Best Actor 1942

[The Original BJ]

Okay, I voted for Cagney along with the majority...

...but oh, how I wanted to be the sole vote for Ronald Colman! I actually really like Random Harvest -- I think it's a beautiful love story -- and the appeal of the two leads is part of what draws me to it so much. Colman's quiet reserve is so touching, his eyes so aching, that your heart just aches watching his subtle, lovely work.

But Cagney's performance is so iconic that he got my vote anyway, though I will slightly disagree with the statement that he towers over the lineup. Maybe it's the fact that I'm not all that crazy about Yankee Doodle Dandy, and I feel like I should be -- I love musicals, and Americana, and the Cohan songbook. But for me, this is mostly a standard musical biopic, albeit one elevated by the Cagney performance. That said, the pure physicality of the actor's work here put him over the top for me -- his dance numbers are just electrifying -- and this performance remains the most singular achievement in this field.

I agree with what Mister Tee said about Gary Cooper in another year: I find some of his work in comedies delightful, but find him fairly dull in dramas. I do think his work in Pride of the Yankees was among his stronger dramatic efforts -- it's hard not to be moved by the "I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth" speech -- but it's still not really exciting enough for me to choose.

Until yesterday, I had no idea that The Pied Piper was such an elusive film, as I'd been able to see it with ease. As for its star, Monty Woolley was Monty Woolley, which is to say, he was entertaining enough within his usual persona, but certainly not special enough to merit consideration.

I wonder if today Walter Pidgeon would be nominated in support. In fact, my first thought regarding his performance was that he provided solid enough support to Greer Garson. Then I remembered that he did have leading man screen time. But it sure doesn't FEEL like a dominant lead role, and it's hard for me to seriously consider work like this for Best Actor, even though he's dependable enough.

I agree that both of Joel McCrea's wonderful comic performances (Sullivan's Travels especially) as well as Jack Benny's merited notice over most of those actually nominated.

[Bruce_Lavigne]

Cagney. Easily. I share many of Damien's reservations about Yankee Doodle Dandy as a movie, but watching Cagney's master class in the joy of performance, I find it impossible to care about any of them. Yet another of those performances I'd likely vote for no matter who else was nominated up against them -- and in this case, Cagney's competition was thoroughly unengaging. (I haven't seen The Pied Piper, and I haven't heard anything to make me feel like I'm missing much.)



Edited By Bruce_Lavigne on 1298414928

[markyboo]

Cagney, plain and simple - one of my favorite Oscar-winning performances.

[Damien]

I haven't seen The Pied Piper, but Monty Wooley's particular brand of twinkling gruffness never appealed to me, so I feel safe to proceed knowing that it's highly improbable that he'd change my vote.

Pride Of The Yankees is Gary Cooper's best performance. The role fits him like a glove, and he's charming and he does stoicism quite well. And the movie itself is so good that even inveterate Yankee-haters can hold it dear. But, still, we're talking about Gary Cooper, who was no actor.

Ronald Colman's voice alone is enough to make one happy that sound came to movies. It is such a glorious and moving instrument. But I prefer Colman when he's being rugged and romantic, with a certain world-weariness (A Tale of Two Cities probably being his finest hour). Even for someone who is crazy for MGM Anglophilia, Random Harvest is a tough slog. It's just so silly, and while Colman and Greer Garson do their best to imbue the material with intelligence and grace, the hokey-ness wins out.

James Cagney is one of the greatest of all screen actors, with a unique style and an effortless technique. So many memorable performances over the years. But Yankee Doodle Dandy has always given me a pain. All that damn flag-waving, a dozen or so old timey Cohan songs I'd be happy never to hear again, and a typically corny plot, and Cagney runs roughshod over all this dreary nonsense. (Thank goodness S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall is around to liven things up.) It's one of the only times (and maybe THE only time) I find James Cagney uninteresting.

Greer Garson, of course, received most of the acclaim for Mrs. Miniver, but Walter Pidgeon is her equal partner and matches her work every step of the way. This lovely actor is perfectly cast, ultimately revealing a deep inner strength beneath his gentle exterior, and as such he was a perfect metaphor for England herself. And in their wonderfully genteel way, he and Garson perfectly convey marital love the same way William Powell and Myrna Loy did in their wonderfully goofy way. I enthusiastically cast my vote for Walter Pidgeon.

