946 noir The Killers, the second-tier cast here is largely overwhelmed by the film's directorial expressionism: the actors are effectively the necessary negatives to all those exquisite shadows. So it's to Barrymore's credit that her own star persona emerges from all that styling: that peppery grande-dame wiliness livens up her handful of scenes even from a position of bedridden stasis, and her hawkish, quizzical gaze pays off when she's asked to carry off a precarious last-minute twist. It's harder to credit the performance with any particular degree of difficulty: it's the kind of gilding-the-lily nomination that the Academy habitually and pointlessly tosses to people who've recently won. ♥♥
Allen Nguyen: Mrs. Warren may not strike as particularly remarkable at first blush, but one comes to realize that Barrymore’s performance is a slow burn bloom. She serves as The Spiral Staircase’s recounter, complementing the film’s sinister atmosphere with a foreboding intensity while supplying us with all the context we need as we hurtle toward a rousing climax. It isn’t until the very end (and what an end it is!), as you take in the twisted depths of those within her orbit, are you appreciative of how fascinating and enigmatic she really is. ♥♥♥
Tory Devon Smith: Seeing that this was my first time experiencing the legendary Ethel Barrymore on film, I found Barrymore’s eyes to be the biggest takeaway from her performance here as Mrs. Warren. They express such wit, humor, and anxiety of a person on the verge of death. As she lays there, an oracle of doom, bed-ridden, she’s the cause for much concern within the house as she traumatizes our mute protagonist with good intentions to save her. The film is a slow burn, relying heavily on slasher atmosphere (the film being an early predecessor of the genre) rather than performance. Barrymore, along with Dorothy McGuire as the mute Helen, make the most of their time on screen. I particularly enjoyed Barrymore’s delivery of her final and heroic moment: BANG! Mrs. Warren shoots her gun and yells dryly, “MURDERER!” It’s a “memeable” moment that I couldn’t help but laugh at with glee. ♥♥♥
Nathaniel R: It will never not be funny that half of Barrymore's nearly consecutive nominations come from characters that lie in their death beds bossing people around and side-eyeing the naive young leading lady (see also: Pinky). That said, she's quite good at that very specific typecasting. The revered actress has mischievous fun within the (unchallenging) part. She highlights the ickily contradictory part -- equating violence with strength but being horrified by murders -- but that's as close as she comes to a point of view on the character. I consider this an almost but not quite performance. A good final scene, though, because the character surprises yet still reads like the exact same person in an altered context. ♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "Is she a mystic, or acrazy old woman? Barrymore keeps the mystery confined to her eyes and does so much with so little." - Ben (Reader average: ♥♥♥)
Actress earns 17 ❤s
ANNE BAXTER as "Sophie MacDonald" in The Razor's Edge
Synopsis: A sweet girl's life turns to tragedy when her husband and child die. She turns to the bottle for oblivion thereafter.
Stats: 23 yrs old, 17th film, 4th billed. First nomination (of an eventual two). 25½ minutes of screentime (or 18% of the running time)
Peter Duchan: This feels like the transparently ambitious Oscar-craving performance in the bunch—or maybe I’m unfairly conflating Anne Baxter and Eve Harrington. A performance that wants to be described as “rangy” but, to me, ultimately feels erratic and disjointed. Each time she reenters the film, she seems to be a totally different person, each with her own distinct physicality and mannerisms, oh the mannerisms. ♥♥♥
Guy Lodge: Baxter's role in this stuffed-shirt prestige drama of Society and Morality and Themes Writ Large is structurally unusual. Although a secondary presence throughout — no category fraud in this fivesome, which is one thing to be unequivocally celebrated about it — hers is the one character required to change over the film's languid 10-year timeframe, explicitly to underline the fixed virtues and failings of the principals. It's an assignment at once showy and strangely thankless, and she doubtless won for her emotionally extravagant, somewhat overegged peaks of grief and alcoholism. But it's when her feelings are turned inward, trying and failing to contain weaknesses and wounds, that the performance is most moving — her face at an on-the-wagon Ritz lunch is a remarkable picture of well-mannered but fit-to-burst torment. ♥♥♥♥
Allen Nguyen: From breathless and lovestruck girl to bereaved widow and mother to alcoholic and woman of “evil reputation,” Sophie is a loaded enough part such that she may as well have her own dedicated film. It’s the kind of role that’s a no-brainer for an Oscar because it demands so much drama from its actress and so much sympathy from the viewer. Tyrone Power may be our compassionate hero, but Baxter gives The Razor’s Edge earnestness -- she permeates deeply felt grief and (mostly) avoids theatrics, even as each successive tier of Sophie’s tragic descent invites more ham. The film would be a load of hot air without her. ♥♥♥♥
Tory Devon Smith: Mere minutes into The Razor’s Edge, Anne Baxter whisks onto the screen like a warm breeze in springtime. Baxter infuses Sophie MacDonald with an adolescent charm within those first few minutes, an innocent young woman, happily in love with her entire future ahead of her. Nearly half-way through the film, Sophie’s predicament changes dramatically as she endures an unspeakable tragedy. At that moment, Sophie, through the sensational Anne Baxter, completely steals the entire film. To witness Sophie’s journey in this movie, to watch her disintegrate into complete hopelessness is tragically divine. You’re riveted by Baxter as she expertly interprets the stages of impossible grief. It’s quite literally a different movie when she’s on the screen. My favorite scene in the entire picture is of Baxter: as our cast of characters celebrates at the Rue de Lappe bar in France, Sophie drunkenly stumbles up courageously to the group. Her hair disheveled, as well as her spirit, she demands a bottle of liquor, and makes incredibly awkward small talk with her once supportive friends, her desperation in full display. It’s a marvelous sequence. The thing that Baxter does so well in this performance is that she keeps a meticulous thread of anguish throughout her portrayal. Once Sophie is hit with that tragedy, Baxter doesn’t let go of that pain, not for a second. It’s as if Sophie experienced electric shock therapy! ♥♥♥♥♥
Nathaniel R: First impression: A innocent if vanilla bland friend of a cooler society type (Gene Tierney) who can't stop talking about her boyfriend. Second impression: Happy married boring mom/wife. Third impression: Shell-shocked and hysteric but who wouldn't be given the offscreen tragedy. Fourth impression: Miserable, hostile, confusing/confused, convincingly headed toward blackout drunk (very strong scene). Fifth impression: Sober and quiet. Very uncomfortable in social settings. In each of these scenes Baxter is fine and there's a certain momentum to the performance but who is this woman? It doesn't quite cohere despite a couple great moments. (I was hoping Anne Baxter would rescue me and she is best in the lineup for sure but I regret to say I wouldn't have nominated a single one of these ladies. I think that's the first time that's happened in a Smackdown!) ♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "From the moment she appears on screen as the timid but ingratiating Sophie until her anguished flight out the hellhole’s door into the mists of the abyss Anne Baxter is incredibly alive and vivid" - Joel6 (Reader average: ♥♥♥♥)
Actress earns 23 ❤s
LILLIAN GISH as "Laura Belle McCanles" in Duel in the Sun
Synopsis: The goodhearted wife of a powerful rancher takes in an orphaned "half-breed" which further divides her continually-at-odds family.
