Best Actress Ranking - Update

Here is a new update. The newly added performance is highlighted in bold. 

If five performances from the same year are included, the winning performance is higlighted in red.

1. Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind (1939)
2. Jessica Lange in Frances (1982)
3. Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard (1950)
4. Olivia de Havilland in The Heiress (1949)
5. Maggie Smith in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)
6. Anne Bancroft in The Graduate (1967)
7. Janet Gaynor in Seventh Heaven (1927-1928)   
8. Jill Clayburgh in An Unmarried Woman (1978)
9. Glenn Close in Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
10. Geraldine Page in The Trip to Bountiful (1985)

11. Susan Sarandon in Thelma & Louise (1991)
12. Katharine Hepburn in Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
13. Edith Evans in The Whisperers (1967)
14. Norma Shearer in Marie Antoinette (1938)
15. Greta Garbo in Ninotchka (1939)
16. Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
17. Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby (2004)
18. Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth (1998)
19. Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge! (2001)
20. Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

21. Simone Signoret in Room at the Top (1959)
22. Bette Davis in The Little Foxes (1941)
23. Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music (1965)
24. Rosalind Russell in Auntie Mame (1958)
25. Glenda Jackson in Women in Love (1970)
26. Joanne Woodward in The Three Faces of Eve (1957)
27. Elizabeth Taylor in Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
28. Renée Zellweger in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)
29. Barbara Stanwyck in Ball of Fire (1941)
30. Sissy Spacek in In the Bedroom (2001)

31. Halle Berry in Monster's Ball (2001)
32. Lee Remick in Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
33. Annette Bening in American Beauty (1999)
34. Emily Watson in Hilary and Jackie (1998)
35. Judi Dench in Iris (2001)
36. Julie Christie in Away from Her (2007)
37. Shelley Winters in A Place in the Sun (1951)
38. Audrey Hepburn in Wait until Dark (1967)
39. Meryl Streep in The Devil wears Prada (2006)
40. Ingrid Bergman in The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945)

41. Julie Walters in Educating Rita (1983)
42. Anne Baxter in All about Eve (1950)
43. Judi Dench in Mrs. Brown (1997)
44. Helen Hayes in The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1932)
45. Jane Fonda in Coming Home (1978)
46. Greer Garson in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
47. Doris Day in Pillow Talk (1959)
48. Meryl Streep in One True Thing (1998)
49. Joan Crawford in Sudden Fear (1952)
50. Deborah Kerr in From Here to Eternity (1953)

51. Katharine Hepburn in Guess who’s coming to dinner (1967)
52. Marsha Mason in Chapter Two (1979)
53. Jane Wyman in The Yearling (1946)
54. Martha Scott in Our Town (1940)
55. Teresa Wright in The Pride of the Yankees (1942) 
56. Jennifer Jones in Love Letters (1945)
57. Ellen Burstyn in Same Time, Next Year (1978)
58. Susan Hayward in My Foolish Heart (1949)
59. Jeanne Crain in Pinky (1949)
60. Eleanor Parker in Detective Story (1951)

61. Vanessa Redgrave in Mary, Queen of Scots (1971)
62. Diane Keaton in Marvin's Room (1996)
63. Louise Dresser in A Ship comes in (1927-1928)
64. Dorothy McGuire in Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
65. Loretta Young in Come to the Stable (1949)  
66. Mary Pickford in Coquette (1928-29)
67. Sissy Spacek in The River (1984)
68. Shirley MacLaine in The Turning Point (1977)
69. Irene Dunne in Cimarron (1930-1931)
70. Ruth Chatterton in Madame X (1928-29)

71. Diana Wynyard in Cavalcade (1932-1933)
72. Bette Davis in The Star (1952)

Dorothy McGuire as Kathy Lacy in Gentleman's Agreement

As I have already written about Dorothy’s performance before and my opinion on her has not really changed overall, I will keep my thoughts brief.

