Your Favourite Performances from 1929 to present are...

[Bogie56]

Here are my choices of the 87 films I've seen from 1951 for…

 

Best Supporting Actress of 1951

 

1.  KIM HUNTER (Stella Kowalski), A Streetcar Named Desire

2.  KATHLEEN HARRISON (Mrs. Dilber), A Christmas Carol

3.  MILDRED DUNNOCK (Linda Loman), Death of a Salesman

4.  LEE GRANT ("the Shoplifter"), Detective Story

5.  HILDEGARD KNEF (Hilde), Decision Before Dawn

 

6.  NINA FOCH (Milo Roberts), An American In Paris

7.  MARGARET JOHNSTON (Edith Harrison), The Magic Box

8.  JOYCE CAREY (Margaret Jarvis), Cry, the Beloved Country

9.  MARION LORNE (Mrs. Anthony), Strangers on a Train

10. JOAN BENNETT (Ellie Banks), Father’s Little Dividend

 

and...

 

TECIA SCERANO (Tilda Spernanzoni), Bellissima

WENDY HILLER (Mrs. Almeyer), Outcast of the Islands

JAN STERLING (Lorraine Minosa), Ace In the  Hole

MARJORIE MAIN (Mrs. Wrenley), It's a Big Country

CAROL MARSH (Fan “Fanny” Scrooge), A Christmas Carol

CONNIE GILCHRIST (Sister Josephine), Thunder on the Hill

GLADYS COOPER (Mother Superior), Thunder on the Hill

CONSTANCE SMITH (Cora Laurent), The 13th Letter

MARGARET RUTHERFORD (Lady Pond), The Magic Box

BILLIE BURKE (Doris Dunston), Father’s Little Dividend

JOHANNA HOFER (Frau Hermann), The Lost One

HERMIONE BADDELEY (Mrs. Cratchit), A Christmas Carol

LOUISE HAMPTON (“the laundress”), A Christmas Carol

[Bogie56]

The New York Film Critics Circle Awards for 1951 were:

 

Best Actor

Arthur Kennedy, Bright Victory*

Marlon Brando, A Streetcar Named Desire

 

Best Actress

Vivien Leigh, A Streetcar Named Desire*

Shelley Winters, A Place In the Sun

 

—————————————————————————————————

 

The National Board of Review Awards for 1951 were…

 

Best Actor

Richard Basehart, Fourteen Hours*

 

Best Actress

Jan Sterling, Ace In the Hole*

 

[TomJH]

The following are my favourite performances of 1951:

 

BEST ACTOR

 

Humphrey Bogart, THE AFRICAN QUEEN

Marlon Brando, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

Montgomery Clift, A PLACE IN THE SUN

Robert Walker, STRANGERS ON A TRAIN

Kirk Douglas, ACE IN THE HOLE

 

Honourary Mention: Kirk Douglas in Detective Story, Robert Ryan in On Dangerous Ground, Dan Duryea in Chicago Calling, Trevor Howard in Outcast of the Islands, James Stewart in No Highway in the Sky, James Cagney in Come Fill the Cup, John Garfield in He Ran All the Way, James Mason in The Desert Fox.

 

BEST ACTRESS

 

Katharine Hepburn, THE AFRICAN QUEEN

Vivien Leigh, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

Eleanor Parker, DETECTIVE STORY

Jan Sterling, ACE IN THE HOLE

Ida Lupino, ON DANGEROUS GROUND

 

Honourary Mention: Mercedes McCambridge in The Scarf, Susan Hayward in Rawhide.

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

 

Karl Malden, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

Joseph Wiseman, DETECTIVE STORY

Gilbert Roland, BULLFIGHTER AND THE LADY

Gig Young, COME FILL THE CUP

James Gleason, COME FILL THE CUP

 

Honourable Mention: Ward Bond in On Dangerous Ground, Ralph Richardson in Outcast of the Islands, Peter Ustinov in Quo Vadis, Robert Morley in Outcast of the Islands, Adolphe Menjou in The Tall Target, Richard Erdman in Cry Danger.