Stats: 53 yrs old, 35th film, sixth billed. First and only nomination. 16 minutes of screen time (or 11% of the running time).
Peter Duchan: I’m honestly surprised Gish, a living legend receiving her first (and only!) nomination, didn’t win this award. She plays a Supporting Actress stock character, a wife so long-suffering that even her death scene is dominated by her husband’s experience of it. She has an extraordinarily expressive face and keen sense of physicality. She projects warmth and a wealth of feeling with or without the benefit of dialogue. Her presence is felt on the edges of the frame throughout, making the role seem bigger than it is. ♥♥♥♥
Guy Lodge: It's one of the tragedies of the Academy Awards that they were founded too late to recognise the standard-bearers of silent cinema performance: decades later, this nomination was their attempt to repay that debt to Gish, and it's not quite (or at least not only) the sentimental sop it seems. She's the primary source of warmth in King Vidor and David O. Selznick's thrillingly ludicrous, simultaneously hot- and cold-blooded attempt to refashion the scale and thrust of Gone With the Wind for the Wild West, but she layers up this potentially boilerplate matriarch figure with rueful internal conflict, filling in the script's gaps with her face as only a silent cinema diva knows how. Her best moments are background ones, flashes of side-eye and anxious moues of concern and occasional glee. ♥♥♥
Allen Nguyen: In a film scorched rotten by high camp and melodrama, Gish’s performance stands out for being the exact opposite. Up against a bench of actors doing their damnedest to seize your attention, Gish often falls to the wayside, her restrained, graceful presence at odds with all the surrounding firepower. Duel in the Sun’s implies that Laura Belle is a more complex creature than meets the eye, yet what we get to see of her is little more than the doting, long-suffering wife archetype. It seems as though the film doesn’t know what to do with Laura Belle, and Gish becomes a nonfactor as a result. ♥♥
Tory Devon Smith: Considered to be The First Lady of American Cinema, Lillian Gish plays Laura Belle McCanles as a docile woman, quant and agreeable. She’s sweet, with a hint of dimwittedness. There’s nothing extraordinary nor too intriguing about Laura as a character, and I believe Gish imbues her with an appropriate amount of compassion. Outside of Laura’s death scene (a scene that I found was primarily sold by her co-star, the great Lionel Barrymore as Senator McCanles) there isn’t much for Gish to do. However, there’s a pivotal scene where Gish’s character stands up to her overbearing husband, and unfortunately, it’s a weak expression of courage performed by Gish. The opportunity was there for Gish to express more depth of emotion, and she didn’t which I found a shame. However, I found her performance a relief in Duel In The Sun, a superfluous and tedious film where Gish’s performance remained grounded within its scope. That’s talent! ♥♥
Nathaniel R: It's a pity that Gish's best work largely pre-dated the Oscars and that they didn't just wait until 1955 to honor her for The Night of the Hunter. Gish plays saintly well, and I actually liked that she didn't overplay the moment she finally stood up to her bully husband but maybe overplay something since the movie begs for it; Every other actor is munching on the juicy scenery throughout. Even Laura Belle's vague fatal illness is sort of gummed at by Gish rather than heartily devoured. There's nothing wrong with her performance in Duel in the Sun, per se, but there's nothing exciting about it either. ♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "Her silent film training is beautifully on display. Her facial expressions, walk, and that crawl on her deathbed spoke volumes. A serious performance in a sea of camp." - Drew (Reader average: ♥♥½)
Actress earns 15½ ❤s
FLORA ROBSON as "Angelique Buiton" in Saratoga Trunk
Synopsis: A tetchy but loyal servant, tries in vain to control her willful employer, a scheming illegitimate French girl seeking revenge on her father's high society family.
Stats: 44 yrs old, 15th film, third billed. First (and only) nomination. 41 minutes of screentime (or 30% of the running time.)
