Best Supporting Actor 1950: Results

5. Jeff Chandler in Broken Arrow- Chandler is already miscast around actual Native Americans, and his dull performance never makes up for this problem.

4. Edmund Gwenn in Mister 880- Gwenn is properly sweet and charming in his part, but the part of the most benevolent of criminals is not much of one.

3. Erich von Stroheim in Sunset Blvd.- Stroheim is perfectly cast adding another layer to his character simply through his one background. He also is always proper in his role, but his performance never becomes that amazing for me. Max Meyerling is certianly an interesting character but still certianly a limited one.

2. Sam Jaffe in The Asphalt Jungle- In many years I sort of look forward to rarely talked about nominated performance which are ample in this category. I usually find out why they are rarely spoken of like Gwenn, and Chandler, but I was very pleasantly surprised to find Jaffe's incredibly strong work. Jaffe's performance is subtle even simple work at times, that is amazingly effective and very memorable.

1. George Sanders in All About Eve-Sanders simply could not be better in the role of Addison De Witt. He channels the snarky smug, yet incredibly intelligent and suave ways of the character. Sanders always makes his presence known with every single comment he makes, and to top it off he has one unforgettable scene that is just a magnificent piece of acting.

Deserving Performances:
Louis Calhern in The Asphalt Jungle
Alastair Sim in Stage Fright
Orson Welles in The Third Man (Since it was counted in the major category of Director, I guess I will include him here instead of 1949.)

Best Supporting Actor 1950: Sam Jaffe in The Asphalt Jungle

Sam Jaffe received his only Oscar nomination for portraying Doc Erwin Riedenschneider in The Asphalt Jungle.

The Asphalt Jungle is a well made and an effective crime thriller.

Doc Erwin Riedenschneider conceives the plot to heist jewels. He is the brains behind a small group of men in this scheme. Jaffe portrays the part with a very smooth, and proper demeanor. Jaffe just gives this perfect smoothness to his performance. He shows well that the Doc is a man who knows precisely what he is doing, and never at all loses his cool no matter what the situation.

 Jaffe's very calm and cool presence always adds to The Asphalt Jungle, and I was always very much interested in what he was doing even with the simplest actions. I think the heist scene shows best how quietly interesting  and effective Jaffe is in his role. He moves throughout the scene with an effective precision showing this as something that Doc has done more than once before. Also just when he is waiting for the others to do their jobs, Jaffe makes the Doc just quietly smoking a cigar somehow riveting.

Jaffe is not given an enormous amount material but he makes so much of the little he does indeed have. I think I particularly liked his performance near the end, where Jaffe shows a slightly less business oriented Doc. He has some oddly poignant moments that Jaffe creates very simply. I say odd because I think he sort of makes one briefly with Sterling Hayden, anyone who makes a scene at all poignant with him deserves an Oscar nomination. I particularly liked his final scene where he spends too long to "enjoy" life. Jaffe finds just the right note for this scene to make a fascinating end to his performance. A strong quietly effective performance by Jaffe, that I was pleasantly surprised by.

Best Supporting Actor 1950

And The Nominees Were:

Erich Von Stroheim in Sunset Blvd.

Edmund Gwenn in Mister 880

George Sanders in All About Eve

Jeff Chandler in Broken Arrow

Sam Jaffe in The Asphalt Jungle

Before I jump back to Best Actor and gain back my ability to relax as I review here is another Supporting year.