My Own Top 5:
1. Robert Young in Journey For Margaret
2. Walter Pidgeon in Mrs. Miniver
3. Eric Portman in The 49th Parallel (The Invaders)
4. Jack Benny in To Be Or Not To Be
5. Errol Flynn in Gentleman Jim



Edited By Damien on 1298401895

[Precious Doll]

In general, the 'sports' film is one of my least favorite genres, though I am partial to golf and baseball themed films. The Pride of the Yankees is one of the very best of this sub genre and Gary Cooper give his best of many great performances. He gets my vote.

My choices:

1. Gary Cooper for The Pride of the Yankees
2. Ronald Colman for Random Harvest
3. Errol Flynn for Gentleman Jim
4. Monty Wooley for The Man Who Came to Dinner
5. Tyrone Power for Son of Fury

[Reza]

I won't have to time to do a full write-up on this category until tomorrow, but Mister Tee, you can see The Pied Piper in fairly good quality on YouTube. Search for ThPdPprA and watch through ThPdPprH.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. I'll be sure to do just that........have been searching for this film, like, forever !!

I really like both Ronald Colman and Walter Pidgeon in their performances of the ''Lord'' of the Manor, one slightly below in staus to the other. They both perfectly capture the ''type''.

Haven't seen Cooper's performance in years and hardly recall it but it seems he was good as per the comments about it on this Board.

However, I agree the year belongs to Cagney. Yes, what a joyous performance, especially coming after all those brilliant turns as vicious gangsters and low lifes. He was clearly not typecast.

My picks for 1942:

James Cagney, Yankee Doodle Dandy
Spencer Tracy, Woman of the Year
Joel McCrea, Sullivan's Travels
Walter Pidgeon, Mrs. Miniver
Ronald Colman, Random Harvest



Edited By Reza on 1298356804

[The Original BJ]

I won't have to time to do a full write-up on this category until tomorrow, but Mister Tee, you can see The Pied Piper in fairly good quality on YouTube. Search for ThPdPprA and watch through ThPdPprH.

[Mister Tee]

The Academy proved, for the umpteenth time, it had little respect for comedy, leaving out Jack Benny in To Be or Not to Be ("So they call me Concentration Camp Erhahrdt..") and Joel McCrea in both Sullivan's Travels AND The Palm Beach Story.

I've given The Pied Piper 45 years to cross my path, and it's never taken the opportunity. I'm not going to let it stop my voting here...not when I have someone I'm so enthusiastic about. Besides, I can't say I've ever found Monty Woolley any more than a serviceable character actor of the curmudgeonly variety. I see no way he'd top my choice this year.

Walter Pidgeon is a very likable, thoroughly dependable actor, but his two nominations both feel like "he was in the movie, too" citations. Nice for him, I guess, but meaningless for the Oscars. (He did have one of my favorite rejoinders ever about the Oscars. Back in the 70s, Johnny Carson, saying he couldn't recall, asked had Pidgeon ever won an Oscar? Pidgeon leaned in and said, "No, John, I haven't -- but I've lent money to some who have")

I've always wanted Random Harvest to be better. It's the most famous amnesiac movie of its time, and it deserves a better plot than this (for me, when Garson comes walking in as his secretary, all the juice in the movie is drained) Ronald Colman is fine in his role, but he was never a particularly deep actor, and I don't give him any consideration here.

Gary Cooper is my runner-up, and you can feel free to attribute that to my Yankee fandom. I'll never be entirely crazy about Cooper's homespun shtik, but at least here he seems a perfect match for his notoriously straight-arrow model.

But the winner by a mile is James Cagney. There are all kinds of ways in which a performance can be outstanding, but this may be the premiere example of one that's great simply because it's so infused with joy. I can't watch ten minutes of this movie without starting to beam. And, when highlights like his Give My Regards to Broadway dance arrive -- a number where he seems as close to flying as anyone before Baryshnikov ever did -- I approach euphoria.

I probably shouldn't say this -- it might get someone's back up and affect their vote. But, for me, this vote ought to be in Leigh/Gone With the Wind territory...one of the most thrilling performances of the era, towering over a lackluster slate. If that isn't the outcome, I'll question whether consensus is possible over damn near anything anymore.

[Big Magilla]

James Cagney at the top of his game as George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy is impossible not to like.

Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig in The Pride of the Yankees comes is also pretty terrific and Ronald Colman as the amnesiac in Random Harvest is a much deserved nominee.

Monty Woolley playing a variation on his crusty Man Who Came to Dinner persona in The Pied Piper and Walter Pidgeon as Mr. Greer Garson in Mrs. Miniver are fillers, but why they needed fillers when Joel McCrea in Sullivans Travels and Spencer Tracy in Woman of the Year were obvious contenders, is beyond me.

Voted for Cagney.