Peter Duchan: Oof. I consider Robson a great actress—Black Narcissus! Fire Over England! Freida!—but this was a mistake. Why was she offered this role? (Why wasn’t it given to Ethel Waters or Lena Horne, both rumored to have been in contention?) Why’d she accept it? Despite ample screen time, she makes little to no impression. She has one decent scene (in the kitchen in New Orleans, when she softens towards Gary Cooper) but otherwise we’re given little access to her. Even Florence Bates (as Mrs Bellop) makes more of her handful of moments—but even Bates is given more to do and benefits from the camera lingering on her face. ♥
Guy Lodge: Although other forms of culturally appropriative casting would endure for decades in Hollywood, blackface wasn't the industry's go-to solution by 1946 — which grimly suggests that Robson's nomination, as inexplicable as it is indefensible, was driven to a large extent by novelty. It's hard to know why Warner Bros. elected to bypass any Black actors to play the perma-cranky handmaiden to Ingrid Bergman's Creole (?!?!) heiress, when Ethel Waters and Lena Horne were allegedly among the alternatives considered. At the very least, those actors were spared a lousy role in a lumbering movie, in which Robson is utterly hamstrung: barely able to emote under that Sam Eagle unibrow with which the makeup department has burdened her, with an accent that can slide from North London to New Orleans in a single vowel, it's a performance that fails at the basics, to say nothing of the politics of it all. ♥
Allen Nguyen: That this managed to nab an Oscar nomination is completely inexplicable, not least because I struggle to figure out a single redeemable aspect of Robson’s performance. She appears to have hit autopilot on a single note (that being: “annoyed and/or dissatisfied”) and was otherwise incapable of any other shades of dimension, nor is she able to register any semblance of distinguishable expressiveness or personality. Never mind that she’s painted like a surefire bottom two placement on one of Drag Race’s makeover episodes. ♥
Tory Devon Smith: Flora Robson, masked in beastly and appalling Blackface, imbues Angelique with such limited range, her performance comes off as completely one note: angry, bitter, meddling. The physicality and vocal affectation attempted by Robson are somewhat impressive, but Robson plays Angelique as if she’s a creature, not a human being. Angelique is a woman with deep ties to a family whom she has dedicated her life to, yet there’s no real fragility in her performance to inform the audience of her deep connection to the lineage of that family and the loyalty she demonstrates towards our anti-heroine played by Ingrid Bergman. It’s disturbing showmanship on the part of Robson, and it falls incredibly short because Robson is, quite literally, the WRONG person for this role for the obvious reasons, and in that, Robson, as an actor, could have never succeeded in any real way. Beneath the layers of horrendous Blackface that stifled an actress who was more than capable of crafting an interesting human being named Angelique, we’re unfortunately left with a distracting impression of ethnicity. ♥♥
Nathaniel R: I am a proponent of watching older movies by turning the now off. If you expect to always see your own politics and modern social mores reflected at you, you're too incurious about art. But even discounting the racial offensiveness of the casting (which is admittedly hard to do) ... even discounting whatever the makeup department was attempting (it's baffling)... Robson isn't doing anything with the role. She scowls. She mutters. To her credit as a person, if not an actress, she also looks highly uncomfortable with the assignment throughout. Just about the only thing interesting she gets to play is shifting feelings about her employer's Texan beau (Gary Cooper). And "interesting" is a giant overstatement. ♥
Reader Write-Ins: "It’s upsetting an actor as skilled as Robson has her legacy shared with this film. I suggest just skip this film and enjoy Robson’s work in Black Narcissus from the following year." -Eoin (Reader average: ♥½)
Actress earns 7½ ❤s
GALE SONDERGAARD as "Lady Thiang" in Anna and the King of Siam
Synopsis: The once-favoured wife of the King watches and judges from a distance as she pins her dreams for her son, the Prince, on the lessons of an English schoolteacher
Stats: 49 yrs old, 30th film, Fifth billed. Second and final nomination. 12½ minutes of screentime (or 10% of the running time.)
Peter Duchan: A performance that feels tailor made for this category. The classic martyr mother AND the long-suffering, all sacrificing wife. She’s allowed some dignity and a few choice moments (she gets to tell off the protagonist—and her words change the protagonist’s arc) but the character seems built on western/American generalizations, emphasizing her grace and docility. It feels at times Sondergaard over-performs her character’s otherness as otherworldliness, avoiding eye contact with her scene partners, looking vaguely off in soft focus. ♥♥
Guy Lodge: Of the two yikes-that-happened calamities of casting in this field, Sondergaard's is the one that at least yields a performance of some emotive intuition. The role of Lady Thiang is one that would eventually become a standard trophy magnet after this stiffly earnest culture-clash drama became a perennially revived stage musical, and she sets what would become the template for the character's frustration, disappointment and fear of marginalisation with a measure of tacit restraint. But the irony of this arc being contained within the egregious artifice of being played by a white woman is insurmountable: it's a performance entirely ensnared in the film's own war between superficial good intentions and cultural cluelessness. ♥♥
Allen Nguyen: The bar for “white woman playing an Asian woman speaking in broken english” is a fairly low one, yet Sondergaard does it with more palatability than I’d have anticipated. She brings a surprisingly potent blend of warmth and tenderness to Lady Thiang, qualities that help to ground and humanize the character (which can't be said of all the other white actors playing Asian characters) while also making the jarring yellowface of it all a tiny bit more digestible. There’s much in Anna and the King of Siam to be baffled by, and Sondergaard gets points for how low she places on my list. ♥♥
