284. Mister 880

284. (24 Nov) Mister 880 (1950, Edmund Goulding) 40



Burt Lancaster hams it up as a Secret Service agent tracking down a counterfeiter. He has cute scenes opposite Dorothy McGuire as they great distracted from the task at hand by falling in love. But that no one suspects Edmund Gwenn, despite his constant presence at crime scenes and his fitting the profile, prevents this from feeling suspenseful or believable. Gwenn's Oscar nomination is absurd; just like in Miracle on 34th Street he's a genial old man with a courtroom scene, but there's no substance to this performance whatsoever.

Best Supporting Actor 1947: Results

5. Charles Bickford in The Farmer's Daughter- Bickford is certainly fine in his part, but nothing special. He perhaps could have stolen some scenes but he never is able to.

4. Thomas Gomez in Ride the Pink Horse- Although his part is fairly limited Gomez gives an enjoyable and charming performance that only adds to his film.

3. Edmund Gwenn in Miracle on 34th Street- Gwenn is not really a definitive Santa Clause by any means, and this is not any sort of great performance, but it is a good one where Gwenn makes Santa Clause just as kind and warm as he should be.

2. Robert Ryan in Crossfire- Robert Ryan plays the sort of role he became best known for and the truth is there is a reason he became known for this sort of role, because he was very good at it. This is not his best variation on this sort of character though.

1. Richard Widmark in Kiss of Death- There is no question for me who wins this year though as Widmark easily gives the most memorable and most effective performance out of the nominees. Widmark becomes basically invisible in his chilling creation of Tommy Udo a psychopath who only ever finds joy from what he does.

Best Supporting Actor 1947: Edmund Gwenn in Miracle on 34th Street

Edmund Gwenn won his Oscar from his first nomination for portraying Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street.

Miracle on 34th Street depicts the story of a Santa Clause who becomes the Santa Clause for the Macy's day parade and later for the store, the only problem is he claims he really is Santa Clause.

Edmund Gwenn I imagine won by a great deal for his performance here as Kris Kringle, since it is unlikely much consideration was given to Gomez and Bickford whose films received few nominations, and it certainly would not have gone to those rather nasty characters Ryan and Widmark play especially since neither have a single sympathetic quality. Also Miracle seems that it was likely second place for best picture considering it won story and screenplay, but it lost I feel only because the Academy wanted to seem important by going with the "important" picture.  

Also Gwenn is really not supporting in this film he is the subject of the film and the lead actor of the film, it is not an overly egregious nomination since there is at least the other lead of John Payne, but really Gwenn most certainly is lead. Also what is not to like about Santa Clause. This is not a only a unique nomination but also an exceedingly unique win as usually Santa Clause is not the sort of character one would expect to receive a nomination let alone an Oscar win.

This review is for the very day the film begins in, and it is hard to say anything bad about Santa Clause, but I won't let any of these factors change my view of Gwenn's performance. Gwenn really does not take any sort of unorthodox approach to playing Santa Clause he is nice and gentle as he should be. He is warm and kind just as he should be. There is also a bit of a no nonsense part of him though as he does not like people who do the wrong thing either. Gwenn even shows this aspect to be still Kris Kringle merely wishing that only everyone should be nice as well.

Gwenn really is just fine in the role of Santa Clause, but if you have seen Gwenn's other performances like in Mister 880 for example his performance is not that much of a stretch for him. This is basically how he played any nice old man role no differences to attempt to make him any more Santa Clause like in the least. His style of performance though most certainly works for the role though, and I have no issues with the way he plays it either. His Santa Clause certainly is not definitive in any fashion, but he is as he should be.

There certainly are wrong ways to play Santa Clause but most of the time he is on film it is not that hard to get him right, just have a kindly old man who has a beard or at least can grow one who just seems to be respectable not much more than that. Gwenn is not a definitive portrayal of Santa Clause by any means but he is one of the better ones. Gwenn is consistently good, but his performance is not even my favorite of the film that would go to the duo of Gene Lockhart as the rather pathetic judge, and William Frawley as his blunt campaign manager. Yes it most certianly is fun for Santa Clause to win the Oscar, but in the end this only just a good performance not a great one, and certainly not better than Richard Widmark.

Best Supporting Actor 1947

And the Nominees Were:

Robert Ryan in Crossfire

Richard Widmark in Kiss of Death

Edmund Gwenn in Miracle on 34th Street

Thomas Gomez in Ride the Pink Horse

Charles Bickford in The Farmer's Daughter

The Walking Dead

“The Walking Dead” (1936) offers one of Boris Karloff’s best performances in a nifty little hybrid mixing the horror and gangster genres. Like so many Warner Bros. films from that era, it runs a tight 64 minutes and packs an awful lot of story, incident and character in its short running time. The always snappy 1930s direction courtesy the great Michael Curtiz, evocative shadow cinematography from Hal Mohr, and a chilling music score by an uncredited Bernhard Kaun make this one a winner.

The first half of “The Walking Dead” is pretty much a straight gangster yarn. Ex-con John Ellman (Boris Karloff) is framed for the murder of a judge by a gang who has the city’s police and court systems under their rule. The gang includes Barton MacLane and Joe Sawyer, so you know you’re in a Warner Bros. film. Legal work for the gang is done by the seemingly respectable Ricardo Cortez, at his most smug.

Ellman is innocent which can be proved if two witnesses come forward. They’re played by Marguerite Churchill, leading lady to John Wayne in the epic “The Big Trail” (1930) and future Green Hornet Warren Hull. They’re a pair of lovers working with Dr. Beaumont (Edmund Gwenn), a scientist interested in restoring life to the dead. The couple don’t want to get involved, but conscience compels them to come forward at the last minute. It’s too late and Ellman is executed.

Ellman’s walk to the electric chair is a marvelous sequence. The piano-playing Ellman asks that music accompany him on his final walk. A lone prisoner plays the cello as Ellman, the warden and guards walk slowly to the electric chair. Curtiz uses tilted camera angles and deep shadows to augment the atmosphere. The lonely sound of the cello and the atmospheric lighting really put the sequence over.

Gwenn asks the governor to ship Ellman’s body to him right away to use in his experiments. Like a modern day Dr. Frankenstein, Gwenn uses electricity to restore life to Ellman. It’s interesting to see Karloff, minus the famous Frankenstein monster make-up, strapped to a laboratory table with electricity shooting all around him. Gwenn offers a nice contrast to the intensity of a Colin Clive. Gwenn is no raving mad scientist, but genuinely interested in advancing the cause of science.

Horror elements kick in during the second half, when Ellman tracks down members of the gang as a sort of Heavenly avenging angel. He doesn’t kill the gang members, but approaches them to ask, in Karloff’s best funereal voice, questions like, “Why did you have me killed?”

Being approached by the walking corpse of the man they framed is enough for the gang members to cause their own deaths, like running in fright and straight into an oncoming train. Dr. Beaumont believes Ellman experienced something when dead. Is God using Beaumont as a force to cause the gangsters to feel immense feelings of guilt and remorse? The climax, set in a beautifully atmospheric cemetary, suggests that, with the figures of angels and crucifixes on display.

Karloff is marvelous here. A great actor, he would have made a marvelous silent film actor. He’s one of those actors who can express much by saying little.

“The Walking Dead” again proves there was no genre where Michael Curtiz could not excel. His earlier horror films for Warner Bros., such as “Doctor X” (1932) and “Mystery of the Wax Museum” (1933) are rare for the period in introducing strong horror elements into urban settings. “The Walking Dead” continues that trend and is probably the best of the three.