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

 

Kim Hunter, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

Lee Grant, DETECTIVE STORY

Marion Lorne, STRANGERS ON A TRAIN

Shelley Winters, A PLACE IN THE SUN

Joyce Holden, YOU NEVER CAN TELL

 

Best Synergy of the Year

 

Humphrey Bogart & Katharine Hepburn in their portrait of middle aged love in The African Queen

 

[TomJH]

Here's a review I wrote a couple of years ago about a good, yet largely unknown, 1951 drama, Chicago Calling:

 

Some classify this film as a noir, though it certainly isn't typical of one. In spite of the title, the film is set largely in the Bunker Hill section of Los Angeles.

 

Dan Duryea shows off an impressive acting range by his casting in this film. Rather than a woman slapping heel or flamboyant western bad man, he plays a sad sack loser here. As the film begins it is soon made apparent than Dan can't hold onto a job due to a drinking problem, and his wife, who still loves him, is about to leave him because of it, taking their daughter with her.

 

Ever have a day in which nothing goes right? Well, Duryea appears to be having one of those days. Soon after his wife and daughter depart he gets a telegram from her in Chicago. Their daughter has been hit by a car and is going on the operating table. She will call him the next evening to bring him up to date.

 

But Dan gets this message just as a telephone repairman is about to remove his phone due to a $53 debt. Duryea pleads with the repairman to give him an extra day, and the repairman agrees.

 

The rest of the film shows Duryea walking the mean lower side streets of LA in an attempt to somehow get that money. This film is probably more visually reminiscent of the post-war realist cinema of Italy than it is of conventional film noir, with its dark streets and shady characters.

 

There is a desperation in this film, beautifully conveyed through Duryea's strained performance, and it's the desperation of poverty, and a man's attempt to do anything, within the legal means of the law, to get some money.

 

Along the way Duryea has a series of bad breaks, but at the same time he also encounters a few people who try to do him a small good turn. Complete strangers who sense the desperation in a man and can feel for him. A little boy on a bike who accidently strikes Duryea's dog, a girl running a hamburg stand, a telephone technician, a couple of hard faced detectives who show they're a little human, after all.

 

The seedy rundown streets of Los Angeles are captured for posterity in the wonderful on location photography of this small budget production. The cinematographer of this film is, in fact, Duryea's primary co-star.

 

Duryea's portrait of a seriously flawed everyman, so completely contrasting to the kind of roles for which he is remembered today, is quietly moving. There's an essential decency at the core of his character who is conflicted with doubts and insecurities, as well as substance abuse problems. It's a very human portrait that is the core of what makes this film work.

 

Will he get the money so he can receive that phone call? Will his daughter, to whom he is so devoted, be okay? Any parent, whether with substance abuse issues or not, can identify with Duryea here.

 

Duryea has a scene towards the film's end, a closeup as he talks on the phone, that is probably his finest moment in the film, and a small lasting little tribute to him as an actor. His desperation, his anguish, is palpable as he talks. Others in the room lower their eyes in pain at what they hear.

 

Chicago Calling is a minor effort but holds the viewer's interest as both a time capsule of 1951 LA, as well as evidence of the versatility of Dan Duryea's acting talent.

 

[kingrat]

Tom, thank you for the excellent write-up of Chicago Calling. I agree with everything you say. Unfortunately, the director has a little trouble with pacing, and to me the movie seemed a bit longer than its short running length. Dan Duryea is really outstanding, however, and his fans will enjoy seeing it for that reason, as well as for the outstanding location photography.

[Bogie56]

Here are Danny Peary’s Alternate Oscar choices for 1951.  Winners in bold.  

 

1951 Best Actor

Alastair Sim, A Christmas Carol* .. tied with ..

Robert Walker, Strangers on a Train*

Humphrey Bogart, The African Queen

Marlon Brando, A Streetcar Named Desire

Kirk Douglas, Ace In the Hole

 

1951 Best Actress

Vivien Leigh, A Streetcar Named Desire*

Katharine Hepburn, The African Queen

 

 

And here are Michael Gerbert’s Golden Armchair choices for 1951:

 

Best Actor

Marlon Brando, A Streetcar Named Desire*

 

Best Actress

Vivien Leigh, A Streetcar Named Desire*

[Bogie56]

Here are my choices of the 87 films I've seen from 1951 for…

 

Best Supporting Actor of 1951

 