Tory Devon Smith: Lady Thiang is completely wasted in a film that, in retrospect, encompasses admirable themes of compassion despite its racial offensiveness. At its core, Anna & The King of Siam are about people progressively evolving together, inspiring each other to be empathetic towards one another. When watching Flora Robson in Blackface from Saratoga Trunk, I asked myself; does the actor’s portrayal inform the audience of its character’s basic human need, or will their impression of “ethnicity” overwhelm it? Sondegaard’s repugnant delivery of Lady Thiang in a breathless agonizing tone inside a dreadful accent, didn’t give emotional significance to the words of Lady Thiang. Sondegaard seemed too concerned with an impression, therefore, she missed the opportunity to inform the audience of her character’s basic need: a mother who desperately wanted her son to be happy. The words told us, but Sondegaard’s emotional facility didn’t. I also noticed, I didn’t miss the character, or felt her presence when she wasn’t on screen. Again, if concentration was paid to Lady Thiang’s need, Sondegaard might have left an impression that was greatly needed. ♥
Nathaniel R: She was the very first Oscar winner in this category (albeit not for this) so I was curious. And I don't mean about the yellowface. But regarding that... at least she's not playing into the "exotic" trap as grotesquely as Rex Harrison is (is this the King of Siam or a fey space alien?). Though there isn't much to her performance she is affecting in her big monologue scene. In that one scene the movie hands itself over to her, while Lady Thiang stonily explains herself and all but damns Anna in the process. It's the sharpest moment in this inexplicably dull version of the oft-told fascinating story. Not that it had much competition. ♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "The role of Lady Thiang favors any actress who plays her." - Julius (Reader average: ♥♥¼)
Actress earns 11¼ ❤s
RESULT: Anne Baxter won the Oscar, presumably with ease. At the Smackdown she triumphs again in a strangely weak field though individual panelists had different favourites. For the first time in memory, reader votes exactly aligned with the panel in terms of the rank of the performers: Baxter > Barrymore > Gish > Sondergaard > Robson.
THE FULL PODCAST CONVERSATION
Download at the bottom of this post 👇 or on iTunes to hear the in-depth discussion with our marvelous guests. [All Previous Smackdowns]
Reader Comments (53)
thank you so much
lora Robson- Saratoga Trunk
Some background on this: Flora Robson was probably very excited at first when she heard she was being offered a part in Saratoga Trunk. It was based on a romantic bestselling novel about a dark haired, strong willed woman in similar veins of Gone With the Wind. It was to star Ingrid Bergman and Gary Cooper, fresh off the critical and commercial success of For Whom the Bell Tolls. Warner Bros. was going to spend a lot of money on it. She must have been excited. Then she found out she would be playing Bergman’s maid. Who is black. When she got to the studio, she had to put on syrupy brown makeup. Because she was playing a black woman. Then the studio lost control of the script and decided to just spend money on the costumes and art direction instead of plot. The actors became bored and knew the film would be a dud (Bergman doesn’t even mention this movie in her memoirs) Robson spends the entire movie looking humiliated and embarrassed. Robson deserved a nomination for her talent and many great performances, but each time circumstances got in the way (category confusion for Fire Over England, internal competition for Wuthering Heights, and Anglophobia for Black Narcissus) At this point, she was respected and overdue for a nomination and despite the movie being terrible, it had a lot of buzz around it before it was released. Sometimes that is all you need to get a nomination. 1 heart
Ethel Barrymore- The Spiral Staircase
At a quick glance, Barrymore got lots of nominations playing dowagers on their deathbeds. Her nomination for Spiral Staircase is Exhibit A. She spends most of the movie in bed while a bunch of people get killed in her house. Barrymore played similar roles. And she was much better in None but the Lonely Heart earlier, and Pinky later. In fact, out of all her nominations, this is the weakest. It is also the most seen of her nominations and that’s a pity since she was capable of so much more. 1 heart
Lillian Gish- Duel in the Sun
Duel in the Sun AKA Lust in the Dust is just a mess of a film. Bless her heart, Gish tries to make this movie work. She isn’t sleepwalking like Peck or just out to sea like Jones. Like, Barrymore and Robson, she gave much better performances better and after this film, but she was only nominated for this. 2 hearts
Gale Sondergaard- Anna and the King of Siam
Ah, Gale Sondergaard, the actress who never met a part she couldn’t wring a sinister leer from. But while she doesn’t play Lady Thiang as an outright villain, she refuses to play her as a simpleton either (a common but in my opinion wrong assumption regarding this part in most productions of this story) Instead Sondergaard plays her as a complex woman juggling several complicated relationships between the King, Anna, and her son. Lady Thiang is the first wife and therefore the mother of the next king. While that means she should have a place of massive importance, she admits that her relationship with the King has cooled. Sondergaard gives the impression that Lady Thiang loves her king, but maybe not the man. Perhaps the cooling was mutual. In regards to her son, it is obvious she loves him, but is forced to keep her distance due to tradition. Thus she turns to Anna to help her son in ways that she herself cannot. And finally Sondergaard probably got her nomination based on her interactions with Irene Dunne as Anna. Sondergaard plays these scenes as a politician needed favors. While Anna assumes they have a friendship, Sondergaard isn’t afraid to show Lady Thiang’s annoyance even anger at Anna. I got the impression that sometimes she views Anna as a servant who constantly forgets her place. To Lady Thiang, Anna is a necessity more than anything else, thus she plays nice with her, but can’t conceal her true feelings at times. Sondergaard has managed to craft a real person with her own inner life In Sondergaard’s hands Lady Thiang can be loving but severe, compassionate but unbending, and perhaps even a better ruler of Siam then the current one. 3 hearts
Anne Baxter- The Razor’s Edge
The clear winner. It’s not really even close. Baxter herself believed this was her best performance. Baxter plays Sophie, a happily married pregnant woman who loses it all after a tragic car accident. Sophie descends into alcoholism and tries to get herself sober but is unable to conquer her demons. Baxter excels at all aspects of this role from the large (that crying scene when the news is broken to her that her about the accident is heartbreaking) to the smaller details (her French accent is spot on- Magnifique!) Baxter triumphs and keeps this rather boring film interesting. What I like best about this performance is Baxter’s understands that alcoholism isn’t a one time cure thing but a constant battle. Sophie continuously struggles and Baxter shows how difficult it is to resist the impulse in one of the most honest depictions of alcoholism I have ever seen. 5 hearts
Is Flora Robson’s score the lowest ever for a Smackdown? Because yikes!
