Best Actress in a Supporting Role 1940: Marjorie Rambeau in Primrose Path

Marjorie Rambeau received her first Oscar nomination for her performance as Mamie Adams in Primrose Path.

Primrose Path is a very flawed movie a girl whose relationship with a young man is jeopardized by her poor background and her troubled family. I applaud the movie for trying to deal with themes like prostitution back in 1940, but due to the restrictions of the Hays Code the movie is often forced to gloss over the real hardship of the featured characters and, in order to still arouse an emotional response, it opts for melodrama instead. The result is a rather problematic picture whose impact ends up being very muted despite its noble intentions. Even the central love story does not work and that's entirely due to the screenplay, which is in fact quite awful: it often feels hard to truly root for the two characters to end up together and that's because the writing occasionally makes Ginger Rogers' character's actions quite unbelievable and Joel McCrea's one's quite unsympathetic (if not downright cruel). The development of their relationship is never convincing and that's a shame because they have enough of a natural chemistry and they both give perfectly solid, committed performances. 

Marjorie Rambeau plays Mamie, the mother of the film's leading character, Ellie May. It's not a performance that is frequently talked about (nor is the movie) and she's in many ways the forgotten nominee of the 1940 line-up as both Darwell and Anderson have a legendary reputation and also O'Neil (for reasons unknown to me) and to a lesser extent Hussey have their share of fans. Having heard almost nothing about her performance here, I went into it with little expectations and I was pleasantly surprised. Considering the nature of the role (an aging prostitute who has to support her whole family) I was not expecting to see such a laidback performance: throughout most of her performance, especially in the beginning, Rambeau is an incredibly feisty and cheerful presence and the movie's main source of warmth. Though her approach might seem a little odd at first, it ultimately makes sense as Rambeau portrays Mamie as a woman who has long accepted her profession and who does not have much hope for her future but decides to still enjoy the little things she can. There is a touching veil of melancholy in her performance, a hint of regret for how her life turned out that Rambeau manages to convey in brief looks and micro-espressions at just the right time: nonetheless, there is no bitterness in her performance and Rambeau turns Mamie into an heartwarming and tender presence whenever she pops up - and considering how dull most of the movie is, the amount of spontaneous life and energy she brings to the screen is more than welcome.

What won me over especially was how rich and textured is Rambeau's work in spite of her limited time on screen. Though there are not many scenes devoted to her character, Rambeau gives such a vivid and lived-in portrayal that you just feel like you truly know this woman: she manages to convey her character's history and background without the need for it to be addressed directly, she never falls for the opportunity of over-acting (and there were many, especially as far as the accent is concerned) and trascends the stereotype or even joke that the character could have been. She realistically portrays Mamie's lack of both education and refinement without ever looking down on the character and without ever allowing the viewer to do so. She is great in her scenes with Miles Mander, who plays Homer, Mamie's alcoholic, depressed husband: Mander's performance is not without problems but Rambeau excels at conveying the history between the two characters. Right from the start, she shows that Mamie does not love Homer (in a later scene, she explicitly admits that she always respected him for his education more than loved him) but still cares for him a lot and she is quite affecting at subtly expressing Mamie's concern behind her warm and patient behavior. Her best scenes are probably the ones with Ginger Rogers: the two actresses share a terrific chemistry that makes the relationship between Mamie and Ellie May the highlight of the movie rather easily. Rambeau is especially wonderful in the scene on the porch in which Mamie urges her daughter to go after the man she loves, something Mamie did not do in her youth and forever regretted: she is sincerely heartbreaking at showing how Mamie wants a better life for her daughter - even if this life means being away from her.

Another excellent scene for Rambeau comes later on in the movie when Ellie May introduces her husband Ed to the family: there's an especially brilliant moment in which Ed tells her he had seen her already - for a moment, Mamie's face freezes as she thinks he has found out about her profession and then returns to her welcoming, cheerful self when Ellie comes up with a good excuse. It's a pitch-perfect moment acted to perfection by Rambeau. As Ed starts to find out progressively about what truly goes on in the household, Rambeau is very moving as she portrays Mamie's attempts to keep everything from falling apart and her struggle not to ruin her daughter's chance at happiness. The only scene in her performance that does not quite work completely is her final scene which has not aged very well: with her breathless deliveries and slightly overdone facial expressions, her acting style feels a bit dated here but nonetheless she manages to find some moving moments in it and even if the scene itself might not be great it still manages to be quite touching. And after she's gone, her presence is certainly missed greatly.