1.  MARLON BRANDO (Stanley Kowalski), A Streetcar Named Desire

2.  KARL MALDEN (Harold “Mitch)” Mitchell, A Streetcar Named Desire

3.  RALPH RICHARDSON (Captain Tom Lingard), Outcast of the Islands

4.  MERVYN JOHNS (Robert "Bob" Cratchit), A Christmas Carol

5.  PETER USTINOV (Emperor Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus), Quo Vadis

 

6.  ROBERT MORLEY (Elmer Almeyer), Outcast of the Islands

7.  CHARLES CARSON (James Jarvis), Cry, the Beloved Country

8.  MICHAEL HORDERN (Jacob Marley), A Christmas Carol

9. MILES MALLESON (“old” Joe "the ragpicker/fence"), A Christmas Carol

10. SAM JAFFE (Professor Jacob Barnhardt), The Day the Earth Stood Still

 

and ...

 

GENE EVANS (Sgt. Rock), Fixed Bayonets

WILFRID HYDE-WHITE (Frobisher, “the Headmaster”), The Browning Version

JACK WARNER (Mr. Jorkin), A Christmas Carol

WILFRID HYDE-WHITE (Vinck), Outcast of the Islands

ROBERT MORLEY (Rev. Samuel Sayer), The African Queen

KEVIN MCCARTHY (Biff Loman), Death of a Salesman

RODDY HUGHES (Mr. S. Fezziwig), A Christmas Carol

JOHN DIERKES (Jim Conklin, "the Tall Soldier"), The Red Badge of Courage

GEORGE COLE ("young" Ebenezer Scrooge), A Christmas Carol

JIM BACKUS (Bill Grayson), Bright Victory

RICHARD BENEDICT (Leo Minosa), Ace In the Hole

ERNEST THESIGER (Mr. Stretch "the Undertaker"), A Christmas Carol

WILLIAM BENDIX (Lou Brody), Detective Story

ALFIE BASS (“Shorty” Fisher), The Lavender Hill Mob

PORTER HALL (Jacob Q. Boot), Ace In the Hole

KENNETH GRIFFITH (Jimmy Ellis), High Treason

TED DE CORSIA (Joseph Ricco), The Enforcer

BRIAN WORTH (Fred), A Christmas Carol

HOWARD SMITH (Charley), Death of a Salesman

JOHN CHARLESWORTH (Peter Cratchit), A Christmas Carol

[kingrat]

The Blue Veil is probably available only online. Jane Wyman delivers another strong performance, this time as a woman who becomes a nanny after her own child dies. It's a story of mother love directed to other women's children, and is far less sentimental than one might fear.

 

Joan Blondell, like Wyman Oscar-nominated, plays a Broadway star who must choose between devoting time to her career and to her daughter. Although Blondell as usual delivers a good performance, I'm more interested in the characters played by Vivian Vance and Agnes Moorehead, each of whom forecloses an opportunity for Wyman's personal happiness.

 

These scenes will be especially interesting to those who understand the code of the lady followed by many of our mothers, aunts, grandmothers, and their contemporaries. Voices are not raised. No one is overtly bitchy or unkind. Vivian Vance, who plays the assistant to widower Charles Laughton, owner of a girdle factory, nonetheless knows how to dispose of someone she sees as a rival.

 

Vivian, however, is crudeness itself next to the refined procedures of the upper-class Agnes Moorehead. Moorehead has only two scenes, yet to me it's one of her most memorable performances. Not only does she use the iron fist in the velvet glove, the glove is made of the finest, most expensive velvet available. As Moorehead protects her own comfort without regard to the human needs of her nanny, she seems to embody her social class and the way it defends its prerogatives.

 

The screenplay must be praised for the subtlety of these well-written scenes. Curtis Bernhardt directs capably; the scene where Jane Wyman learns of her child's death is especially well done, powerful without being sentimental.

[LawrenceA]

I want to take a moment to spotlight the cast of my favorite film from 1951, The Thing (from Another World). I discontinued my Best Ensemble award awhile back, but I almost reinstated it for this film. They take a breathless script, delivered at a sprinter's pace, and make it believable and engaging. Much of the dialogue has that Howard Hawks spark, especially the romantic back-and-forth between star Kenneth Tobey and Margaret Sheridan.

 

 

The film wouldn't work as well as it does, though, without the whole terrific ensemble. James Young, Dewey Martin, Robert Nichols, and William Self as the military personnel, and Eduard Franz, Paul Frees, John Dierkes, and George Fenneman as the scientists all keep up with the script's demands ably. Robert Cornthwaite is a stand-out as the conniving chief scientist, though, even if they had to artificially whiten his hair to age him past his actual 34 years.