Overall, this is a very peculiar nomination because rarely has the presence of a Best Actress nominee felt so…unnecessary. As I stated in my original review, Dorothy McGuire has the bad luck of being part of the least interesting storyline of Gentleman’s Agreement and that is still correct. The movie is about Phil’s story and how he pretends to be Jewish for an article and the reaction of the people around him. The reaction of Dorothy McGuire’s Kathy is certainly an interesting one as she is the kind of person who considers herself to be as open-minded and liberal as possible but slowly shows the hypocrisy of her character when faced with anti-Semitism (or as she calls it, “that thing”) directly. But it is only one reaction and the love story itself simply feels too strongly forced into the picture and it simply doesn’t deserve the kind of attention it gets (even having the movie end with Phil and Kacy embracing each other) because it never becomes part of the true story. And therefore it is very difficult for Dorothy McGuire to make any kind of impression – she is not a supporting actress, her screen time justifies her leading status but, as mentioned in the beginning, she never feels like a integral part of the movie.

Besides the problems of the part itself, Dorothy McGuire adds to these as well. I admit, I have only seen a few movies with her but usually she is a charming and welcome screen presence but she is strangely stiff and lifeless in Gentleman’s Agreement. Most of her scenes feel very awkward and her chemistry with Gregory Peck is rather non-existent – which is obviously a big problem since the love story is the main reason for her presence in the picture. In most of her scenes with Gregory Peck, she whispers her lines in a strangely affected manner – take the scene when Gregory’s Phil arrives to pick her up and she surprises him by already coming down in the elevator. Both are so…bored in their reaction to one another, it’s hard not to imagine co-star Celeste Holm expressing honest joy in a situation like this.

This is actually another problem for Dorothy McGuire – the presence of Celeste Holm. This Oscar winner crafts an entire character with maybe 15 minutes of screen time, she steals every scene she appears in without even trying and is such a living and breathing creation that it’s not hard to actually be mad at the movie makers for forcing Phil to be together with Kathy at the end when Celeste Holm’s Ann is right there – the only reason to be happy for Phil and Ann not to end up together is thinking that Ann can do much better…of course the goal here is not to compare Celeste Holm and Dorothy McGuire but to judge Dorothy on her own but Celeste Holm’s work makes the shortcomings in Dorothy McGuire’s acting style even more obvious and it again doesn’t help that a supporting player basically makes you wish the leading lady would just go away…

So, on the one hand, Dorothy McGuire faced an already lost battle as the love story in Gentleman’s Agreement and the relationship between Kathy and Phil never feels as relevant in the context of the story as the movie makes want the viewers to believe and she didn’t do herself any favour by adding to this with a too lifeless and stiff acting style that makes Kathy an even less interesting character in the process. But strangely enough, there are still some upsides to her work.

The most surprising aspect of her work is that, unlike most other unsatisfying performances in this category, she somehow completely ruins the rather simple parts of her performance but shines in the more complex situations. All her romantic scenes with Gregory Peck, telling about her past with her husband, talking about her little house in the country or accepting his marriage proposal, should be rather easy to realize but unfortunately never come alive. On the other hand, she shines in the moments when her character's hypocrisy becomes noticeable and she has to justify her thinking to Phil and herself. Her best scenes is undoubtedly when Phil tells her of his plan to tell everyone that he is Jewish and she reacts with a stunned “Jewish…but you’re not, Phil, are you? Not that it would make any difference to me.” It’s a reaction that is both surprising but also very familiar and her way of quickly trying to cover her initial shock with smiles and putting her behaviour into perspective is extremely intriguing. Also her other fight scenes with Gregory Peck, when she constantly expresses her desire to fight “this thing” while also never willing to risk anything for it, work much better than their romantic moments. Also the break-up scene between Phil and Kathy works very well because Kathy truly owns her feelings and thinking and yes, her hypocrisy, in this moment, and Dorothy McGuire makes this truly believable – she really nails the attitude of a person who considers herself extremely tolerant and liberal but also finds all sorts of excuses and explanations for never going against those people who aren’t.

But unfortunately these aspects of Kathy’s character are not developed any deeper by the movie makers. Her hypocrisy is never explored in relation to her character but only how it affects her relationship to Phil. And since the movie is determined to bring those two back together in the end, it threw in a short scene of Kathy realising her own faults. But this moment never feels earned in the context of the story and is unfortunately both clumsily written and acted – it’s hard to believe that a woman that is presented as sophisticated and intelligent throughout the picture is unable to realise that just “sitting there and feeling ashamed” when she witnesses anti-Semitism is not a way to fight it and Dorothy McGuire’s acting style becomes far too melodramatic in this moment and again feels much less believable than her moments of anger or hidden prejudice.