This is a very good performance from Marjorie Rambeau who makes Mamie by far the most memorable thing about the movie which is an admirable but ultimately unsuccessful effort. For the most part, she effectively avoids going from melodrama and makes Mamie a realistic, three-dimensional human being that adds a lot to the film whenever she shows up. It's an unjustly forgotten nominee, and a remarkable, moving performance.

4/5

Best Actress in a Supporting Role 1940: Ruth Hussey in The Philadelphia Story

Ruth Hussey received her first Oscar nomination for her performance as Elizabeth "Liz" Imbrie in The Philadelphia Story.

The Philadelphia Story is a fine comedy about Tracy Lord, a heiress whose planned remarriage is put to test by the unexpected arrival of her former husband and a tabloid-type reporter. Despite its status as a classic, I've never been enamored with this movie and a rewatch only made my appreciation cool down a little bit. It's a movie I did not mind watching in the slightest but I thought it struggled with its tone in the final act and I would say the writing, as good as it is in the comedic side of things, has some rather dated aspects. I have to say I found the confrontation scene between Tracy and her father almost unbearable to watch as it seems to place all of the blame (including the one of her father's infidelity!) on her character. Also I have to say I found the cast as a whole to be a bit of a disappointment: outside of Katharine Hepburn, I thought everyone else ranged from quite good to rather weak.

Liz Imbrie is the photographer who works with Macaulay "Mike" Connor (Oscar-winning James Stewart), who get to cover the wedding with the aid of Dexter Haven (Cary Grant), Tracy's former-husband. On paper, it's a pretty great part: she gets to be the wisecracking, sassy type of character but also gets enough depth and focus to become a three-dimensional character instead of a mere stereotype. Unfortunately, the strength of the part is undercut by two factors: first off, Katharine Hepburn pretty much dominates the whole movie from start to finish and even though I don't think The Philadelphia Story features their best work both Cary Grant and James Stewart have quite a lot of screen-presence that kind of overshadows everyone else in the movie; the second thing is that I never felt Ruth Hussey truly made the most out of the part, resulting in a satisfactory, occasionally impressive but ultimately not great performance.

The shortcomings of Hussey's performance are most evident if you watch Celeste Holm's portrayal of the same character in the 1956 remake High Society: that film is pretty terrible, but Holm delivers an absolutely delightful performance that pretty much steals the whole movie and also functions as its emotional anchor. Liz is rarely the center of the scene, but she still gets plenty of opportunity to stand out as a great comic relief and I never felt Hussey really became that. This does not mean she is bad: she is a good fit for the role and nicely portrays her character's sarcastic nature while making still Liz quite endearing (unlike James Stewart who, especially in the beginning, comes across as rather obnoxious in that regard). She acquits herself nicely into the role and she's always a mildly enjoyable presence: nonetheless, her work is still a bit of a disappointment considering the potential of the role and I never felt she made the character as entertaining as she could have been ("We've come for the body of Macauley Connor" was the only moment of her performance I thought was truly funny). Especially opposite Katharine Hepburn's fireball of a performance, Hussey results a little underwhelming because she's not nearly as forceful and incisive as she is - watching her performance, I kept wondering what a natural scene-stealer like Rosalind Russell or Eve Arden could have accomplished with the role. I felt her comedic timing was not always quite on point and too often I felt she lacked the necessary verve to make her character stand out.

That said, I don't want to sound too negative about her performance as I do think there are parts in which Hussey succeeds. First off, I like how the unpretentiousness of her performance underlines her character's different and humbler background and even though Liz's previous marriage is only briefly alluded to I thought Hussey did a very good job at conveying her history of pain and heartbreak. But the aspect of Liz that Hussey gets best is her unrequited love for Mike: throughout the whole movie, the camera occasionally focuses on her face and in those moments she does a great job at portraying Liz's inner plight and longing. There's an air of melancholy that hangs all over the performance, with Hussey conveying a whole lot in the spaces between words and adding a lifetime of disappointment to simple lines ("I'm used to it"). The highlight of her whole performance is her scene on the staircase with Cary Grant, in which Liz admits her feelings for Mike to Dexter and tells him that she knows he is growing attracted to Tracy but also shows her hope that one day he'll finally become a more mature person and that he'll realize she is the one. Though very brief, it's perhaps my favorite scene of the movie and Hussey is excellent in it, perfectly portraying her character's unhappiness but also hopefulness as well as a great deal of dignity and grip over her own feelings. Just like Dexter, after that scene the viewer only has a greater admiration and respect towards Liz. The character does not get a particularly great closure as the ending of the movie is a little bit too rushed but Hussey does a fine job at portraying her concern when Mike proposes to Tracy, her relief when she turns him down and a note of hopefulness at the very end, leaving open the possibility that things might work out between Mike and Liz.

