Alternate Best Actor 1937: Results

5. Claude Rains in They Won't Forget- Rains does his best and puts a great deal of effort in his performance, but his character unfortunately is paper thin.

4. Victor Moore in Make Way For Tomorrow- Moore gives a moving quiet performance of a man who witnesses society pass him by.

2 . Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in Way Out West- There is no reason to separate them as together they create the greatest comedy duo ever, and show well there unique talent together in this film. ( In the overall rank I merely put them in alphabetical order.)

1. Cary Grant in The Awful Truth- Grant gives an entertaining and enjoyable performance that is a terrific example of his abilities as the lead of a romantic comedy.

Overall Rank:

1. Robert Montgomery in Night Must Fall
2. Cary Grant in The Awful Truth
3. Oliver Hardy in Way Out West
4. Stan Laurel in Way Out West
5. Fredric March in A Star is Born
6. Ronald Colman in Lost Horizon
7. Victor Moore in Make Way For Tomorrow
8. Charles Boyer in Conquest
9. Paul Muni in The Life Emile Zola
10. Freddie Bartholomew in Captains Courageous  
11. Claude Rains in They Won't Forget
12. Paul Muni in the Good Earth
13. Roland Young in Topper
14. Cary Grant in Topper
15. Edward Norris in They Won't Forget
16. Spencer Tracy in Captains Courageous 
17. Jon Hall in The Hurricane

Next Year: 1974

Alternate Best Actor 1937: Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel in Way Out West

Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel did not receive Oscar nominations for portraying Ollie and Stan in Way Out West.

Way Out West is a very enjoyable comedy in the Laurel and Hardy cannon as the two attempt to bring a deed to a successful mine to its rightful owner.

I am not reviewing these separately because it never for a moment crossed my mind and it is impossible for me to talk about one performance without talking about the other. They are through and through a team so much so that after Hardy died Laurel refused to ever be in a film again because he could not share the screen with Hardy. They are the greatest comedic duo of all time as far as I am concerned, and they are easily my favorite of the early film comedians. There is something though I should note that in all of the performances together as the pair Laurel and Hardy, or at least all that I have seen so far, they always play the same characters Ollie and Stan.

Although their films can result in many different situations and sometimes result in the death of at least one of them, they are always ready for another go in the very next film. They always a pair of seemingly downtrodden fellows who are always more than happy to help others even if it can be quite detrimental to themselves, or as well they can find an opponent they must deal with. In any situation craziness is sure to ensue as well as hilarity. I will only review them here together only because their roles are rather consistent, as they should since their comedy never gets old, and I chose this film simply because it is one of the very best examples of their talents.

This time they head into an old west town to get a deed to its proper owner and of course run into plenty of trouble a hilarious slapstick humor on their way their. I should say one thing that makes the two's humor work so marvelously is how gentle they are well suffering all sorts of physical pain. Both Laurel and Hardy never stop being soft spoken in any situation and their gentlemanly manner that both carry so well is just hilarious. They take every fall just so well that makes it as easy as possible through and through, and their resolve to push through in a completely pleasant fashion makes them just so likable.

I should take each of them at a time and I might as well start with the simpler (dumber) of the two Stan. Laurel face is absolutely priceless in just his simple expression of the lack of thought inside of his head at times. Laurel has a certain matter of fact quality to his performance that every thing that Stan does whether it is taking joy in eating a hat, nonchalantly lighting his thumb on fire, or seeing his friend fall mysteriously into water that seemed shallow a second ago Laurel always shows it to be nothing at all out of the ordinary for Stan despite how strange his abilities might at time.

As for Ollie Hardy shows Ollie to have quite a bit more of a sense about what is going on although he takes pretty much everything in stride, and at worst gives Stan a little push. Hardy is equally terrific in being the man taken aback though by everything happening whether it is with a loud yell from a fall, a quick polite hand gesture in an awkward situation, or his hilarious stares toward the camera when reacting to Stan. Hardy just delivers one great reaction after another with his performance always playing off Laurel in perfect harmony resulting in comedic greatness.

These two never fail to bring a smile to my face in any situation. Their comedic timing has few rivals and they always amplify every physical gag through their spot on facial or physical reactions. They are equally strong though in their kindly banter between the two with Hardy's displaying Ollie's more proper manner in speaking that plays off well against Laurel's depiction of Stan's rather more blunt method at times. They are both hilarious and equals in almost every way but one which is that Hardy is a far more talented singer, but still though both wonderful in their entertaining rendition of "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine".

These two are simply a joy to watch throughout the film. The only problem is how I could possibly rate their performances. They are both perfect in their depiction of Stan and Ollie. Sure their performances are not technically original in that they are playing parts, their performances never get old. These two are giving their very best, which they consistently did through every performance, although I would say this film is an especially strong example of their talent.  I am a bit torn as giving them a five might seem unfair to actors portraying completely different characters and portraying more of an arc, but giving them less for being so good at exactly what they should be good at seems unfair as well. I am going to have think more about this I must say and right now for the moment I will just say I love both of these performances. (Updated I will settle for 4.5 great performances but technically speaking not ground breaking).