So, it is a performance that didn’t really have a lot of chances but one that still could have been far more interesting and engaging if the actress had been more alive and natural on the screen. Dorothy McGuire shines in the more complex scenes but those moments unfortunately never develop any further and she lacks too much energy outside of these scenes to make a lasting impression or to even justify her importance to the plot and to Phil. 

YOUR Best Actress of 1947

Here are the results of the poll:

1. Rosalind Russell - Mournng Becomes Electra (19 votes)

2. Susan Hayward - Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman (7 votes)

3. Joan Crawford - Possessed (4 votes)

4. Loretta Young - The Farmer's Daughter (2 votes)

5. Dorothy McGuire - Gentleman's Agreement (0 votes)


Thanks to everyone for voting!

Best Actress 1947 - The resolution!

After having watched and reviewed all five nominated performances, it's time to pick the winner!

5. Dorothy McGuire in Gentleman's Agreement

Dorothy McGuire gives the most uninteresting performance of the most uninteresting character in the most uninteresting part of the movie. She obviously tries to make Cathy an open and relaxed character but her performance always remains a bit too stiff to ever become really memorable.

4. Loretta Young in The Farmer's Daughter

                     

Loretta Young obviously tries to add some depth and complexity to the character with several unexpectedly serious line-deliveries or other small gestures but a lot of times she decided to be serious even when a scene could have used some comedy. But even though her performance may not be very humorous, the characterization of Katrin as a dependable, intelligent, good-hearted and loyal woman is consistent and played well.

3. Joan Crawford in Possessed

Joan Crawford’s performance is a constant up and down of nice underplaying and mad overacting, mixed with her obligatory melodramatic acting that becomes dominant whenever any emotional scenes are involved. It’s obvious from the first moment that Joan Crawford doesn’t intend to show realism but she is able to use her theatrical acting style to give a compelling performance that carries an equally theatrical movie.

2. Rosalind Russell in Mourning Becomes Electra

Rosalind Russell’s acting choices more than once seem rather unnatural and dated but the way she slipped into the character always impresses. Her arrogant, domineering, manipulative and slightly insane Lavinia never feels forced or calculated. Instead, Rosalind Russell slides through the movie in a way that makes it look easy but at the same she constantly tries to make sure that every viewer is aware that it’s in fact very difficult. She impressively towers above the entire cast and helps to make Mourning Becomes Electra worth seeing despite its length and dark subject.                       

1. Susan Hayward in Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman

Susan Hayward plays all the parts of her role with beautiful subtlety and even in her most desperate or drunken situations she never overdoes it. She believably demonstrates what effect alcohol has on her life and her behavior and she is also able to make this behavior understandable. She clearly shows what causes her irrational actions and how Angelica is always torn between knowing that she is destroying everything she loves and not being able to stop it.

Best Actress 1947: Joan Crawford in "Possessed"

Two years after her win for Mildred Pierce, Joan Crawford was back with what she considered the most difficult role of her career.

The movie starts with a very quiet scene. A woman is walking down a street in Los Angeles. It’s very dark and silent but there is something weird about this woman. The way she walks shows that she is either very tired or distracted. When we finally see the face of the woman, all these thoughts seem confirmed. The women seems exhausted, even a bit confused as if she doesn’t know what she is doing or where she is.

It’s an interesting beginning to an entertaining movie even though Joan Crawford already uses this first close-up to show that melodramatic acting style which she brought to perfection over the years. It’s obvious from the first moment that she doesn’t intend to show realism but Joan Crawford is able to use her theatrical acting style to give a compelling performance that carries an equally theatrical movie.

Joan does a nice job at the beginning of the movie when she is searching a mysterious David and sees him in every man she meets but Joan is never fully convincing when she is showing the weak or vulnerable sides of her character. She trusts too much on her ability to look hurt and speak with a broken voice but Joan is never able to disappear into these lonely souls.

So it’s no surprise that her performances improves after her character has been sent to a hospital where she slowly gains back her consciousness. In these scenes, Joan shows that she has a great talent for big eyes and a look of shock and fear. Her expressive face is masterful in showing these emotions.

