And the nominees were:
“Kentucky” was a 20th Century Fox picture that starred Loretta Young caught up in a love story complicated by a family feud that dated back to the Civil War days. The feud is shown as a prologue, before the action of the picture moves to the present day (1938). As her crotchety Uncle Peter, Walter Brennan gives more of a cartoon caricature rather than an actual performance; it’s like an elderly, real-life version of Looney Tunes’ “Yosemite Sam”. Peter, who was a small boy in the prologue, carries on with the feud, and rather than being an entertaining old coot, he’s really an annoying old cuss. He talks louder than everyone else in the movie; he hollers and growls and gives a really over the top performance that wasn’t really worthy of a nomination. Of the three Oscars he received during his career, this is the one that was the least deserved.
“Four Daughters” was a Warner Brothers release that was at heart a fancy soap opera about the troubled love lives of the title characters, all members of a musical family, the Lemps. there is a kindly widowed father, his elderly sister (all crusty on the outside, but gooey on the inside), and the four daughters of the title: Ann, Emma, Kay, and Thea. The picture is pretty slow going until the arrival of cynical, hard-living musical prodigy Mickey Borden, played by Garfield. Mickey may have talent, but he’s determined to waste it on reckless living, which includes upsetting the plans of recently engaged Ann. Their marriage is troubled from the start, but as Garfield’s character goes downhill, his acting becomes even better. He gives a fresh performance, that adds energy to what is for the most part, a pretty picture-book of a movie.
“Agiers” concerned the lives of a group of con artists and thieves who turn on each other with speed and no loyalty to anyone except themselves. Regis, played by Gene Lockhart, is envious of the fame and success of his companion Pepe Le Moko (Charles Boyer), and hatches a plan with the police to catch the notorious Pepe by luring him out of the impenetrable Casbah. Regis is a professional weasel and stool pigeon, and thinks he has the upper hand, but Pepe traps the rat in his own game and employs a slow torture to make Regis completely aware of just how much trouble he’s in. Lockhart gives a good performance in what is a fairly interesting supporting role, but there’s really nothing special here that other actors couldn’t have done just as well.
“Marie Antoinette” was a grand MGM spectacle of the famed French Queen and her various scandals. Though the film was built around (and showcases very well) the talents of leading lady Norma Shearer, Robert Morley is a standout in the role of Dauphin (and later King Louis XVI). Morley plays him as a backward, somewhat slow-witted man child more interested in tinkering with clocks than with either being married or occupying a throne. Morley has some wonderful scenes: his introduction to Marie, where he tries to remember a hopelessly memorized greeting, then later standing up to his father (the King) when the plans for his marriage to be annulled and for Marie to be sent back to Austria, and a well-played scene with his young son the night before his execution. The moon-faced Morley was a gifted character actor, and he succeeds in making Louis a complex character, as opposed to a caricature.
As French poet turned political activist Francois Villon, Ronald Colman is dashing and suave as he helps the starving peasants of Paris by stealing from the storehouses of King Louis XI (Rathbone). If this sounds slightly Robin Hood-esque, it's probably intentional. And the reason Colman rather than Errol Flynn played the part of Francois was because Flynn was already playing Robin Hood in Warner Brothers 1938 classic version of the famous legend. Rathbone's nomination was earned for a quirky, eccentric performance as the king. He cackles so much he seems to be auditioning to play the Wicked Witch in "The Wizard of Oz", and his inspired luncay makes up for Colman's noble gallantry. And though the king may indeed be crazy, he's no fool, as he makes Francois Grand Constable after he helps reveal a traitor in the court. But Louis plans to set up Francois and make him pay for his own crimes against the crown.
Sadly Overlooked:
My Ranking:
Of the five official Academy nominees, my choice for the winner would be Robert Morley for "Marie Antoinette". Morley gave a complex, sympathetic performance in the film and showed his range as an actor in a variety of scenes. In second place, I'd choose Basil Rathbone for "If I Were King". It's a hammy performance, yes, but it's so out-there that you can't help but notice and be entertained by it. John Garfield in "Four Daughters" comes in third, and would probably have been rated higher if the film itself weren't so sappy. Original winner Brennan is my fourth choice, and as I said earlier, the award was not deserved for a performance like this. His acting was just as overdone as Rathbone's was, but to me Brennan's work distracted me from the movie; it was just too much. In fifth place I'll leave Gene Lockhart, who was good in his part in "Algiers" but in the end, nothing very special or especially memorable. Had he been nominated at all, I'd have ranked Ayers in second place behind Morley, who really deseved to be an Oscar winner for this role.
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