1931 Best Picture Oscar

It's Irene Dunne night on TCM, and they showed _Cimarron_. It was better than the Glenn Ford _Cimarron_ and the Tom Cruise _Far and Away_, but <yawn> ... *this* was better than _City Lights_?! Oh, I forgot, CL wasn't even nominated so it's not as if _Cimarron_ actually beat out CL for the Oscar.

Now, *there's* an actress who doesn't receive enough attention by film historians. She could do straight drama, screwball comedy, had a sweet soprano ('Show Boat', probably one of Hollywood's most versatile star performers.

The Glenn Ford version was dead on the screen.

But Hollywood's failure to honor Chaplin with a competitive Oscar (especially for 'The Great Dictator' is inexplicable. (I don't count 'Limelight' and the 1972 consolation Oscar.) However, Garbo never received an Oscar. Nor did Alfred Hitchcock (the 'Rebecca' award was given to Selznick for producing.), which is astounding.

Ah! Another 'Show Boat' fan (although I must admit it's Helen Morgan who knocks me out in THAT film ).

I think there's a prejudice against comedians when people consider acting. I remember watching Laurel and Hardy's 'Our Relations' and being struck by a scene in which Hardy has to render various stages of 'dumb' in response to whatever's going on. When it's well done, this kind of thing just flows by and you accept it, until you think about how hard it must be to do. Did you ever once watch a W.C. Fields movie and have the word 'actor' enter into your head? Never, right? The guy's so good that it's subconsciously inconcievable that he could have been anything other than that character OFF screen, so it's hardly acting at all... or is it?

Chaplin, on the other hand, had a different (and unique?) style. To me, you never think: 'Charlie must really be The Tramp', but 'Charlie must really be that guy who I see CONSTANTLY winking at me from behind The Tramp.' To me, Chaplin is ALWAYS 'on.' Always the showman. Always fully aware of his brilliant comedic abilities and his ability to manipulate the emotions of his audience. Like Al Jolson, I don't think he's up there to act. I think he's up there to entertain. Perhaps this helps us understand why the Academy ignored him.

Maybe I haven't seen the right Garbo films, but I don't think of her as a great actress, either. Certainly, until I saw some of her silents, I didn't even understand what the fuss was about. She had mystique, surely, but her acting leaves me cold (and it's not her accent, either, since I think Ingrid Bergman was a great actress and she certainly had an accent to deal with as well). As for Hitchcock... well, you got me there, because if Hitchcock wasn't a great director, no one was.

She was wonderful in 'The White Cliffs of Dover'

She is especially charming in 'Joy of Living.' There really isn't anyone like Dunne today...except perhaps Meryl Streep when she was younger. Like Robert Montgomery, she became active in Republican politics and retired in the 50s . (Montgomery is another undeservedly under-appreciated performer, giving elegant, witty, and intelligent star performances for over 20 years.)

Yes, but Hollywood has often given awards based on past undeserved losses, like Paul Newman for 'The Color of Money.' Or John Wayne for 'True Grit' Or Jimmy Stewart for 'The Philadelphia Story' All of these were really for previous performances.

For some reason, this didn't happen in the cases of Garbo, Hitchcock and Chaplin.

I agree about Vivien Leigh in GWTW....I can't imagine Paulette Goddard (Chaplin topic reference!) duplicating any aspect of that tour de force...as I said once before, I'm glad that CC wanted to tweak bourgeois morality by not defining his marital status....we were given the greatest performance by an actress in the sound era as a consequence.

A-ha!

I *knew* there was a subterranean political agenda working here.

So she became a Republican activist, therefore she's a great actress.

Typical, just typical...

Why don't you mention Clara Bow (who used to write fan letters to Barry Goldwater) while you're at it ?

Tom Moran
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Typical, Tom, just typical.

Only a churl like you would compare Irene Dunne's UN appointment by Eisenhower to a mentally-disturbed actresses fan letters to Goldwater.

George Shelps

But Hollywood's failure to honor Chaplin with a competitive Oscar (especially for 'The Great Dictator' is inexplicable.

Hanhuck harkens...

I think that's the general feeling among Academy members, but if you ask actors themselves, they will tell you that comedy is far more difficult to do. What was that famous phrase: 'Dying is easy, comedy is hard.'

~ Crooner

Oh, come on. 'Is Chaplin a great actor' is a perfectly valid topic. I hate to see it turn into another George/Tom sparring match.