 

 

The one performer who I did single out for recognition in my acting choices was Douglas Spencer, a busy character actor of the 40's, 50's and 60's. His cynical reporter is a needed dose of reality in a story about alien monsters, and his slightly smirking and sarcastic demeanor is a treat. And he gets to utter the film's final, classic line, "Keep watching the skies!"

 

 

It's hard to overstate how much an effect this film had on the entire science fiction genre. It can be seen in every film where a small group of people are stuck in an enclosed area where they have to face both an outside malevolent threat, as well as their confinement, and the attendant in-fighting that results. The creature may look a little silly these days, but the menace remains, and a lot of that is due to the wonderful performances from a largely unknown and unsung cast.

 

[TomJH]

One of the reasons that I think The Thing works so well is because of its generally down-to-earth (if you pardon the expression) presentation. The characters themselves, with their bantering and Hawksian overlapping dialogue, are realistic and credible. The cast is generally low key and believable.

 

Plus Hawks' overall presentation of the film, even though it's about a creature from another planet landing on Earth, is more that of a suspense thriller than it is a science fiction melodrama.

 

SPOILER ALERT

 

The first time that I saw the film the scene that made me jump out of my seat was the surprise first appearance of the Thing. A geiger counter tells the army men that the creature is inside the cold room, if memory serves me correctly. There is some suspense as the men, guns in hand, carefully approach the door to the room and slowly open it. What I was not expecting, however, was that the creature would be standing on the other side of the door and immediately take a large swing at them.

 

[Bogie56]

Here are my choices of the 87 films I've seen from 1951 for…

 

Best Actress of 1951

 

1.  VIVIEN LEIGH (Blanche DuBois), A Streetcar Named Desire

2.  KATHARINE HEPBURN (Rose "Rosie" Sayer), The African Queen

3.  ELEANOR PARKER (Mary McLeod), Detective Story

4.  ANNA MAGNANI (Signora Maddalena Cecconi), Bellissima

5.  SHELLEY WINTERS (Alice Tripp), A Place In the Sun

 

6.  CLAUDETTE COLBERT (Sister Mary Boneventure), Thunder on the Hill

7.  MARIA SCHELL (Helena Friese-Greene), The Magic Box

8.  PEGGY DOW (Judy Greene), Bright Victory

9.  PATRICIA NEAL (Helen Benson), The Day the Earth Stood Still

10.  KAY WALSH (Molly Reed), Encore

 

and...

 

ELIZABETH TAYLOR (Angela Vickers), A Place In the Sun

JEAN KENT (Millie Crocker-Harris), The Browning Version

LESLIE CARON (Lise Bouvier), An American In Paris

LORETTA YOUNG (Ellen Jones), Cause for Alarm

THELMA RITTER (Ellen McNulty), The Mating Season

RUTH ROMAN (Anne Morton), Strangers on a Train

[Bogie56]

The 1951 Venice Film Festival winners were:

 

Best Actor

Jean Gabin, The Night Is My Kingdom

 

Best Actress

Vivien Leigh, A Streetcar Named Desire

 

—————————————————————————————————

 

The Cannes Film Festival Awards for 1951 were…

 

Best Actor

Michael Redgrave, The Browning Version 

 

Best Actress

Bette Davis, All About Eve (50)

[kingrat]

Teresa is not one of Fred Zinnemann's better-known films, but I think it's worth getting to know. I like to consider The Seventh Cross, The Search, Act of Violence, The Men, and Teresa as a thematically related quintet of films about WWII and its aftermath. (Zinnemann learned after the war that his parents had died in a concentration camp.)

 

Teresa is particularly noteworthy for the great young actress it introduces: Pier Angeli, who's like a young Italian Ingrid Bergman. The problem is that Pier Angeli never seems like a great actress in any other film. Now Zinnemann is an outstanding director of actors, but I think the real reason is like that eerie scene in A Star Is Born where the studio makeup and costume people take away Judy Garland's individuality and turn her into just another Hollywood starlet. Angeli is competent, and very pretty, in Somebody Up There Likes Me, but she no longer has that special quality.

