Best Actor 1948

5. Dan Dailey in When My Baby Smiles At Me- Dailey's performance is okay but unimpressive when he is just trying to be charming, but when he tries to present the character's self destructive behavior he becomes quite bad.

4. Lew Ayres in Johnny Belinda- Ayres gives a nice pleasant performance as a really nice guy, it is not anything much more than that, but it is properly pleasant and warm.

3. Clifton Webb in Sitting Pretty- Webb gives a completely deadpan performance, which is quite amusing,effective and properly consistent.

2. Montgomery Clift in The Search- Clift's performance is much like Ayres, but I found it even more effective, in a really nice guy role. Clift portrays his part completely realistically, and has some very warm and honest moments throughout the film.

1. Laurence Olivier in Hamlet- Good prediction Dinasztie Laurence Olivier's performance is the only performance of these nominees that truly dominates his film, and his win really is the only option for me. Olivier is amazing from beginning to end as Hamlet, finding all the nuance, and complexity in the part. He never ever simplifies the part, even when he simplifies the play. This is a great performance by Olivier, and may just be his best.

Deserving Performances:
Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
James Stewart in Call Northside 777
Van Heflin in Act of Violence

Best Actor 1948: Clifton Webb in Sitting Pretty

Clifton Webb received his third and final Oscar nomination for portraying Lynn Belvedere in Sitting Pretty.

Sitting pretty tells the story about a husband and wife (Robert Young, Maureen O'Hara) who have trouble with their three rowdy kids. No one will be a nanny until they find one Belvedere, and it turns out he's a man, oh boy hi jinks ought to ensue especially with the gossipy town they live in.

Clifton Webb plays the male nanny Lynn Belvedere who only takes the job because he sees it as a challenge, and he is up for it being professional genius after all. It turns out Belvedere is the perfect nanny whipping those children into shape just about as soon as he gets there.

Webb's performance is technically one note, a one note of a complete deadpan performance. And I will say I most certainly liked his performance because he stuck to his note so well. Webb never lets up with Belvedere always portraying as a none too modest fellow, who takes joy in the fact that he is a genius and no one else in town is.

Webb's performance is really thoroughly enjoyable and I got a kick out of several moments of his performance. This came mostly from some his reactions and eye gestures, with his bemusement over the more panicky attitudes of everyone else in town. 

I like the fact that Webb never lets up with his characterization, having Belvedere always look down upon everyone else, and having the perfect restrained delight well doing it. I never got bored, or annoyed by characterization, but instead I felt Webb really managed the a bit too into himself way of Belvedere in just the right fashion.

I can't say this is all that complicated performance, since it is a dead pan performance. I think it was the perfect way to play the character though, in showing that Belvedere stays exactly the same no matter what. Certainly not an amazing piece of acting but an appropriately enjoyable one.

Best Actor 1948

And the Nominees Were:

Lew Ayres in Johnny Belinda

Montgomery Clift in The Search

Laurence Olivier in Hamlet

Clifton Webb in Sitting Pretty

Dan Dailey in When My Baby Smiles At Me