Re: 1938-1947 Best Actress Winners
Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 2:41 am
I thought this would be a runaway vote for Vivien Leigh but interestingly, it's not.
My vote goes to Olivia de Havilland whose performance in To Each His Own gets me every time. She was only 30 when she played her character from naive young woman to worldly-wise, no-nonsense business woman during the London blitz in this classic tearjerker. Her victory in the courts put her in the spotlight, but the performance speaks for itself.
Leigh is my second choice for her complex performance over nearly four hours of screen time.
Davis was the best of the nominees in 1938, but, yes, she would be better in other films of the decade and achieve her greatest performance in All About Eve early in the next.
Rogers was OK at best in the blah Kitty Foyle.
Fontaine and Bergman both won for awards that should have been won by Barbara Stanwyck. Bergman's best performances of the decade were in The Bells of St. Mary's, for which she should have won, and Notorious for which she wasn't even nominated.
Garson was splendid in both Mrs. Miniver and Random Harvest in 1942 and rightfully won her race.
Jones was surrounded by superb character actors who made her shine but her performance in The Song of Bernadette is mostly one of reaction, not action.
Crawford was good in Mildred Pierce, but she was better in Possessed and Daisy Kenyon two years later.
Young was effective in both The Farmer's Daughter and The Bishop's Wife in 1947, but neither is a knock-your-socks-off performance.
My vote goes to Olivia de Havilland whose performance in To Each His Own gets me every time. She was only 30 when she played her character from naive young woman to worldly-wise, no-nonsense business woman during the London blitz in this classic tearjerker. Her victory in the courts put her in the spotlight, but the performance speaks for itself.
Leigh is my second choice for her complex performance over nearly four hours of screen time.
Davis was the best of the nominees in 1938, but, yes, she would be better in other films of the decade and achieve her greatest performance in All About Eve early in the next.
Rogers was OK at best in the blah Kitty Foyle.
Fontaine and Bergman both won for awards that should have been won by Barbara Stanwyck. Bergman's best performances of the decade were in The Bells of St. Mary's, for which she should have won, and Notorious for which she wasn't even nominated.
Garson was splendid in both Mrs. Miniver and Random Harvest in 1942 and rightfully won her race.
Jones was surrounded by superb character actors who made her shine but her performance in The Song of Bernadette is mostly one of reaction, not action.
Crawford was good in Mildred Pierce, but she was better in Possessed and Daisy Kenyon two years later.
Young was effective in both The Farmer's Daughter and The Bishop's Wife in 1947, but neither is a knock-your-socks-off performance.