 

John Ericson has a particularly thankless role in Teresa: he has to play a mama's boy who turns out to be a coward under fire, and who may actually be responsible in part for the death of some of his fellow soldiers. Ordinarily we would expect the movie to have a follow-up scene where Ericson redeems himself as a soldier (The Red Badge of Courage sets the template for this). However, there is no such scene, and to me that's one of the other interesting things about Teresa. Ericson fails as a soldier, meets and marries a beautiful Italian girl, and then the two of them have to adjust to life with his family.

 

This second part of the film presents a common 1950s film family. This is the decade of "Momism," where a domineering mother, well-played by Patricia Collinge, has defeated her husband and is attempting to control her son as well. The son has to prove that he can stand up to his mother and be a man for his wife, as in the 1930s drama The Silver Cord.

 

If the description of the family sounds a bit similar to Rebel Without a Cause, that's probably because Stewart Stern wrote both screenplays. Remember that weird and unconvincing moment in Rebel where Sal Mineo says he thinks of James Dean and Natalie Wood as his parents? There's a similar moment in Teresa where Ericson says he regards his commanding officer (Ralph Meeker) as a father. Older brother, sure, but father? Stern always denied he intended Sal Mineo's character in Rebel to be homosexual. Mineo and Nicholas Ray obviously had other ideas. There's a curious moment early in Teresa where another soldier offers Ericson some bread. One imdb reviewer suggests that he's making a sexual approach to Ericson, and I agree; the moment doesn't make much sense otherwise. I'd say that Stern was putting his own fears about masculinity into both screenplays, and that's all to the good.

 

Teresa, like The Search, was partly filmed in the rubble of Europe after the war. Zinnemann also directs some fine documentary-like or neo-realistic scenes that show Ericson as only one soldier who needs psychological help after the war, only one of many soldiers whose Italian brides arrive in New York to be reunited with their husbands.

[LawrenceA]

I watched Teresa for the first time in the last year or two, and I enjoyed it. You can see in it the heavy influence of the Italian neo-realists. I watched it for the early role for Rod Steiger, and the blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo by Lee Marvin as a soldier on a ship. I was impressed and moved by Pier Angeli.

[Bogie56]

The Golden Globe Awards for 1951 were …

 

Best Actor in a Drama

Fredric March, Death of a Salesman*

Arthur Kennedy, Bright Victory

Kirk Douglas, Detective Story

 

Best Actress in a Drama

Jane Wyman, The Blue Veil*

Shelley Winters, A Place In the Sun

Vivien Leigh, A Streetcar Named Desire

 

Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical

Danny Kaye, On the Riviera*

Gene Kelly, An American In Paris

Bing Crosby, Here Comes the Groom

 

Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical

June Allyson, Too Young to Kiss*

 

Best Supporting Actor

Peter Ustinov, Quo Vadis*

 

Best Supporting Actress

Kim Hunter, A Streetcar Names Desire*

Lee Grant, Detective Story

Thelma Ritter, The Mating Season

[TomJH]

Dick Powell had a solid year in 1951 with three good releases.

 

Cry Danger, which the actor produced through an independent company, was the last of his film noirs. While its tale of vengeance is nothing special, the film benefits from some impressive on location LA photography (much of the film set in a seedy trailer camp). It's always a pleasure to watch Powell with his minimalist acting style playing a tough guy, but the film also benefits from Richard Erdman's portrayal of a cynical one legged marine who drinks too much.

 

Thanks to William Bowers's screenplay the film is also noteworthy for its tough, smart dialogue.

 

"You drinking that stuff so early?" a girl asks Erdman tippling the sauce in the morning.

 

"Listen, doll girl," he replies, "when you drink as much as I do you got to start early."

 

When the girl, who had tried to pickpocket Erdman's money the night before tries to justify her behaviour by saying that she was only keeping it for him until he sobered up, Powell responds, "That's like tying it up permanently."

 

The film also has a noticeably suspenseful, tense scene in which Powell cross examines a bar owner lowlife (played by an oily William Conrad) by ordering him, at gunpoint, to lie on his back on his desk and then proceed to play Russian roulette but with the gun remaining strictly on Conrad's head.

 

 

Adding to the creepiness of the scene, director Robert Parrish has closeups of Conrad's sweating face upside down, with his eyes at the bottom of the screen, as he stares up at the gun. It somehow gives him an almost inhuman appearance, almost like that of a bloated bullfrog.