Duel in the Sun is such a camp classic. I wish more people worshiped it. Jennifer Jones gives such an intense performance full of fire, passion and insanity. Gregory Peck’s best, and only interesting, performance. Lillian Gish should have won.
In this field I'd have given it to Lillian Gish. I think she's splendid. in fact. she's the only one of the five I'd have actually nominated that year. Anne Baxter should have won her supporting actress Oscar four years earlier for "The Magnificent Ambersons". No arguing that Robson's the worst of the bunch. Disgraceful seems to be a harsh assessment of the performance but it's hard to find a more accurate description. An unfortunate blot on a distinguished career.
If "Great Expectations" had received an American release in '46, Martita Hunt would have been my winner. Definitive and unforgettable as Miss Havisham. But Oscar seemed determined to keep the actress off its radar. Even when the film became eligible in '47, she still wasn't nominated.
Among those eligible, along with Gish, I'd have cited
Leopoldine Konstantin (imperiously billed as Madame Konstantin) in Hitchcock's "Notorious"
Amazed the Academy didn't spring for a nomination. Were they afraid of offending her if she didn't win?
Lucile Watson "The Razor's Edge"
I've always loved this Canadian born actress. As Gene Tierney's dowager mother she's patrician and pragmatic yet still conveys plenty of wit and warmth
Virginia Mayo "The Best Years of Our Lives"
Most of her roles (before and after) were strictly decorative, but here - as Dana Andrews' trampy wife - she delivers the performance of her career
My choice for the final slot would be a toss-up between the two firecrackers from "The Big Sleep" - Martha Vickers and Dorothy Malone. I'd probably go with Malone. With less screen time, she quietly lights a flame that continues to glow all these years later.
Bravo to Tom G for his marvelously crafted assessment of Gale Sondergaard's complex work in "Anna and the King of Siam". The film as a whole is a bore and Sondergaard wouldn't have cracked my top five. But it's still a fine, carefully considered performance and I'd have definitely counted her as a worthy contender.
James from Ames: I can say with certainty that it is the lowest score (when converted to a %) given to any actress across all of the Smackdowns that have occurred at The Film Experience. It comes out to 25%, barely 'beating' Renee Zellweger's 28% for Cold Mountain.
In fact, 1946 ties the 1963 Smackdown for lowest overall average for all 5 actresses at 49.8%
"that Sam Eagle unibrow" - brilliant, guy
@Ken- thank you for the kind words. Your assessments of Virginia Mayo and Marita Hunt are spot on. I can't understand where their buzz went especially since their movies were embraced by the Academy.
While this might be the weakest best supporting actress field in academy history, I did appreciate the chance to watch about 30 1946 films. My top ten of 1946 ended up being:
1. The Best Years of Our Lives
2. Beauty and the Beast
3. It's A Wonderful Life
4. My Darling Clementine
5. Morning for the Osone Family
6. The Stranger
7. The Verdict
8. A Matter of Life and Death/Stairway to Heaven
9. Green For Danger
10. The Killers
The Japanese cinema was most fascinating this year as it dealt with the aftermath of WWII and American censors.
As for the supporting actress category, Lillian Gish was my favorite, and the only nominee I would keep in the category.
Aw dangit we almost had our 2nd ever STINKTRESS! Ingrid has been soooo lonely...
@Nathaniel
off topic... as i was smelling, Pedro Almodóvar is going to release Madres Paralelas quite early... it seems it is opening in Spain, next September, so that may indicate Toronto and Telluride openings and screenings in time for 2021 Oscar consideration, which makes some sense (the feeling Parasite stole the spotlight that otherwise would have been for Pain & Glory... if Madres Paralelas is another masterpiece for Pedro, it has enough star power to try to score also a Leading Actress nomination and pose it as a viable Best Picture/Director/Actress/Screenplay contender). Let's see first, if the film is good, though. Crossing my fingers for Rossy de Palma.
I agree both with Baxter's win, both with the fact this is not a memorable line-up. Mayo, along with some international sensations, such as Anna Magnani (ROMA OPEN CITY) or Maria Casarès (CHILDREN OF PARADISE), deserved to be at least in contention for me.
I agree that Mayo gave the perf of her career in Wyler's second Oscar champion, but she had some strong opportunities also with Raoul Walsh (WHITE HEAT, COLORADO TERRITORY, even if her casting in the latter nowadays could be perceived controversial)
What a great panel for a complex, tricky smack down. Thoughtful, caring and challenging commentary from all - bravo! I love this series.
My ranking of the nominees:
5) Flora Robson, SARATOGA TRUNK - one heart
The Blackface is bad enough, but the mediocrity of this performance goes way beyond racial insensitivity and cartoonish cosmetics. She just doesn't do anything with the role, glowering her way through the entirety of this interminable film.
4) Ethel Barrymore, THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE - two hearts
Bed-ridden until a twist ending, the role offers little opportunity for Barrymore to stretch herself. Like a well-oiled machine, she performs the astringent grande dame routine with pathos and magnetic mystery. Unsurprising, unexciting.
