The Final Conclusion - Best Actress 1957

1957

So the much anticipated ranking:

5. Lana Turner in Peyton Place

Lana's performance mostly consits of sleepwalking and sitting in the background. I believe that had Turner been given some more to do, she would have been able to pull of a great performance as Constance. The screenplay always underlines how frigid this character is and it doesn't really let Turner do wonders with it. The overall effect is disappointing.

4. Deborah Kerr in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison

there isn't a thing about Deborah Kerr's performance that you could be passionate about. You can't love her, can't hate her and the whole thing becomes very standard and uninteresting. I know that many love this work but I just wasn't able to warm up to it. Deborah Kerr is quite good as Sister Angela but she doesn't go beyond good.

3. Joanne Woodward in The Three Faces of Eve

Despite my dislike for the acting of Joanne Woodward, this is quite a good job by her. Although it's not groundbreaking by any means and the emotional part of it is a bit lacking, the technical department is just excellent. Woodward made very wise decisions with these characters (despite being relatively new to the craft) and she put on a very good performance.

2. Elizabeth Taylor in Raintree County

This performance is a bit mixed. On the one hand, Liz's accent andmannerisms are incredibly annoying and she fails with the technical. On the other hand, there are also some great moments that I just cannot ignore. As I said, Taylor is not really amazing, but there's something in her that stays with me. It's still quite good work and something keeps resonating with me.

1. Anna Magnani in Wild is the Wind

You may consider me overenthusiastic and too lenient with performances but I was just blown away by Anna, from the beginning to the very end. Anna Magnani creates this beautiful, wonderful character and single-handedly makes the movie. It might be a bit much for many. For me, it worked and I consider this an astonishing performance.

So I can proudly announce

that my winner is...

Anna Magnani

in

Wild is the Wind

Why do I have to compete?

Omissions:

• Giulietta Masina in The Nights of Cabiria *My Pick* (oh come on, too easy)

Final thoughts: A really weak year. Yes, I was a bit overenthusiastic but Anna was a shining light in this extremely weak year. So she was the clear winner. Joanne was quite good though a bit dry. Elizabeth Taylor, whom we tragically lost on the day I reviewed her performance, gave a mixed but haunting performance in Raintree County. Deborah was simply good, Lana was not bad. Again, a truly weak year. Still, I'm happy that I did it as I was so interested in Anna's performance, which was really astonishing though the movie dragged her down a bit.

Semi-congrats to Louis, who had it right with his original predictions but changed his mind in the last minute. :)

The ranking of the reviewed years:

1. 1969
2. 1974
3. 1989
4. 1959
5. 1964
6. 1939
7. 1977
8. 2010
9. 2009
10. 1980
11. 1941
12. 1963
13. 1966
14. 1973
15. 1990
16. 1978
17. 1954
18. 1948
19. 2002
20. 1957
21. 1940
22. 1998

About the next year: You cannot imagine the misery, torture and suffering that I went through to do the next year and get all the films. It's a really interesting one though I've only seen 2 performances but they are both given by two of my all-time favorite actresses (and the others are great performers, too, all three of them previous winners). Clue:

• I can't give you a real clue as I keep forgetting and losing everything ever since that new insurance I have. ;)

What do you think?

Joanne Woodward in The Three Faces of Eve

Joanne Woodward received her first Best Actress Oscar and only Oscar to date for playingly, Even White/Black and Jane in The Three Faces of Eve. I think Joanne Woodward did not have an easy win though it's perfectly understandable. I feel that only Deborah Kerr was a real threat for her as she was overdue (was she?) and won the New York Film Critics award. Still, it's a very perplexing race with an obvious winner.

The Three Faces of Eve is a very short and weird movie and I really did not like it that much. There's no real drama, everything just happens and it failed to have any effect on me. It just went by rather fast and it wasn't particularly boring. Actually, it's very far from being a true story (no matter what the narrator says at the beginning) because the real Eve, Chrisitine Costner Seizmore had like 26 personalities. So that's about the credibility of this whole movie. Lee J. Cobb who's one of my favorite supporting actors gives an incredibly standard and one-note performance which I really didn't like.

Joanne Woodward is an actress who has almost always failed to really impress me. I really dislike her acting style and sometimes she can just annoy me to hell. She lacks a real emotional depth in most of her movies. I like her voice very much, though but I am not really in awe of her. However, when I first saw her in The Three Faces of Eve, I was blown away by her. Therefore, I really did not know what to expect from her this time. I wanted to forget that she's Joanne Woodward but I also wanted to forget my first reactions to this performance. As a result, I was now right between amazed and bored.