 

Cry Danger is a more than solid farewell to the noir genre for Dick Powell.

 

But also this year he appeared in The Tall Target, this time as a New York detective, working alone, trying to prevent what he believes will be an assassination attempt upon President-elect Abraham Lincoln. The film is primarily set aboard a train. Powell's character's name in the film is, ironically, John Kennedy. The film has has a strong portrayal of duplicity from Adolphe Menjou as an army man who gets involved with Powell in the case.

 

Powell's most unusual film of the year, though, is a fantasy comedy with, unfortunately, a rather bland title, You Never Can Tell.

 

In this film Powell plays a dog, a german shepherd, wealthy heir to an estate due to an eccentric millionaire. But after the dog is murdered by poison he returns to Earth in the human form of Powell as private eye Rex Shepherd, out to find woof, I mean, proof of his killer's identity.

 

This little Universal-International release proves to be good natured fun. Ironically, along with Murder My Sweet, this is one of only two films in which Powell played a private dick, even though he's doing a lot of deadpan kidding this time around.

 

Much of the humour throughout the film is in watching Powell trying to curb his natural doggie instincts. He growls at those he doesn't like and spends a lot of time eating doggie kibble as a treat, munching it loudly and with fast mouth action.

 

When someone makes reference to his "tale," Powell immediately responds by checking himself down below to see if anything unexpected is showing. When he's alone in a room in his old home and spots a favourite rubber ball of his, Powell plays with it with his feet and when the ball rolls under a desk he eagerly chases after it on his hands and knees to continue playing with it under the desk.

 

At another moment when he is back on the old estate that he had once roamed as a dog and refers to how much he loves the grounds, adding "especially the trees," it's a clear inside joke for the audience.

 

Joyce Holden, with southern drawl, plays a former race horse returned to Earth in human form to assist Powell with the case. Also adding to the film's pleasures is the presence of Peggy Dow, she of the wholesome manner and sexy overbite, who had played the nurse in the previous year's Harvey. Here she plays the inheritor of the estate wrongfully suspected of having poisoned the dog.

 

 

Powell entering his old home through the usual door. Old habits die hard. In this shot he is looking at a cat, hissing in unhappiness over his return.

[kingrat]

Thanks for some excellent write-ups, Tom. Although Dick Powell gives good performances in Murder, My Sweet and Cornered, I believe that he's even better in Cry Danger. This time his acting doesn't have to be so overt; he doesn't have to prove he isn't that guy in the 1930s musicals. He seems wearier and even more authentic. The location photography is great, too.

 

I'm also a fan of The Tall Target, based on a historical attempt to assassinate Lincoln before he could take office. Dick Powell and Adolphe Menjou give strong performances, and so does Ruby Dee, who brings dignity and intelligence to her small part.

 

The 1951 best actor category has so many different styles of acting as well as so many admirable performances. Brando as Stanley Kowalski is the most famous of all Method performances. Alec Guinness and Alastair Sim exemplify the Ealing comedy style. Michael Redgrave adapts the style of English dramatic acting to the screen. John Garfield gives one of the ultimate noir guy on the run performances. Gene Kelly shows us a more athletic dance style. Oskar Werner's performance is almost all reaction shots; the whole movie is about what he sees in the ruined Germany and how he feels about it. And that's just skimming the surface.

 

Although he didn't make my final fifteen, Spencer Tracy as an alcoholic lawyer in The People Against O'Hara would ordinarily make the top five; it's one of my favorite Tracy performances. That film also has cinematography by John Alton, so it's well worth seeing.

[Bogie56]

Here are my choices of the 87 films I've seen from 1951 for…

 

Best Actor of 1951

 

1.  ALASTAIR SIM (Ebenezer Scrooge), A Christmas Carol

2.  HUMPHREY BOGART (Charles “Charlie” Allnut), The African Queen

3.  MICHAEL REDGRAVE (Andrew Crocker-Harris/"Himm ler of the lower fifth" “), The Browning Version

4.  FREDRIC MARCH (Willy Loman), Death of a Salesman

5.  ARTHUR KENNEDY (Larry Nevins), Bright Victory

 

6.  ROBERT WALKER (Bruno Anthony), Strangers on a Train

7.  TREVOR HOWARD (Peter Willems), Outcast of the Islands

8.  ROBERT DONAT (William Friese-Greene), The Magic Box

9.  KIRK DOUGLAS (Detective Jim McLeod), Detective Story

10. ALEC GUINNESS (Henry Holland/”Dutch”), The Lavender Hill Mob

 

and ...