Overall, this is a perfectly respectable performance from Ruth Hussey, who conveys beautifully the inner vulnerability of her character and has some sincerely moving moments while remaining consistent with the light-hearted tone the film should have. It's the purely comedic side that leaves something to be desired as she does not quite shows the needed screen-presence to stand out in a cast full of such charismatic stars and does not quite bring enough energy to make Liz a truly memorable comedic relief. A fine performance with some excellent moments but a bit of a missed opportunity as well.

3/5

Best Actress in a Supporting Role 1940: Barbara O'Neil in All This, And Heaven Too

Barbara O'Neil received her first Oscar nomination for her performance as the Duchesse de Praslin in All This, and Heaven Too.

All This, and Heaven Too is a rather unremarkable melodrama about a woman who becomes the governess of the children of a Duke and the turmoil caused by the Duchess' irrational jealousy due to her arrival. Though it is watchable enough, I found the movie to be an extremely standard and forgettable melodrama that often sugarcoates a potentially interesting, fascinating and nuanced story. The chemistry between the two leads, Bette Davis and Charles Boyer, is rather lacking and their performances don't rank among their best. The cinematography is actually rather impressive and brings a rather gloomy and melancholic air to the movie that the direction fails to the establish, but that's really the only thing about the movie I found remarkable in any way.

The Duchess is perhaps the movie's most interesting character: she's an overbearing, temperamental, selfish woman willing to do everything not to lose her husband - the kind of character the viewer can despise but also pity just because of how miserable her emotional state is. The problem though is that both the movie and Barbara O'Neil have a very clear (and narrow) opinion regarding the character: she's an irremediably evil, completely deranged person that isn't supposed to be understood nor someone to feel sorry for. The result is a very shallow and unexciting performance that oversimplifies what could have been a great, complex character. 

As portrayed by O'Neil, the Duchess is utterly two-dimensional: she's either glacially cold or completely hysterical and unhinged. I would say the scene in which she is the former are the ones that work best but even there she leaves a lot to be desired: mostly her performance feels like posturing - she acts cold but O'Neal never suggests anything that goes beyond the Duchess' surface. There is no subtlety or subtext in her performance and therefore she comes across as wooden more than anything else. Her physical stillness does work for the part but her vocalization is monotonous and colorless. On top of it, she does some pretty awkward facial acting, often twisting her face into overdone expressions that are supposed to appear malicious but only appear forced and out of the place. There are a few moments in which the camera indulges on O'Neil's face in which she just fails to convey much of anything. Nor the movie nor the actress seem to be interested in making the audience empathize with the character: there are many moments in which she could have addressed her character's plight due to her unhappy marriage but she often just stands there - in the few moments in which she is supposed to look happier, she looks vaguely bored and when she gets to express her character's desperation she is stone-faced and emotionless. 

If in my opinion her quiet moments are unconvincing, the loud ones are even less so. In those scenes, O'Neil is showboating to the maximum - constantly screaming, nervously walking around the scene with showy and overcooked gestures. It's scenery-chewing at its worst as she does indeed dominate the screen but in the worst way possible, often coming across as an unbearably grating presence. But what's worse is that with all of her overacting she brings absolutely nothing to the character: she yells and she cries but it all feels so utterly empty and superficial. Even in the moments in which the Duchess is emotionally bare O'Neil's performance feels so distant and artificial - her desperation is completely unmoving because O'Neil always seems more focused on portraying the Duchess' hateful nature rather than giving her a little bit more depth and complexity. Her chemistry with Charles Boyer in particular is rather weak as the two of them never really manage to convey the history between the two characters or to suggest the reason why they got married in the first place. It's just a very one-dimensional portrayal of a character that never resembles a true person: even if she gets a decent amount of screen-time, I never felt like I knew the Duchess and that's because O'Neil's portrayal is a one-note of venomous hatred. I could have been a little more lenient on the performance if she had been at least somewhat entertaining, but she's not even that. Her performance starts to wear thin very quickly and in spite of being so larger-than-life it never becomes even remotely interesting. Even as a standard villain O'Neil doesn't quite succeed as the Duchess never becomes that threatening as a character as it borders so often on being a parody.

This performance was a huge disappointment for me as I was actually looking forward to see it but I found almost nothing to like about Barbara O'Neil's work here. Her quieter moments are wooden, her louder scenes are overwhelmingly hammy, her silent reactionary shots fall flat: it's just a very one-dimensional performance that squanders a potential scene-stealer of a role and turns it into an unremarkable, bland villain. A very misguided performance and one of my least favorite out of those I've reviewed.

2/5