Best Actress in a Supporting Role 1950: Thelma Ritter in All About Eve

Thelma Ritter received her first Oscar nomination for her performance as Birdie Coonan in All About Eve.

All About Eve is a fantastic movie about a seemingly naive young woman who becomes the assistant of an acclaimed stage actress while slyly working her way to the top. It's an absolutely amazing movie that benefits from a brilliant screenplay and a terrific ensemble. Even if Joseph L. Mankiewicz's direction isn't particularly noteworthy it's still more than adequate and the other elements in the movie completely make up for it anyway. It's absorbing and captivating from the very beginning until the brilliantly conceived ending. 

Thelma Ritter plays Birdie Coonan, the maid of the aging actress Margo Channing (played by Bette Davis). Birdie is the kind of role that Thelma Ritter played many times throughout her carrer, the sassy, wisecracking friend: it's a role that allows Ritter to be funny and scene-stealing (and she really owns this type of part) but that rarely gives her the occasion to be truly great. Of course, there are exceptions: for example, in Rear Window Ritter managed to leave a stronger impact as she not only is the comic relief of the movie but she also does a great job in building up the tense once the mystery starts. Unfortunately, Birdie is not an exception: it's not a particularly original example of this type of character and while Ritter delivers a fine, enjoyable performance her work in this movie ultimately feels a bit like an afterthought; when you think of All About Eve, Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders and Celeste Holm come to your mind - not Thelma Ritter. 

Still, I don't want to sound negative about her performance as it is not bad at all. She could sell one-liners like no others -  "Well, she's on her way, with half the man in the joint", "I haven't got a union, I'm slave labour" and "She's got two things to do: carry clothes and press 'em wrong" are only a few of her excellent line-deliveries. Ritter has a brilliant comedic timing and she is indeed very funny whenever she appears. She also has a very strong and captivating screen-presence and she actually manages to leave some sort of an impact as she never actually passes unnoticed,  but at the same time I couldn't help but feel the she was a bit overshadowed - not because her acting was weaker but because the role of Birdie is incredibly limited when compared to Margo, Eve, Addison or Karen. We don't know much about Birdie and while the movie leaves some interesting clues about her past (Birdie used to be a vaudevillian) Ritter never actually gets the chance to explore and they ultimately remain like a missed opportunity. To Ritter's credit, she actually brings a lot of energy and dedication to her performance despite the fact that Birdie is a role she could have pulled off in her sleep. 

Birdie sort of serves as the conscience of the movie since she is the only one who realizes right from the beginning that Eve is not quite as naive and innocent as she claims to be. Thelma Ritter is very good in bringing the right sort of disdain in her interactions with Anne Baxter and she is quite effective in foreshadowing the eventual revelation of Eve's true nature, but even in doing this she is quite limited since her character disappears midway through the movie and never appears again. I suppose Ritter is praiseworthy for the fact that I wanted more of her, but the fact is that I wanted more of her not quite because I was enjoying her work but rather because I had the feeling that something was missing. 

I admire Thelma Ritter for trying to add dimensions and substance to a stock role but ultimately her performance is never anything more than good to me. No one could have been better than her in the role and she is indeed quite enjoyable whenever she is on screen but unfortunately the role is too limited, too underdeveloped for her to be truly remarkable. In the end it's a quite good performance in a brilliant movie. 

3/5