3) Anne Baxter, THE RAZOR'S EDGE - two hearts
Plays with a series of strong strident impressions but forgets to connect the dots of her character's arc. Her intensity shakes the film out of its stupor but the overall work feels disjointed, overly demonstrative, and too self-conscious.
2) Gale Sondergaard, ANNA AND THE KING OF SIAM - two hearts
Never overcomes the handicap of whitewashed miscasting, but finds humanity in the accented caricature. Wifely duty is colored by a politician's resourcefulness, motherly warmth tempered by pragmatism. Aces her big scene.
1) Lillian Gish, DUEL IN THE SUN - three hearts
In a camp epic full of smoked hams in the cast, Gish stands out by strategic underplaying. Even her death scene is tentative in embracing theatrics, evoking feverish despair through internalized conflict. The rote role and framing hold her back.
As always, this was a fascinating read. I continue to love the smackdown, even when the Oscar lineups are less than stellar.
Thanks for another entertaining Smackdown! Yeah, really seems like Baxter deserved this one. Although I wish Leopoldine Konstantin had been nominated.
Honestly have no clue who I’d vote for here. Baxter is the only one with an actual role so I guess you’d almost have to vote for her. But to me it’s like watching a talented but limited college student show off. The character is basically a different person from scene to scene and no only does Baxter fail to make it cohere, she does so even though the whole performance is given in the same breathily studio starlet way, totally artificial. And her scene where she’s trying not to drink after Tierney leaves her alone is IMO laughably bad, like she’s doing a Susan Hayward impression.
I’ll give Gish points for underplaying without totally fading away into the woodwork and and incredible death fall out of the frame onto the floor. Barrymore’s authority and skill also keep her afloat but that character makes NO sense at all. Won’t get into the other two, Saratoga Trunk has to be one of the worst movies nominated for an Oscar, certainly one of the most boring. It’s not even bad in a trashy way.
Splendid reading!! Not surprised in the least that Anne Baxter emerged triumphant here, the other roles just are not at the same level. Thanks for quoting me Nathaniel!
Anne Baxter-The Razor’s Edge-From the moment she appears on screen as the timid but ingratiating Sophie until her anguished flight out the hellhole’s door she has fallen to into the mists of the abyss Anne Baxter is incredibly alive and vivid. She subtly hints at Sophie’s latent insecurity when she is alone in her initial scene and her blooming only when Bob appears at the party. Then after her tragedy and descent into degradation her bravado to mask her shame is painfully sad to watch but never overplayed. When the cruel Isabel driven by jealousy places temptation in her path Baxter doesn’t resort to broad histrionics, rather a restless nervousness to shows Sophie’s battle to withstand what she knows will trigger her final descent. In a picture full of strong work Anne handily steals the film so it is hard now to realize she was fourth choice for the role. Zanuck first offered the part to Betty Grable (who felt, probably correctly, that the part was beyond her scope) after overtures by Zanuck to MGM to borrow Judy Garland were rebuffed. He turned next to the rising Susan Hayward, but she declined choosing to spend time with her newborn twins at which point Baxter was cast. It was the right move, she’s easily the best of the nominees. 5 hearts.
Ethel Barrymore-The Spiral Staircase-Ethel’s certainly having the most fun of the nominees with her cryptic line readings and haunted facial expressions in this ripping Old Dark House thriller. Up against scene stealers Sara Allgood and Elsa Lanchester and a brilliant Dorothy McGuire (her nomination for a blah role in Gentleman’s Agreement makes so much more sense now-it was a makeup for missing her work here) Ethel makes a meal of Mrs. Warren adding an extra touch of eerie spookiness to a movie already heavy with atmosphere. 3 ½ hearts.
Lillian Gish-Duel in the Sun-One of the cinema’s greatest actresses with a flock of immortal work-The Wind, The Night of the Hunter, Orphans of the Storm, The Whales of August and many others-and she gets her sole nomination for this? Sitting through this dog of a picture-Peck is miscast but not hopeless, it should have been Robert Mitchum playing his role though, however Jones is horrendous in a part that has Ava Gardner’s name all over it-for a second time to assess Gish’s work I was struck by how extraordinarily little she has to do. She frets, prays and spews homilies but makes no real impact until her final, mostly wordless, scene and even then, Lionel Barrymore is chewing so much of the scenery he nearly swamps her moment. It must be what landed her the nomination, along with her legacy but it is not enough to warrant it. 2 hearts.
Flora Robson-Saratoga Trunk-Though she is buried under a mountain of distracting makeup which give her eyes the disturbing appearance of being transparent and her face affixed with a near permanent scowl Flora still manages to add several layers to her role as Ingrid’s near shadow. However, the texture is all provided by her, there isn’t any real heft or impact to the role. As with Lillian Gish Flora Robson had decades of notable work to her credit and yet the Academy bestowed a single nomination to her for something that hardly shows her to her best advantage. 2 ½ hearts.
Gale Sondergaard-Anna and the King of Siam-Within the confines of the role Gale makes what she can out of Lady Thiang but there isn’t much to her outside of breathy dignity. She is not even the most interesting or compelling female supporting character, that would be Linda Darnell’s Tuptim-not that I’m suggesting that she should have been nominated either (she should however have been in contention for the previous year’s Fallen Angel) but she makes a much greater impact on both the film and the viewer. 2 hearts.
A VERY weak field with one exception, not because of the talent involved but the roles chosen, my nominee list would run this way.