Like Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman, Possessed shows a woman in hospital while flashback tell us her story. We learn that Louise, Joan’s character, had a relationship with a playboy called David but right at the beginning it’s clear that Louise has different expectations of this relationship than him. She wants commitment while he only wants to have fun and so he quits the relationship.

Joan is very good at showing right from the beginning that Louise is obsessed by her love for David. She is unwilling to let him go. It’s not told why she has such strong feelings for him and Joan also doesn’t explore this subject any deeper but instead turns Louise into an addicted character for whom more and more boundaries begin to fall. Her performance is a constant up and down of nice underplaying and mad overacting, mixed with her obligatory melodramatic acting that becomes dominant whenever any emotional scenes are involved.

The movie and the character of Louise are a weird of mix of all sorts of genres. Louise is not only obsessed with David but it seems that she is generally going crazy. She begins to see situations that don’t happen, hears things that aren’t there. Joan does all this with a memorable collection of nervous ticks that include the obligatory widened eyes, a shaking body and nervous hands. What’s a little disappointing is that she is not able to find any progression in her showing of Louise’s madness. Even though the script tells us that her problems become worse it doesn’t show in Joan’s acting since she seems already crazy from the first day.

Still, her scenes of despair, madness and hate are certainly impressive and fit Joan like a glove. She gives a highly stylized but nonetheless captivating performance that helps to make Possessed the entertaining movie that it is and she is believable for most of the time.

Overall, it’s an interesting and dramatic performance that gets

Best Actress 1947: Rosalind Russell in "Mourning Becomes Electra"

Over the time, movies have given us a lot of dysfunctional families but it is probably hard to top the Mannon, a wealthy, Northern family during the American Civil War. They are marked by hate, betrayal, mistrust and incest love.
Mourning Becomes Electra is the story of a daughter against a mother, a son against a father and a wife against a husband. And only one will survive.

In the middle of all this is Rosalind Russell’s Lavinia. She is a very dominant, decided and suspicious woman. She mistrusts every step her mother takes and actively tries to expose her as a liar and adulteress. It is never told how the relationship between these two got so bad but whenever Lavinia and her mother share the screen, the tension can be cut with a knife. Instead, Lavinia is devoted to her father whom she expects to finally come home from the war. But when he dies in the first night of his return, Lavinia immediately suspects her mother of murder and tries to get her brother, who on his part is loyally devoted to his mother, on her side.

It’s no light fare that this 3-hour movie tells and anyone who expects a thrilling family saga couldn’t be more wrong. This movie is all talking and thus provides the actors with the kind of dream roles that are sure to attract awards attention because the tour-de-force is so obvious: the actors can deliver one monologue after another, show all kinds of emotional conditions and play characters that are always close to the edge of insanity.

So it’s no surprise that Rosalind Russell was considered the widely frontrunner for her performance. And while she certainly does an impressive job in bringing this dark tale to life and carry this melancholic story on her shoulders, time has not been too kind to this movie. While Michael Redgrave’s performance has aged very well, both Rosalind Russell and Katina Paxinou seem constantly to try to act each other of the screen with larger-than-life gestures and movements.

Rosalind Russell never really overacts but she more than once seems to think that the only acting choice for her part is too widen her eyes as much as possible and act with a certain theatrically that is better suited for the stage. For long parts, her whole performance also consists of basically only one expression which is an arrogant look with a chin put as high as possible.

But somehow, it still works. Rosalind Russell’s acting choices more than once seem rather unnatural and dated but the way she slipped into the character always impresses. Her arrogant, domineering, manipulative and slightly insane Lavinia never feels forced or calculated. Instead, Rosalind Russell slides through the movie in a way that makes it look easy but at the same she constantly tries to make sure that every viewer is aware that it’s in fact very difficult. She impressively towers above the entire cast and helps to make Mourning Becomes Electra worth seeing despite its length and dark subject.

She is able to always hint that there is much more going on inside of Lavinia than her stern face suggests. She makes all her obsessions believable and shows the restlessness in her character. And even though she portrays the hate against her mother in an authentic way she is also just as believable when she suddenly feels sorry for her after she and her brother took revenge on her lover.

Rosalind Russell makes Lavinia a merciless creature, an unforgiving goddess who rules over the old house and the last few souls in it. Her biggest achievement is to make the transition from devoted daughter to mad spinster realistic. She shows that Lavinia is a character who always tries to take control and determine her own actions but she is also influenced by the way others think or talk about her. Especially the relationship with her brother is characterized by loving devotion and mutual destruction.