These roles seem to be quite baity on paper (apparently, after Orson Welles read the script he said that anyone who played Eve would win the Oscar). This is really a part to kill for but once you actually think about it, it's really not very showy. It certainly has its big scenes but not huge ones. There's that breakdown towards the end but not as big as they usually like at the Oscars. Things should be bigger, showier and more emotional.

I feel that Woodward deals with the technical part quite great. She delivers everything extremely well, she knows when to do what, her timing is just excellent. And that's really all that this movie requires. As it doesn't go deep, Joanne doesn't have to go really deep either inside this character. I feel that she could have but I never really saw any real efforts to do so.

Joanne's performance as Eve White is supposed to be very heartbreaking but instead, Joanne let some opportunities slip away. It's true that Eve White is not a really fascinating character but she still could have made her a bit closer to the viewer. It's like attending a soccer game that turns out to be boring and you just remain a spectator and watch the goals scored but you're not really happy about it. That's really the case with Joanne here.

Joanne's the best in her scenes as Eve Black. Naturally, it was supposed to be the best part of this role and it certainly is. I felt it was the only character that was played as it should be. She's seductive, attractive and very delicious. She did what she has to. However, that wasn't really a great accomplishment either. There wasn't very much missing from it, it just wasn't totally mindblowing. She's still quite great as Eve Black, doing the right things at the right time.

The third personality, Jane becomes rather insignificant even though she's really the most interesting personality for me. She's really a plain Jane (no pun intended) but it would have been fun to see more of her. As a result, she doesn't really get a real depth.

However, as I said, her the technical part is just fantastic. That above mentioned breakdown scene is handled pretty well by Joanne and it was just terrificly played. That scene under the house is also quite memorable. In these moments, I really felt the depth that really should have been there in the whole performance.

So, despite my dislike for the acting of Joanne Woodward, this is quite a good job by her. Although it's not groundbreaking by any means and the emotional part of it is a bit lacking, the technical department is just excellent. Woodward made very wise decisions with these characters (despite being relatively new to the craft) and she put on a very good performance.

What do you think? Wow, this year hasn't been very strong so far.

The Next Year

1957

So the nominees were:

• Deborah Kerr in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison
• Anna Magnani in Wild is the Wind
• Elizabeth Taylor in Raintree County
• Lana Turner in Peyton Place
• Joanne Woodward in The Three Faces of Eve

It is said to be a weak year but I've only seen Joanne previously, so it's going to be an interesting one to explore. I can't wait to see all the movies.

What do you think? What are your predictions for my ranking? Who's your pick? What's your ranking?

The Final Conclusion - Best Actress 1973

1973

5. Barbra Streisand in The Way We Were

This is a bit disappointing performance by a great talent. It is surely loved by many, but I just did not like it as much since it's quite a mixed bag: the beginning is fantastic, but the ending is rather mediocre and a bit boring. Too bad, because this could have been a fantastic performance.

4. Joanne Woodward in Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams

This is an occasionally great, but mostly underwhelming performance, which could have had an effect on me, but it's such a mixed overall achievement, that I was never truly impressed. Although there weren't any WOW! scenes, but I still liked this performance.

3. Marsha Mason in Cinderella Liberty

I can say about this very mysterious and hard-to-find performance, that I actually enjoyed it despite the fact that it's a bit failed effort or at least with me. I was never really touched by it, but I enjoyed it to a certain degree. I don't really see the brilliance in it, but I liked it.

2. Ellen Burstyn in The Exorcist

I can say that one of my favorite actresses gives my favorite performance of hers in a movie that's an old favorite. This is truly an amazing achievement by Ms. Burstyn, who's really at the top of her game. Excellent, extremely effective acting.

1. Glenda Jackson in A Touch of Class

This is not a typical Oscar-winning performance, but I'm really glad that it was honored, because it's an unforgettable, complex and extremely lovely work by a great actress. I'm sorry that there are not many people who appreciate it. I simply love it. Period.

So I can proudly announce

that my winner is...