Martha Vickers-The Big Sleep-Winner
Leopoldine Konstantin-Notorious
Anna Magnani-Rome, Open City
Anne Baxter-The Razor's Edge
Virginia Mayo-The Best Years of Our Lives
Runner-Ups-Ava Gardner-The Killers, Donna Reed-It’s a Wonderful Life, Lizabeth Scott-The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Teresa Wright-Best Years of Our Lives
Honestly, Myrna Loy in The Best Years of Our Lives would be my winner but as discussed in the post on her work she was the top billed star of the film despite her truly being a supporting player, so I excluded her from my ranking. A pity she really does give the best supporting performance of the year.
Such a strong year for Hollywood and world cinema. Just a sampling of what I would consider the top 20 films of the year shows that with a well of choices like that, plus so many others it’s completely insane that this or any category should be so weak!
Best Years of Our Lives
Notorious
The Man I Love
Deadline at Dawn
The Times of Their Lives
La belle et la bête
Blue Skies
The Spiral Staircase
Nobody Lives Forever
Humoresque
It’s a Wonderful Life
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
The Killers
Green for Danger
The Bachelor’s Daughters
The Blue Dahlia
My Darling Clementine
Paisan
The Dark Corner
The Chase
Can't wait to listen to the podcast!!
Looking at the consensus opinions, the second team of Best Supporting Actress is, by today's standards, much stronger
Virginia Mayo, Anna Magnani (her running after the truck is so iconic people know it without ever having seen the film), Martha Vickers, Leopoldin Konstantin, and Angela Lansbury
A great read as always! If I’d had a ballot it’d look something like:
Anne Baxter (The Razor’s Edge)
Gloria Grahame (It’s a Wonderful Life)
Leopoldine Konstantin (Notorious)
Virginia Mayo (The Best Years of Our Lives)
Martha Vickers (The Big Sleep)
For me Ethel Barrymore is the clear winner, but she wouldn't even be in my Top 5. Id've nominated:
Margaret Rutherford Blithe Spirit
Anna Magnani Open City
Leopoldine Konstantine Notorious
Cathy O'Donnell Best Years of Our Lives
Butterfly McQueen Duel in the Sun - I realize that in some ways she's even more controversial than Flora Robson in blackface, but I think she's as hilarious here as Jean Hagen in Singin' in the Rain, and I'll always defend her.
My ballot for 1946:
Film: Henry V
Actor: James Stewart It's a Wonderful Life
Actress: Jane Wyman The Yearling
S. Actor: Claude Rains Notorious (he was robbed!)
S. Actress: Ethel Barrymore The Spiral Staircase
Director: David Lean Brief Encounter
Story: The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
Original Screenplay: Children of Paradise
Screenplay: Brief Encounter
There was no award for Foreign Language Film that year; they wouldn't start until 1947, but if they had, I hope it would have gone to Children of Paradise.
For 1946 many of the nominees in this category were particularly off, but some of the films are mighty interesting in and of themselves, as cultural artifacts (mind you, I didn't say they are GOOD cultural artifacts). I absolutely expected Baxter to win, and for Robson to get a (deservedly) very low score. But really appreciate the comments from Tom G above, that background info is fascinating and helpful for putting things into context (poor Flora Robson). Loved the commentary from the panelists, and as usual looking forward to listening to the podcast later on this weekend. Great job everyone! Nathaniel, thank you again for this series. By prompting the viewing of so many films I'd have never sought out on my own, it has broadened my knowledge of American cinematic history in countless ways.
I don't see the link to the podcast at the bottom of the post.
The correct decision. The only decision. A masterful performance. Baxter's two nominated roles really fit her like a glove. A Dukakis level of obvious Smackdown victory without the joy of a Ramsay to make the lineup of more interest.
Howard’s end - thanks for the heads up. I shall fix
I enjoyed Flora Robson performance, the makeup is a big problem, but she deliver s her lines very good.
Gish should have won for The wind
Sondergaard is just ok.
The only worthy nominees were Baxter and Barrymore. And the Academy chose the right winner.
1)Gish - a treasure
2)Robson - sullen, sulky, sublime
3)Sondergaard - mesmerizing
4)Baxter - in it to win it, master emoter
5)Barrymore - a gaze that could kill
John—I adore Duel in the Sun. It’s a misunderstood film. Scorsese has praised its unique, subversive, mad vision. Jennifer Jones is spectacular: She is completely committed to giving the right performance for this particular artistic expression. Such a well-deserved Oscar nomination.
@Brookesboy: The other day I listened to an old episode of the You Must Remember This podcast about David O. Selznick and Jennifer Jones, and it offers some fascinating background info on Duel in the Sun and Jennifer Jone's deep discomfort with the role (which Selznick pushed relentlessly upon her).
Link in case you or anyone else is interested: https://bit.ly/3quGNsa
Thanks, Rob. It was a grueling shoot. Reportedly Jennifer was asked to do many tales of the final scenes where she is crawling over sharp gravel. Selznick was responsible. He was such an asshole.
Just listened to the highly entertaining podcast. Interesting diverse opinions. I agree with some and not others, no one will ever be able to convince me that Duel in the Sun is anything other than an overlong, overbaked, terribly miscast, beautifully photographed piece of tripe, but the discussion of the differing viewpoints and the reasoning behind them was great!
Thanks Nathaniel for another fantastic job pulling the Smackdown together!!
Duel in the Sun is my favorite American movie of 1946. It's not a Western, it's a Hollywoodern. Every delirious detail id perfectly in place, and I'll never be able to listen to "I've Been Working on the Railroad" again without giggling. They just don't make 'em like that anymore. They wouldn't dare.