Even though Rosalind Russell did a lot of things right in her performance, she also failed in various parts. As mentioned before, she too often reduces the character too some crazy looks or an arrogant pose and one can’t help but feel that the part is sometimes too difficult for her. Her exaggerated, in some parts dated acting certainly works well in the context of a movie that is exaggerated and dated itself and also filled with equally dated and exaggerated performances but it also reduces the overall impact of her own performance.

Still, it’s an remarkable achievement that gets

Best Actress 1947: Susan Hayward in "Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman"

Susan Hayward received her first Oscar nomination for her role as Angelica Conway, a nightclub entertainer who interrupts her career to marry an upcoming songwriter and singer but soon she becomes dependent on alcohol and nearly ruins her marriage and her life with her excessive drinking.

Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman is an average, melodramatic “serious” movie from the 40s. It begins with the image of Angelica, lying in a bed in hospital with almost her whole head bandaged. She mumbles unconsciously and without wasting any precious seconds, the screen becomes blurred and the obligatory flashback story begins.

It’s very clear right from the start that this is a movie about drinking as we see a busy night club and the camera focuses on a glass full of liquor and then follows that glass carried by a waiter to a woman hiding behind a curtain. Angelica empties the glass in one take and then she walks onto the stage to give a tremendous performance that she keeps repeating in various locations and turns her into a rising star which is done very convincingly by Miss Hayward.

In the first scene that shows Angelica drinking Susan Hayward carefully avoids to show Angelica as a drunk in any way. Instead, it seems that she only needs a little drink to give herself enough courage to go “out there” and perform in front of an audience. Nothing else is suggested by the movie or Susan Hayward’s performance at this point.

The movie then takes the typical route and shows a time when a woman would immediately terminate her career once she met the right guy and could becomes a housewife and mother. She does keep working for a while tough because the career of her husband Ken starts rather shaky.

Up to this point, Susan Hayward did a very convincing job in creating a woman who is both exotic nightclub performer and devoted housewife because there is something about her looks and her acting that can always suggest both parts of this character. And Susan Hayward’s radiant looks and her beautiful face also brighten up every close-up and she is the only source of energy and life among the wooden cast.

Life for Angelica seems to be a never-ending joy once a child is born and Ken’s career finally begins to take off but trouble seems to be on its way when she needs to take a glass of alcohol before she can join her husband at a party. Again, at this point it doesn’t seem that she is a drinker – she tells her maid that she feels the same way she did before she had to go on a stage, afraid. When the maid ask her afraid of what, Angelica just answers “People, I guess.”

Susan Hayward does a great job in portraying that Angelica apparently doesn’t seem able to handle big gatherings, she shows that she feels out-of-place at parties that celebrate her husband and she starts to get suspicious of Ken’s new female assistant. All these insecurities seem to be the deciding factor that slowly turn her occasional drinking into an addiction.

Susan Hayward plays all the parts of her role with beautiful subtlety and even in her most desperate or drunken situations she never overdoes it. She believably shows what effect alcohol has on her life and her behavior and she is also able to make this behavior understandable. She clearly shows what causes her irrational actions and how Angelica is always torn between knowing that she is destroying everything she loves and not being able to stop it.

Overall, it’s a very effective and memorable performance that gets

Best Actress 1947: Dorothy McGuire in "Gentleman's Agreement"

Gentleman’s Agreement, the Best Picture winner of 1947, is a movie about anti-Semitism and prejudice in America after the Second World War. Philip Green, played by Gregory Peck, writes a story about anti-Semitism for a magazine and to get a full insight into the aspect, he pretends to be Jewish for 6 weeks. The movie follows the various reactions his new religion causes and it also shows how his believes and his job harm his relationship with his fiancée. This fiancée was played by Dorothy McGuire who received her only Oscar nomination for this performance.

Dorothy McGuire plays Cathy Lacy, the niece of Phil’s supervisor at the magazine. They meet at a party and it’s clear from the first moment that these two are meant for each other.