Alternate Best Actor 1937

And the Nominees Were Not:

Oliver Hardy in Way Out West

Stan Laurel in Way Out West

Cary Grant in The Awful Truth

Claude Rains in They Won't Forget

Victor Moore in Make Way For Tomorrow

The Fighting Kentuckian

“The Fighting Kentuckian” (1949) is a curious film in John Wayne’s career. I can see him gritting his teeth in frustration at the pedestrian role, but because he was the film’s producer, he has only himself to blame.

It comes smack in the middle of a stretch of incredible films, with a series of roles that really stretched him as an actor. “Red River” (1948), “Fort Apache” (1948), “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” (1949) and his Oscar-nominated role in “Sands of Iwo Jima” (1949) easily put to bed the stereotype of an actor who only played himself. These are some of his best performances, with each character having his own unique personality. His Nathan Brittles in Yellow Ribbon is a much different leader of men than his Sgt. Stryker in Iwo Jima.

But Wayne was still under contract to Republic Pictures, the M-G-M of Poverty Row studios. The biggest name on the Republic roster, studio chief Herbert Yates was not ready to allow his biggest star to leave for greener pastures. Loan outs were one thing, but not a complete abandonment of the home studio. To keep Wayne happy, Yates set up a production company for him, whose first film was the fondly remembered “Angel and the Badman” (1947), a solid winner for Republic.

Wayne’s second film as producer was “The Fighting Kentuckian” and it’s pretty undistinguished. As an action film, its pleasures are few and the action climax is probably the weakest and most forgettable of any Wayne film.

The film is most remembered today for giving Oliver Hardy a rare solo appearance. Wayne desperately Hardy for the role of Willie Paine, Wayne’s friend in the Kentucky unit, but Hardy refused. He felt loyal to long time screen partner Stan Laurel and did not want it to appear that the team was breaking up. Only after Stan gave his blessings to Ollie to accept the role did Hardy say yes to Wayne.

He’s a delight, as he always is, and one wishes he had been given more solo assignments. But when one realizes that the comedy relief is the best thing about a John Wayne western, you know something went wrong.

(As a boy, I had a Super 8 version of this film with select highlights, almost all of which included Oliver Hardy. The people that put together that version knew what they were doing.)

The film’s story line is promising, and somewhat unusual. Despite the film’s title, the story takes place in Alabama, circa 1818. Wayne and his band of Kentuckians help foil a plot to steal land promised to a group of Bonapartists, a group of French citizens exiled from France after Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo. Wayne becomes involved after falling in love with Fleurette (Vera Ralston, aka Mrs. Herbert Yates), one of the exiles.

Ralston gets a lot of flak from people. Wayne didn’t think much of her, and resented Yates’ insistence that he use her. Wayne didn’t think the Czech-born Ralston could convincingly play a French woman, and felt the film suffered for it. But she’s no worse than any other young contract player, and the film’s faults lay elsewhere.

The plot is needlessly convoluted, and one is never quite sure who is doing what to whom and why. I’ve seen the film several times over the years and some of the plot’s machinations still leave me confused. Director George Waggner also wrote the script, and he would have been better off giving the writing assignment to someone else. He and Wayne would fare much better two years later with a superior WWII submarine flick “Operation Pacific” (1951).

In addition to Oliver Hardy, the film’s highpoint is the superior musical score of George Antheil. In the 1920s and 1930s he was one of the most notorious figures of the symphonic music world, and even earned the nickname the “Bad Boy of Music.” To augment his concert hall commissions, he wrote film scores, for Cecil B. DeMille in the 1930s and in the 1940s wrote some very interesting scores at Republic. His music for one of their A westerns, “The Plainsman and the Lady” (1946), is very striking and quite modernistic.

For “The Fighting Kentuckian” Antheil provides a lovely frontier soundscape, with the late reel chase and battle scenes scored with all kinds of variations on “Comin’ Round the Mountain” and “La Marseillaise”. If Charles Ives saw this in the theater, he no doubt was nodding his head in approval.

There’s also a memorable sequence where some musicians play a very nice piece at a party, and it sounds like it could be an original piece by Antheil and not source music that he adapted. While the piece is being performed, a couple of the players (including Ollie) do solo turns, and one plays the violin with this teeth, like something one would see the Spike Jones band do. The solos are very striking, as is the entire piece, which leads me to think it’s an original Antheil composition.

“The Fighting Kentuckian” makes for pleasant viewing, but hardly memorable. It’s probably the last B-type movie Wayne would make. He was getting too big for such inconsequential assignments. I’m sure he was forever grateful to Republic for building up his career, but the time was to move on. The next year, he made for Republic “Rio Grande” with Maureen O’Hara and John Ford. Yates asked for a western from them in return for financing “The Quiet Man” (1952).

If “The Fighting Kentuckian”, in a small way, helped “The Quiet Man” get made, then I’m glad to have it.