The Final Conclusion - Best Actress 1937

1937

So the much anticipated ranking is:

5. Janet Gaynor in A Star is Born

I can say that Janet Gaynor is very good as Esther Blodgett/Vicki Lester but I can't say that she really is great. She's very charming, she's very loveable but the limits of her role prevented her from being truly outstanding in this part. As I said, she's really enjoyable but I couldn't help wanting a little bit more. It's lacking work but a good one, at least.

4. Luise Rainer in The Good Earth

This is a great performance and I can really understand thos who love it but I also understand the arguments against it. Still, Luise Rainer gives a very loveable and truly great performance as O-Lan which may not be for the ages but it is certainly very memorable and its emotional nature is truly impressive. Well done work with some incredible moments by a great actress.

3. Greta Garbo in Camille

I have to say that Garbo really succeeded in creating a very complex and likeable character and a great performance despite the fact that she obviously has her flaws. Still, Garbo's luminous presence and wonderful personality might make up for the weaker sequences. Overall, it's a great performance that I really liked, I am still feeling a bit strange about her.

2. Barbara Stanwyck in Stella Dallas

This is the weakest one of Barbara's nominated performances but I still really loved her performance as Stella Dallas. Although the character is quite unlikely and even a little bit confusing, Barbara makes her so entertaining in a very weird way. I can't explain why I liked her this much but I was really blown away by some of the scenes.

1. Irene Dunne in The Awful Truth

When I almost gave up on 1937, along came Irene Dunne to charm me with this incredible performance as Lucy Warriner. Not only does she give, what I consider one of the funniest performances ever, but she also breaks your heart a little bit as you really start to care about Lucy and her life. It's really incredible work and it's 100% right what Cary Grant said about Irene.

So I can proudly announce

that my winner is...

Irene Dunne

in

The Awful Truth

Ready for your speech?

Final thoughts: A good year but not a great one. Irene was an easy winner and the ranking of the nominees was incredibly easy. Only Irene was truly fantastic but Barbara was really-really close to that. Garbo might have even inspired Maria Callas with this role but she left me a little bit colder. Luise was very nice but not enough and the same goes for Janet Gaynor. Overall, I liked this year but it wasn't outstanding in any way. Plus, I had to say goodbye to Barbara Stanwyck as I've written about all of her nominated performances and that makes me really sad. :(

The ranking of the reviewed years:

1. 1944
2. 1969
3. 1974
4. 1989
5. 1959
6. 2006
7. 1996
8. 1964
9. 1939
10. 1977
11. 2010
12. 1997
13. 2009
14. 1980
15. 1941
16. 1972
17. 1963
18. 1966
19. 1973
20. 1983
21. 1937
22. 1990
23. 1978
24. 1954
25. 1948
26. 2002
27. 1957
28. 1940
29. 1998

About the next year: Wow, I looked for a special year to celebrate the first anniversary of the reviews and I found it. But before that, I'm doing a less special but interesting year. It's gonna be incredibly obvious after the clue :):

• I want to win! :@ GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH...
• I feel like a ..t on a .o. ..n ..o.!

What do you think?

Luise Rainer in The Good Earth

Luise Rainer received her second nomination and second consecutice Best Actress award for playing O-Lan, a slave becoming the wife of a poor Chinese peasant in The Good Earth. By this, Rainer become not only the first double winner in history, but she also caused very much controversy. I guess much of that comes from the fact that she won over huge stars like Greta Garbo, Irene Dunne and Barbara Standwyck who didn't go to win Oscars. They only had movies for the ages. Still, this win remains quite strange, very much like Hilary Swank's second win (though I really don't want to compare them).

The Good Earth is a very good but a bit too long (and maybe even boring) movie about the struggles and sufferings of a Chinese peasant family. I'd say that this movie really must have touched the members of the Academy and the viewers at the time. It shows a really devastating and (for its age) realistic portrait of poverty. Many people despise it for being politically incorrect as it features European actors as Chinese people. Yes, that's not the best but I think it was only because studios wanted to attract people with the names of the stars. In my opinion, this movie talks about Asian people with deep, real respect. So, overall, I can really recommend you this movie. It's really worth watching it at least once.

Luise Rainer is an actress that most people know as the one who won two Oscars first. Indeed, it's quite surprising that someone who didn't have a big Hollywood career was the first one in that. She didn't have many film roles after The Good Earth and that's probably because she rebelled against all the rules of Hollywood. Back than, Hollywood didn't tolerate rebels (even less than today) and that damaged Ms. Rainer's career in the motion picture industry. Still, I think that she's a truly great actress and it's no wonder that some of her scenes are shown at acting classes.

As I was watching Rainer's performance The Good Earth for the second time, I was looking for parallels with other works that I've reviewed on this blog in order to help me totally understand this work. To tell the truth, the very recent past came to my help and namely, Jennifer Lawrence. Yes, it's a very strange comparision but I think it's quite true. O-Lan and Ree Dolly are distant relatives in their strength in heart, their determination to fight for their family. Ree is more cheeky, however, and O-Lan is extremely humble. O-Lan is someone who (like Ree) experienced the darkest sides of life, humiliation and despair.

Luise Rainer didn't have to learn many lines for this movie but I think this was a really difficult part. O-Lan doesn't speak much and yet she communicates everything with her eyes and face. Rainer's excellent at playing with her face. Sometimes we don't even have to wait for what O-Lan might say, we can read from Rainer's face. Every thought, every emotion is right there and Luise, fortunately, never overplays the reactions of O-Lan. It can seem exaggerated, of course, but I think that fit O-Lan's personality. O-Lan had very strong emotions and Luise's firmness helped me understand that much easier.

I think what people don't realise is how strong O-Lan really is. Just picture the scene where her husband cannot kill the ox and then she does it. Because she has to. Yes, in a way, O-Lan is quite clichéd but somehow that never bothered me because of the purity of the character and Rainer's performance. O-Lan is a really unselfish and extremely loveable person and she wins over the audience's sympathy instantly, so Rainer's work is not thankless here.

However, the overall effect of the performance could have been stronger. It's mostly the fault of the screenplay as it didn't give enough time to Rainer to fully develop O-Lan's personality. She just doesn't have enough time and there could have been so brilliant moments and O-Lan had so many other great possibilities that Luise couldn't live with as the screenplay didn't let her.

This is a great performance and I can really understand thos who love it but I also understand the arguments against it. Still, Luise Rainer gives a very loveable and truly great performance as O-Lan which may not be for the ages but it is certainly very memorable and its emotional nature is truly impressive. Well done work with some incredible moments by a great actress.

What do you think? Irene is going to be next.

The Next Year

1937

So the nominees were:

• Irene Dunne in The Awful Truth
• Greta Garbo in Camille
• Janet Gaynor in A Star is Born
• Luise Rainer in The Good Earth
• Barbara Stanwyck in Stella Dallas

A fantastic looking year. All five of them are interesting in their ways and I can't wait to take a closer look at them. Unfortunately, this will be the last reviewed performance of the brilliant Barbara Stanwyck, so I'll write her review last. I'm curious about how I will react to Rainer, Dunne and especially Garbo for the second time and if I'll like Gaynor more than Garland. We'll see.

Could Barbara gain another win from me or will it be someone else? What's your ranking? What's going to be my ranking? The predicting contest is naturally on.