Gentleman’s Agreement is a movie that hits one over the head with its message of tolerance and respect and this also includes the fact that it is mentioned in the first two seconds of Cathy’s first appearance that she is divorced and nobody cares. It is also never really mentioned again in the movie and from Dorothy McGuire’s acting it also seems that Cathy does not think about her old life anymore.

Dorothy McGuire immediately establishes Cathy as a woman of sophistication, charm and intelligence. She quickly takes the lead in her first conversation with Phil and we learn that she was the one who had the idea to run a series on anti-Semitism and she seems to be just as free of prejudice as Phil. From there on, things go very quickly and Phil and Cathy get engaged and immediately start to plan the wedding.

The role of Cathy is mostly a very passive one. She is basically Phil’s love interest but very soon she also becomes an important part in his research about anti-Semitism in the American society.

The main problem about the love story between Cathy and Phil is the fact that there is a visible lack of chemistry between Gregory Peck and Dorothy McGuire. Both unfortunately give rather wooden and lifeless performances and this results in an equally wooden and lifeless love story. Dorothy McGuire obviously tries to make Cathy and open and relaxed character but her performance always remains a bit too stiff to ever become really memorable.

In fact, out of all the characters and actors in the movie, Dorothy McGuire’s Cathy is the one who feels the most incomplete and who never really steps into the foreground. When one thinks of Gentleman’s Agreement, then Gregory Peck, Dean Stockwell, Celeste Holm, Anne Revere and the story itself come to one’s mind but the leading lady vanishes pretty quickly because she is mainly involved in the obligatory love story which doesn’t work in the movie because of the aforementioned lack of chemistry between Peck and McGuire and because of the fact that the love story is the most uninteresting aspect of this film.

So, Dorothy McGuire gives the most uninteresting performance of the most uninteresting character in the most uninteresting part of the movie. For long parts of the movie she disappears from the storyline and is never really missed. It saddens me to say that but whenever McGuire enters the picture, the tempo of the movie slows down and the story loses interest.

Even though Dorothy McGuire never steps out of the love story aspect, her character becomes more interesting during the run of the movie because it is the most easily recognizable one in this movie. Philip’s new life as a Jew evokes all kind of reactions in the people around him, from open hate to total acceptance. Cathy is a woman who would never think of herself as anti-Semitic and she is probably right about that – it’s hard to imagine that she ever had a negative thought about Jews in her whole life. But this was only because for her the topic of anti-Semitism has always been reduced to maybe a conversation at a dinner party – now, with Phil’s masquerade, it has entered her own life. Suddenly, her own believes are put to test. When Phil tells her about his plans to say he is Jewish, her reaction is “But you’re not Jewish, are you?…Not that it would make any difference.” It’s the typical reaction of a person who is desperate to be tolerant and open-minded but has more problems with it than she is aware of. But as I said, Cathy is not intolerant in the sense that she wouldn’t want anything to do with a Jewish person – it’s the reaction of her friends and family that she fears. In her little world, everyone is alike and people who are different never enter it because that would only make trouble and would make everyone uncomfortable. Cathy does not want to be confronted with the possibilities of trouble and change in her own world and so she is eager to tell her sister that Phil is not really Jewish. She is not a hateful person but she also doesn’t want to have anything to do with the topic of anti-Semitism either.

All this would make Cathy a very interesting character but the script mostly reduces her to a few angry, worried or teary-eyed reaction shots and Dorothy McGuire’s stiff interpretation doesn’t help much either. When Cathy tells Phil a little bit about her former marriage, it might have opened her character up but somehow the backstory never really connects with Cathy today. It doesn’t deepen her in any way, it seems that these scenes are only there to give McGuire at least something to do.

Still, what she does succeed in is adding a lot of grace and inner trouble to Cathy. She mostly makes an impression in her dramatic scenes because her acting style works well in these while it doesn’t in all scenes of romance or love. But even though the chemistry between Peck and McGuire is disappointing, their scenes together still work because both use the same, rather lifeless acting style which somehow brings these characters closer together.

The only time that McGuire really steps into the foreground is when she and Phil break up. This scene works so well because both characters have a good point in their argument. It’s easy to sympathize with Phil because Cathy obviously does have problems with Jews but it’s also easy to understand Cathy since Phil’s attitude of moral superiority is really hard to take. So when she finally breaks up with him and tells him that, yes, she is happy not to be Jewish just as everyone would be happy to be rich instead of poor or beautiful instead of ugly. McGuire underplays this scene very effectively and her acting choices also make this scene very interesting.

