Best Actress in a Supporting Role 1950: Hope Emerson in Caged

Hope Emerson received her only Oscar nomination for her performance as Evelyn Harper in Caged.

Caged is a very effective movie about a frightened young woman named Marie who is sent to prison for being an accessory to a robbery: the movie focuses on her time in jail and the horrible experiences she endures and how those experiences affect her. It's a very interesting movie that deals with a very important subject in a rather unique way: the movie is, for the most part, darkly realistic although some elements, some scenes and some characters in particular, veer into camp. Somehow, the realistic and campy elements blend together wonderfully creating a truly original and fascinating atmosphere that makes the movie one of a kind. The cast is uniformly very strong: Agnes Moorehead gives a very memorable performance as the sympathetic prison superintendent who is disheartened in seeing Marie slowly losing her innocence; Betty Garde is quite effective as a though prisoner who becomes the victim of a horrible, savage treatement and the rest of the supporting cast is very fine as well. 

Hope Emerson plays the role of Evelyn Harper, the sadistic, vicious, corrupt matron of the prison. In terms of physicality, Emerson is just perfect for the role: she carries herself in a menacing, imposing manner that already hints at the character's nature - you never once doubt the fear that the prisoners feel towards her and that's because Emerson never makes Evelyn's dangerousness in question. It's easy to take this part of her work for granted but the role could have actually been ridiculous in many ways: her character is exactly what I meant when I said that certain elements of the movie are campy, and Emerson does a great job in being indeed quite broad without ever becoming hammy or overly cartoonish. She perfectly sells some of the character's most extreme lines (such as her often repeated "Line up, you tramps!") without turning Evelyn into an overblown joke - she camps it up because that's exactly what the role requires but at the same time she never stops being a frightening and threatening villain. When she's on screen, she's a force to be reckoned with and naturally stands out within the ensemble. 

Evelyn Harper is a truly horrible person, a vile woman who uses the little power she has to turn other people's life into hell: Emerson is terrific in bringing the right amount of viciousness to the character and she really makes Evelyn the kind a villain you just hate. I really like her first scene with Eleanor Parker as she pretends to be nice - Emerson is actually rather entertaining in this scene as she clearly makes you see that Evelyn is lying and I love how under every seemingly nice word she seems to suggest an unspoken threat. Then of course there are the moment of physical abuse that are shocking and terrifying: Emerson is very good in portraying the brutality of Evelyn and she's even better in showing how much she enjoys seeing other people suffer. But my favorite moments of her performance are the subtler ones, the moments of psychological abuse: I absolutely love the scene in which Evelyn teases the prisoners by telling them the details of her relationship with her boyfriend. I just love the glimpse of malice inside of her eyes and the cruelty that lies beneath her calm words. 

So yes, I really like Hope Emerson's performance in Caged and I actually love certain elements of her portrayal but I have to admit that I'm not quite as big on her work as a whole as most people are. I think that the role of Evelyn and Emerson's performance fit perfectly the movie itself but if you look closely at the character/performance, there isn't actually that much to it. It's a performance that is mostly one-note, a fantastic note but still just one. Evelyn is the embodiment of cruelty and she makes for a fantastic villain in the world of Caged but at the same time there is too little nuance, too little depth in Emerson's performance to be something truly amazing. I don't blame Emerson for the shallowness of the performance - she makes the most out of the role and within its limitations she's actually great, and to be fair I don't think that anyone could have done much to add depth to the character. 

In the end, this is a great performance by Hope Emerson who manages to be a wonderfully unique villain, broad and campy yet still seriously menacing. The performance is sadly lacking in depth but everything else Emerson does with the role makes up for it. I truly believe that this is a great performance and I really like it a lot - just not quite as much as others. 

4/5