Best Actor 1940: Results

5. James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story- Although I usually like Stewart a whole lot, here his performance always seemed to lack the right comfort and joy to work for this romantic comedy.

4. Raymond Massey in Abe Lincoln in Illinois- Massey is not always completely believable as Abe Lincoln such as in his early scenes, but he always gives a nice charming, and passionate performance as Lincoln.

3. Henry Fonda in The Grapes of Wrath- Fonda gives a very strong performance showing Tom Joad as a normal man, who slowly grows a strong passion and realization to fight against the injustices brought against his family and other struggling people.

2. Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator- I will not say Chaplin is entirely consistent, but almost always enjoyable. His comedic timing as both the Barber, and the Dictator are spot on with his direction. Also his final speech although out of character, has tremendous power due to his passionate delivery.

1. Laurence Olivier in Rebecca- Olivier once again was an easy choice for me. Olivier simply does wonders with his role as Maxim de Winter. In the somewhat sparse time he is given early in the film, he creates a wonderful interesting character, with the mysterious haunted quality, and when he finally can reveal the whole truth of his character it simply leads to an outstanding performance by Olivier.

Deserving Performances:
Cary Grant in His Girl Friday

Best Actor 1940: Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator

Charlie Chaplin received his second, or only acting nomination (depending how one looks at his nomination of sorts for the Circus) for portraying the dictator Adenoid Hynkel, and a Jewish barber in  The Great Dictator.

The Great Dictator is a comedy  which satirizes Adolf Hitler,  and was made back when Adolf Hitler was still around.

Charlie Chaplin portrays a dual role of course so it is best to examine the two performances separately. Firstly Adenoid Hynkel clearly a parody of Adolf Hitler, especially since Chaplin's on screen persona strongly resembled Hitler. He plays this half his performance entirely for laughs. I would say he does succeed in doing this, although the question is how much of the humor comes from his direction and how much does it come from his actual performance.

For example his Hynkel speech that opens his scenes as Hynkel is certainly enjoyable. He is certainly good at being satirical in his over the top speeches that do satirize Hitler's speeches quite well. I will say though that the funniest part of this scene though is the translators quiet responses to Hynkel's overly emotional statements, which certianly are not part of Chaplin's performance but rather his script and direction.

I will say his performance does go back and forth to the matter of the comedy of Hynkel. It is always in part with many of the crazy things Hynkel does, but I will give Chaplin most certianly credit for his physical movements, and comedic timing which are both strong. I will say also though that Hynkel is not a particularly consistent character since after all shouldn't he have the Hitler voice all the time, and not revert to Chaplin's voice, but hey its a comedy so it really is fine anyways.

Now how about his performance as the Jewish Barber. Well I will say he does contrast the two characters well, showing Hynkel to be forceful but the Barber to be very restrained and quiet. The Barber is made certianly a nice little character by Chaplin. He is a charming nice man who really wants nothing more than to have a quiet life.

With the Jewish Barber I would again say the comedy that comes from his performance does come from both from his direction, but also most certainly his comedic reactions. I would say this is shown best with the scene where the five men are going to be chose for a suicidal mission by which one finds a coin in their pudding, but the problem is there is a coin in each of their puddings. The set up is funny, the music Chaplin uses is funny, as well is the reaction of the other men, but Chaplin's reactions are great as well, so his performance does compliment, or complete much of the comedy from Chaplin's direction.

The Barber is not a particularly complicated character though, he is just a nice little man with a nice little barbershop and a nice little lover interest. Chaplin though is good at being nice though. He is only really required to do more than be funny and nice, in his final scene. The final scene being a big dramatic speech not only to end the film, but also gives a message to the viewing audience basically to fight against the way of the Nazis. Chaplin's performance of the speech is intense, passionate, and powerful. I must say it really is technically out of character, but hey it does work, and he was doing it for a good cause so I really cannot fault him too much.

Overall this is a performance I admire very much, as well as enjoy. The only question is how much great acting does Chaplin technically do. Well that it hard to say, but being funny should not be overlooked I think, and I felt he was funny here. He did not make too really complex characters, but rather two effective ones still. He is not always consistent with either characters, but I feel these inconsistencies do work in his favor. I will say I am not completely sure of this rating but I will stay with it nonetheless, because although I might not let other actors get away with some of what he does, I also do not think any other actor really could have given a performance as effective as him in either part.

Best Actor 1940

And the Nominees Were

Henry Fonda in The Grapes of Wrath

Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator

James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story

Laurence Olivier in Rebecca

Raymond Massey in Abe Lincoln in Illinois

Best Actor 1928: Results

2. Charlie Chaplin in The Circus- Chaplin does his usual routine which consist this time of the typical silent overacting, but his physical movements are well done enough to a least be admired even if they did not make me laugh.

1. Emil Jannings in The Last Command- Emil Jannings gives a great performance which relies on subtlety and expert physical command to create an incredibly powerful performance.

Ranking of films
1. The Circus
2. The last Command

Best Actor 1928: Charlie Chaplin in The Circus

Charlie Chaplin sort of received his first Oscar nomination for portraying once again The Tramp in The Circus.

The Circus is not the funniest silent comedy ever for me, or even that funny at all. I really did not really smile or laugh very much while watching it, I more of found some of scenes sort of neat and intriguing but really for historical reasons.

Chaplin plays the same character here he played in most of his films, The Tramp. Now in terms of acting in the normal prescribed fashion it is mostly typical silent fare. There is the obvious gestures and faces but Chaplin does not over do them too much, but rather as much as a good silent actor would. He makes his sad faces sad, his scared faces scared, his happy faces happy, all the right way even if it is the obvious way. There is nothing wrong with what he does and he certainly does this well enough. They never seem completely over acted, yes they certainly are a little just to be noticed but not as much as they could be. There are no moments where his faces seem wrong, but they are never that good. There are a few reactions were he shows a little more subtlety like his final face in the film, but there are not enough in the overall performance.

The rest of his performance though resides in his physical comedic performance. Chaplin is clearly experienced here with always making the right moves and doing his trade mark waddle in the right way. He clearly is always perfectly in step and in line making the Tramp's movements completely natural despite being completely absurd. Now I did not find what he did all that funny, but it was nice enough to watch. Most of the comedy attempts come from the direction of what happens to The Tramp than from Chaplin's precise acting. The things I liked more in the film were the set pieces more than his physical movements in this particular film. He though is perfectly fine and knows what he is doing here, even if I do not find it funny, I know many find that it works incredibly well. A fine old silent comedic performance from a skilled silent comedian, nothing more, nothing less.

Best Actor 1928

And the first nominees were:

Emil Jannings in The Last Command

Emil Jannings in The Way of All Flesh

Richard Barthelmess in The Noose

Richard Barthelmess in The Patent Leather Kid


And Sort of Charlie Chaplin in The Circus


The Way of all Flesh is lost, and both of Barthelmess's films seem to be obscure archive only. Chaplin was nominated apparently but they took him out of the competition and gave him an honorary award instead. I myself will include him since he was sort of nominated and also so there will be an actual competition. I will come back to this year if I ever happen to come across one of those archives or if a copy of The Way of All Flesh is miraculously found but I doubt either of these things will occur anytime soon, so I will do this year as is anyways.  

Therefore it is between Jannings in The Last Command or Chaplin in The Circus. Who do you Pick? Who do you predict?