Unfotunately, this is followed by maybe the worst scene of the movie when Cathy meets Dave, a Jewish friend of Phil. In this scene, Cathy finally recognizes her own faults but it is done in such a heavy-handed way and it’s simply hard to believe that a woman like Cathy is so completely disabled of any self-reflection when she tells a story about an unpleasant incident at a party.

Overall, it’s a wooden and lifeless performance of an uninteresting character and even though Dorothy McGuire is able to add some light to the part, I can’t give more than

Best Actress 1947: Loretta Young in "The Farmer's Daughter"

To this day, Loretta Young’s win is mostly known for the fact that it was (and probably still is) one of the biggest upsets in Oscar history. Loretta Young plays Katrin Holstrom, a young farm girl with Swedish roots from Minnesota who goes to the big city to become a nurse. But fate has different plans for her and she becomes a servant and later enters the world of politics.

The Farmer’s Daughter is not a great movie, but it is charming and entertaining. Unfortunately, Loretta Young is not the main reason for it. She is clearly overshadowed by Joseph Cotton and especially Ethel Barrymore and Charles Bickford who offer amusing support. While these three have very entertaining and funny parts Loretta Young plays the “straight character”. The script barely offers her any chance to really shine and Loretta also never seems to want one. She plays her part as serious and straight-forward as possible which makes Katrin a very serious and honest character but it is not very entertaining to watch. As much as I like Loretta Young, an actress with more natural charm would have been better cast in this part. But Loretta has nice chemistry with all other cast members, especially Charles Bickford.

Even though Loretta has nice chemistry with Joseph Cotton, their love story never really convinces. The problem is that Loretta, as I said, plays Katrin in such a stern and no-nonsense way that she never becomes the loveable person the script says she is. Neither actor seems to be really interested in the romantic aspect of the script and so that aspect doesn’t really work.

Loretta Young obviously constantly tries to add some depth and complexity to the character with some unexpected seriously line-deliveries or other small gestures but the problem is that this simply does not work in the context of the movie. A lot of times she decided to underplay and be serious even when a scene could have used some comedy. Considering that The Farmer’s Daughter is supposed to be a comedy, it’s not a good sign when the leading lady doesn’t make you laugh once.

Overall, she does the most entertaining work with her accent which is very consistent and it’s obvious that Loretta was having a lot of fun with it which is amusing to watch. Her constant “Ja” is surely a highlight of her performance.

But even though Loretta may not be very humorous, the characterization of Katrin as a dependable, intelligent, good-hearted and loyal woman is consistent and played well. Loretta Young is surely better in the more serious scenes than the lightweight parts. Her disappointment after her name has been discredited by an old acquaintance is played very well and shows some new side to Katrin.

Loretta shows Katrin as a simple woman with simple views of the world but she is not naïve or dumb. Rather, she sees things clearly. She is not interested in politics in the way that she would actually plan to make a career in it. She just believes that the country needs good politicians and she knows when somebody is good and when somebody is not. Her own way into politics happens rather by accident.

Loretta has a very good and even moving scene when she is reading an old speech to Charles Bickford in the library. Loretta has a beautiful, soft voice that is able to deliver the words very gracefully, quietly, dignified and simple in a way that touches the viewers hearts. What’s so effective about this scene is even though Katrin is reading the words for the first time, there seems to be a deep understanding and an honest way of saying them.

It is clear that Katrin has a certain talent for making a speech, but the problem is that is hard to believe she could actually make public speeches in an election campaign with her quiet, dignified delivery. This is probably also the reason why, after all the practicing, the movie never even shows Katrin giving a real speech. Loretta Young may be impressive in these subtle scenes but they seem to be misplaced in the context of the film.

Overall, Loretta Young gives a very nice and harmless performance that could have been better but also suffers from the bad material she is given. She brightens up the screen with a lovely smile and creates a sometimes amusing, but always likeable character for which she gets

Best Actress 1947

The next year will be 1947 and the nominees were

Joan Crawford in Possessed

Susan Hayward in Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman

Dorothy McGuire in Gentleman's Agreement

Roaslind Russell in Mourning Becomes Electra

Loretta Young in The Farmer's Daughter