Glenda Jackson

in

A Touch of Class

What a surprise! :-)

Final thoughts: Great year, not the best one ever, but I really enjoyed it after all. The overall standard of the movies covered a wide range from almost intolerably boring (Cinderella Liberty) to a cinematical masterpiece (The Exorcist). The performances were all at least good, I even enjoyed Woodward's acting, and that's something. I wouldn't say that the ranking was very difficult, though I was uncertain about #1 for a moment. But Glenda was a clear cut winner after all. I'm still shocked that there are many people hating this win. :(

Omissions:

• Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon *My Pick*
• Julie Christie in Don't Look Now

The ranking of the already reviewed years:

1. 1969
2. 1974
3. 1989
4. 1959
5. 1939
6. 2009
7. 1963
8. 1966
9. 1973
10. 1990
11. 1978
12. 1954
13. 1948
14. 2002
15. 1940
16. 1998

The next year is one that I wanted to do ever since I started these reviews. I know right now that it's going to be difficult to choose between two of the ladies. But the clues:

• Mommie dearest
• Being 30 at 13, being 13 at 30 (help: Who said something like this?)
• Heal me!

What do you think? Any thoughts, observations?

Note: With this, Ellen becomes the most reviewed actress so far along with Meryl. But I don't mind, she's really a big favorite of mine. And yet I have never given her a win, though I'm thinking about giving her the win for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. That Final Conclusion was rushed and I wanted to make her my pick even then but unfortunately I clicked Publish accidentally and there was already a comment. Gee. And I don't want to take Gena's win either. That's gonna be tough, but I guess I have to re-watch both movies before deciding.

Joanne Woodward in Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams

Joanne Woodward received her third Best Actress nomination for playing Rita Walden, an extremely depressed houswife in the hard-to-find movie, Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams. Somewhere I read that Joanne and Barbra were the front-runners to win the Oscar that year, though I myself think that Ellen Burstyn had a great chance of winning, too. I think that despite Joanne's success with the critics, she was probably only fourth or fifth in the voting. Her movie was not a huge hit, she was a previous winner etc.

Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams is a very strange movie: it's neither good nor bad as I said it's very strange. I could never understood the whole point of it (I guess it was an Oscar nomination for Woodward and Sidney), because it was changing the subject so fast and there wasn't enough time to make the impact last. So it's a failed effort partly, but the acting achievements are quite good, especially the one given by Martin Balsam. Not only did he deserve to be nominated, but he also would have deserved to win, in my opinion. I don't undestand Sylvia Sidney's nomination (OK, I get that it's a career nom) since she doesn't do anything except being bitchy for 5 minutes and have a heart attack. Though some people almost orgasm over her acting in this one. I really don't get it.

And there's Joanne Woodward, who's an actress that I just cannot stand. She's (almost) always too mannered, teary and quite annoying, or if she isn't (Mr. & Mrs. Bridge), she doesn't do anything interesting. Therefore, I did not have many expectations from her. Furthermore, I saw this movie a year ago or so and her achievement wasn't surprising. Clearly, this is a role written with an Oscar nomination in mind and I always felt that Woodward was also aware of that. She tries to be as showy as possible in order to make the audience like the performance. Strangely, she succeeds.

I don't like her in usual and that's why I was so surprised to be captivated by the beginning of her performance. It was so impressive and really grabbed my attention despite the fact that I was sleepy. I forgot everything and I only concentrated on Woodward's performance. I felt that she really understood the problems of Rita: she has nothing to do, she's bored, depressed, scared and fed up with her lifestyle. She just needs some changes in her life and has to come to terms with her son's homosexuality. Rita's also full of regrets and she just lives in her past: she cannot let it go, she still wants to be a little girl listening to the stories of her grandmother. Her reaction to her mother's death is so excellently played by Joanne: she's shocked doesn't understand a thing. She's just astonishing in these early scenes.

However, there comes the London part, after which her performance loses its strength and becomes almost as uninteresting as Mrs. Bridge. Her breakdown scene in the underground is just terrific, however. There are so many emotions right there and she really made it a very memorable moment that you cannot easily forget. Her suffering faces, her tears are both annoying and devastating. I don't if it was the right thing, but I liked it, because there was something that made this character very human. Although Rita is very unlikeable, I still cared about her and felt sorry for her.