Peter Duchan's Baxter blurb reads as somebody with rosey or limited long term social experience. I've known multiple people who change rapidly through the years when we bump into each others orbits for limited times, and they have half the trauma and issues of Sophie! A strange misreading of a role and performance that reveals more about the author than anything else.
Nathaniel's Baxter blurb has him in actressexual jail, but we will let him out on parole because he hosted this Smackdown and is a firat step on the ascension of Claudio. But as your conditions I may check you when your actressexual bonfides are lacking like right now. Putting joel6 as the reader comment shows you probably should have given him your spot at the table.
Guy Lodge's blurb is iffy, but the minimum acceptable stars are there. Allen Nguyen's blurb is lovely, sounds like it could increase in star rating if he sits with the performance for a while.
Which brings us the the joint winner of the Smackdown with Anne Baxter: Troy Devon Smith. A blurb as insicive and brilliant as the performance it describes. Nathaniel, with a Smackdown panellist showing that strong please invite Troy back! Sit out if you must, but we need to see if his perfection in the format was a fluke!!!!
Yay! Proof that Claudio is not perfect and sometimes downright stupid! Still, nobody can write a shitty take as eloquently as him. Xo
Ben - I wish I had your power of brevity and clarity.
I agree with a few others. Somw of the Baxter criticisms are misreadings of the role and the readers lack of certain life experiences, probably from knowing only rosey or consistent people in their lives. If you've ever known intermittent and chaotic/tumultuous presences in your lives the dots are well and truly connected. But such misinterpretations of the role would indicate a stable, content and in some ways privileged life so I can't be mad. If i could trade seeing the character accurately for the easy ignorant bliss of those who don't I would any day.
Art -- I thought just avoiding reading or responding to comments on my posts was enough, but guess I should really never read them anywhere on TFE. As someone who's loved the smackdown since its Sinkylulu days, I always liked to read along and share my own votes, but guess I won't be doing that anymore. "Sorry" for my stupidity and you're free to not read my shitty takes. Comments like yours sure make it difficult to want to keep on writing. Thank you so much.
Gwen, thank you for that. Some of these reader "comments" are actually essays and I can't do that. It's for the best.
Jung -- how would i be able to "sit out" a smackdown? LOL. who do you think spends a month corraling multiple panelists to watch five films and discuss them on a specific date and then prepare this massive post and edit a podcast?
Joel 6 - i'm so glad you liked it and thanks for being such a faithful voter / commenter on these epic things. I adore your alternate field and agree on Myrna Loy. Honestly THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES could have filled three of these spots. Not that i would nominate all three of its actresses but given what the Academy actually came up with...
brookesboy -- she does seem to be an entirely different actress in this one film. but i'm not sure if that's good or bad.
Rob -- thank you so much. I always hope that people are watching along at home but it's hard to know if they are.
Jung -- how would i be able to "sit out" a smackdown? LOL. who do you think spends a month corraling multiple panelists to watch five films and discuss them on a specific date and then prepare this massive post and edit a podcast?
Joel 6 - i'm so glad you liked it and thanks for being such a faithful voter / commenter on these epic things. I adore your alternate field and agree on Myrna Loy. Honestly THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES could have filled three of these spots. Not that i would nominate all three of its actresses but given what the Academy actually came up with...
brookesboy -- she does seem to be an entirely different actress in this one film. but i'm not sure if that's good or bad.
Rob -- thank you so much. I always hope that people are watching along at home but it's hard to know if they are.
Thanks Nathaniel! I LOVE the Smackdowns, the older the year the better but I enjoy them all.
I'm glad you're a fan of my alternate list. Since Myrna was never going to be nominated here I really wish Virginia Mayo had made it in. Even though she would have been my fifth place finisher an acknowledgement of her ability might have moved her career in a better direction.
She's like Ann Blyth in that regard (though at least Ann's masterwork was rewarded with a nom), she failed upward in a way. Except for another spotlight role in White Heat (another chance for a nomination that went unrewarded) her beauty seemed to doom her to a solid career as a decorative leading lady (again like Ann Blyth) with her very real talent for characterization ignored by her studio.
@Claudio - It's just one person, just forget it. Everybody loves you.
Yeah Claudio I wouldn't take it personally. It was just Art's crude, but valid (borderline objectively correct) opinion. We love you, rare stumbles and all!
A number of commenters on this blog (especially with regards to Cláudio, Streep and Kidman) always make me feel like Auntie Em in her classic face-off with Almira Gulch: "For twenty-three years, I've been dying to tell you what I thought of you. And now, well, being a Christian woman, I can't say it!"
One 1946 performance that had award buzz that hasn’t been mentioned yet is Lucille Ball in EASY TO WED. It could be a borderline lead and she was usually a leading lady, so a supporting nomination might not have been something that she or MGM campaigned for. She’s wonderful in the role. She always received excellent reviews for her pre-television films and critics declared EASY TO WED to be her best work up to that time.
I would also add there is an impressive Oscar trivia factoid attached to Duel in the Sun. Jennifer Jones earned her fourth straight Academy Award nomination, a rare feat for actors that puts her in an exclusive club with Brando, Ritter, Taylor, Pacino.
@brookesboy: I think you get the crown for biggest & bestest Jennifer Jones fan of all time. Keep it well polished!
Thank you, Rob, you are too kind! When I saw The Towering Inferno, my life was changed forever. For real. Her incredible performance in that movie immediately turned me into a movie buff and sealed my adoration of her brilliance forever. Have a great day, sir!
Loved this! Such a treat.
Ryan -- so glad you enjoyed. Hope the rest of the season makes y'all happy too.