After this scene, Martin Balsam takes over the movie and he's so terrific that he almost completely overshadows Woodward. I had to force myself to concentrate on Woodward as Balsam really stole the spotlight from her. His character was so interesting and so full of real pain and compared to him, Rita is so dull. And she doesn't get any other great scenes, either. She's not bad as she's able to keep up her strong presence, but she's just not the same anymore. It all becomes quite slow and a bit boring. The dramatic intensity of her performance is really uneven and in my opinion it's always much more fortunate if you're not that strong in the beginning, but you make a lasting impression in the end. In Woodward's case it's the other way around and the viewer is always (mostly) effected by the ending. In the very last scene, Woodward is quite good, even moving, but that crucial lasting effect was just missing and therefore the whole performance became quite lacking. That's too bad.

So after all, I saw an occasionally great, but mostly underwhelming performance, which could have had an effect on me, but it's such a mixed overall achievement, that I was never truly impressed. Although there weren't any WOW! scenes, but I still liked this performance of an actress that I dislike. Good job.

Again I wasn't certain about the rating. I was thinking about 3.5 and even 4.5, but I think that this is fine after all.

What do you think? Any predictions, thoughts?

P.S.: As you can see, I will finish 1973 in 2010, but that's no problem, I think.

The Next Year

1973

The nominees were:

• Ellen Burstyn in The Exorcist
• Glenda Jackson in A Touch of Class
• Marsha Mason in Cinderella Liberty
• Barbra Streisand in The Way We Were
• Joanne Woodward in Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams

OK, this seems to be a very controversial year because of its winner and the reaction of one of the nominees. So you must know how excited I am to do this year first in 2011. So let's just start (basically, it's 2010, but it will end in 2011).

I am using this new type of the nominees' picture as the old ones were too big I think, and changes fit a new year. :-)

What do you think? What's your ranking and who are you rooting for? What are your predictions for my ranking? The contest is on.

The Final Conclusion - Best Actress 1990

About the field: weaker than I expected. I was looking forward to it, but it wasn't very great. I'm a bit bitter to tell the truth. I love enjoying a year fully and I did not feel that with this one. Naturally,I loved #1 and #2 and the other others were not bad either, I just felt that something was missing. 1989 might have been too strong and I compared this to that. Glenn Close was really robbed: she absolutely rocked in Reversal of Fortune and should have won (not even nominated damn it). GAH! Only #1 got really close to her. But let's just see the not so surprising ranking, which was quite easy to do (especially picking the winner):

5. Joanne Woodward in Mr & Mrs Bridge

This is not an amazing achievement as it really did not touch me despite some strong and excellently solved scenes. Mostly, it's very slow and uninteresting, but she couldn't catch my attention even after the good moments. It's proper work, but far from fantastic.

4. Anjelica Huston in The Grifters

Anjelica Huston's performance in The Grifters is bit a mixed bag: there are moments of boredom and slowness, but then there's such intensity and mistery in it, which almost made me speechless. It's not flawless, but it's very memorable work by a talented actress.

3. Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman

This is not a performance to praise to high graces, but it's utterly charming, loveable, funny, entertaining acting, which is free of overacting and loud moments. It serves its purpuse quite properly and gets so much out of the screenplay, which is not the best every-written.

2. Meryl Streep in Postcards from the Edge

Although Meryl is a bit miscast (that's not her fault actually), her performance as the desperate Suzanne Vale is pitch-perfect: it's hilarious, a bit saddening, powerful, emotional and extremely loveable. Meryl nails all the aspects and faces of this characters and createst one of her most vibrant turns ever.

1. Kathy Bates in Misery

When writing about her, I try not to be influenced by her performance's iconic status, but I just cannot forget it. Annie Wilkes is in motion picture history and (to quote her) Kathy Bates "had a little something to do with that"). With this crazy character, she created one of the most memorable screen villians in history, who is going to scare us for a long time.

So I can proudly announce

that my winner is...

Kathy Bates in Misery

No, Kathy, I did not doubt your brilliance, I swear XD

Omissions: 

• Great Glenn Close in Reversal of Fortune 
• Laura Dern in Wild at Heart *My Pick*

The ranking of the already reviewed years:

1. 1974
2. 1989
3. 1959
4. 1939
5. 2009
6. 1963
7. 1990
8. 1978
9. 1954
10. 1948
11. 2002
12. 1940
13. 1998

About the next year: I think it's not going to be a big surprise, but let me tell you that the competition is very heated and not over yet, so you will know only when I announce the year. I really don't know what else to say, but I'm really looking forward to the next year. But more about that later. However, I will not do the runner-up year after the winner as I found a year, I'm crazy about and I want to do that. I can't wait. :)

What do you think? Any thoughts on your mind?

Joanne Woodward in Mr & Mrs Bridge

Joanne Woodward received her fourth Best Actress nomination for playing India Bridge, a devouted, but unhappy housewife in the Ivory-Merchant movie, Mr & Mrs Bridge. Along with Anjelica Huston, Woodward was the early front-runner for the award as I read somewhere, but I wouldn't be surprised if she turned out to be last in the voting. She was a previous Oscar winner, did not have a very baity role and the movie was not a huge success either. She had to make do with the nomination.

The movie seems to be very hated, therefore I was certainly scared to watch it. People said it's very boring and it is to a degree, but let me assure you that I have seen many movies much more boring than this. The Ivory-Merchant duo is not my favorite combination: they are the representatives of the slow, but quality dramas, meaning movies boring as hell. That's it. They got great actors for the parts: Paul Newman was (is) one of the greatest actors, and he's very good here, though don't expect this to be the role of his lifetime. However, I was certainly surprised by Blythe Danner, who gave an excellent supporting performance, which I loved from the beginning to the sad end. She was so great, that I would even give her a nomination.

Joanne Woodward is good. Hmm, I haven't been able to fully embrace the movies of Mrs. Newman, simply because I haven't seen enough of them. But from what I've seen of her, I can say that she is talented, but her style is just not my thing. It's so quietly depressing and a bit annoying as I think she did not find the balance between the neurotic nature and the silence of her characters.

The worst thing I can feel towards a performance is indifference. It's not bad, but not great either, and this really kills me. I love to feel strong emotions about everything: for me it's basically love or hate. You can see it in my grades: it's mostly either a 5 or a 3. That's it. But now I don't know what to say. First of all, the character of Mrs. Bridge is so boring and uninteresting. The writer so desperately wanted to give a dark side to it, but she always came across as sweet and caring. Yes, she certainly is sweet and caring, but this nature makes a character quite one-dimensional. She has this outbursts, but they just do not fit the situations. At the beginning of the movie, she says that she wants a divorce. Why? I mean, she seemed to be happy and then it changes just because of a novel. It's realistic, but not with Mrs. Bridge. It's not her, or at least not what the movie and Joanne show of her.

There are some stronged moments during the holiday scenes with her husband, for instance when she becomes teary after receiving a very expensive present. She's very sweet there and quite likeable, but soon after that she loses her strength. And I won't even say that there was more potential in the character, because there wasn't unfortunately. Joanne did everything possible, but that just wasn't satisfying.

There come scenes of slowness and boredom in which Joanne does not have much to do, except for being sweet and caring again. There's a scene where she asks her husband if he loves her, but that wasn't effective enough. I just did not felt the emotional strength in it.

However, her performance gains some of that strength after her daughter returns home at one night. That silence was quite impressive and I finally had some emotional connection to her. That's when her ultra subtlety worked and had some power. After a while, I started to enjoy her acting. But it's just too late in the movie.

Her grief scenes are however truly outstanding. She really made me a bit sad for her and the way she says "she was my best friend" is hearwrenching. It's not a moment of catharsis, but it's excellently handled by Woodward. But after that her performance paled again, even though I rooted for Joanne so much.

So, to sum up, this performance of Woodward is not an amazing achievement as it really did not touch me despite some strong and excellently solved scenes. Mostly, it's very slow and uninteresting, but she couldn't catch my attention even after the good moments. It's proper work, but far from fantastic.

So what do you think? The Final Conclusion comes very soon. Now you can't give official predictions, but I'm curious to read your thoughts (if you have some about Woodward, which I doubt as this is a very unintersting performance).

The Next Year

So let's just move along with our next year and I will do a decade I've ignored since the semi-pleasant experience of 1998. It seems to be a so called one-horse race, but I think everyone can surprise us and I'm sure that it will be competitive and nothing is for sure right here. But I won't go on talking.

1990

So the nominees were:

• Kathy Bates in Misery*
• Anjelica Huston in The Grifters
• Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman
• Meryl Streep in Postcards from the Edge
• Joanne Woodward in Mr. & Mrs. Bridge

So what do you think? Who would YOU pick? What's YOUR ranking? What's YOUR prediction for my ranking? The predicting contest is on.

As you can see, there's a poll on your right. Vote for the more interesting year. Basically, these are the next two years, but I'm so interested in both that I can't decide between them. So the decision is yours. If there's a tie, the person who wins the predicting contest decides.