 

MONTGOMERY CLIFT (George Eastman/”Gilbert Edwards”), A Place In the Sun

OSKAR WERNER (Cpl. Karl Maurer/”Karl Steiner”/“Happy”), Decision Before Dawn

KIRK DOUGLAS (Chuck Tatum), Ace In the Hole

GENE KELLY (Jerry Mulligan), An American In Paris

CANADA LEE (Reverend Stephen Kumalo), Cry, the Beloved Country

MICHAEL RENNIE (Klaatu/“Mr. Carpenter”), The Day the Earth Stood Still

AUDIE MURPHY (Henry Fleming, "the Youth"), The Red Badge of Courage

CHARLES BOYER (Father Marc Arnoux), The First Legion

SPENCER TRACY (Stanley T. Banks), Father’s Little Dividend

STANLEY HOLLOWAY (Alfred ‘Al’ Pendlebury), The Lavender Hill Mob

 

[skimpole]

I wanted to comment more on Kathryn Beaumont, my runner-up choice for best actress. 

 

 

Several of my nominees, and two of my future winners, are actually voices.  What I especially like about Alice in Wonderland is that it's incredibly inventive, doesn't efface the original source (unlike Pinocchio), and doesn't have a didactic or simple-minded moral.  It's also admirable that in a corpus of usually passive uninteresting heroines, Alice/Beaumont shows considerable sang-froid confronting the strange, often selfish and occasionally sinister entities that she meets.

[Bogie56]

Best Performance in 1951 by a future President of the Untied States, Ronald Reagan in Bedtime For Bonzo (1951), pictured above on the right.

[LawrenceA]

Best Performance in 1951 by a future President of the Untied States, Ronald Reagan in Bedtime For Bonzo (1951), pictured above on the right.

 

 LOL...it never gets old. I swear I laugh every time.

[CoraSmith]

Best Performance in 1951 by a future President of the Untied States, Ronald Reagan in Bedtime For Bonzo (1951), pictured above on the right.

Was that a deliberate spelling error? And what if Kirk Douglas wins the presidential elections of 2020? 

[Bogie56]

Japan’s Blue Ribbon Awards for 1951 were …

 

Best Actor

Rentaro Mikuni, Inochi Uruwashi, The Good Fairy and Inazuma Soshi

 

Best Actress

Setsuko Hara, Early Summer and Meshi

 

Best Supporting Actor

Chishu Ryu, Inochi Uruwashi

 

Best Supporting Actress

Haruko Sugimara, Early Summer, Inochi Uruwashi and Meshi

 

—————————————————————————————

 

Japan’s Mainichi Awards for 1951 were …

 

Best Actor

Chishu Ryu, Inochi Uruwashi and Fireworks Over the Sea

 

Best Actress

Setsuko Hara, Early Summer and Meshi

 

Best Supporting Actress

Akiko Tamura, Jiyu Gakko and Shoneki

[Bogie56]

Here are the films from 1951 that were mentioned that I have not seen as yet. 

 

Awaara/The Vagabond with Raj Kapoor and Nargis

The Blue Veil with Jane Wyman, Vivian Vance and Joan Blondell

The Bullfighter and the Lady with Gilbert Roland

Chicago Calling with Dan Duryea

Come Fill the Cup with James Cagney, James Gleason and Gig Young

The Company She Keeps with Lizabeth Scott

Cry Danger with Dick Powell and Richard Erdman

Early Summer with Setsuko Hara, Haruko Sugimura, Ichiro Segai and Chieko Higashiyama

Fireworks Over the Sea with Chishu Ryu

Fourteen Hours with Richard Basehart

The Good Fairy with with Rentaro Mikuni

He Ran All the Way with John Garfield, Shelley Winters and Wallace Ford

The Hoodlum with Lawrence Tierney and Lisa Golm

I Can Get It For You Wholesale with Susan Hayward

I Was an American Spy with Ann Dvorak

I’ll See You In My Dreams with Doris Day and Danny Thomas

Inazuma Soshi with Rentaro Mikuni

Inochi Uruwashi with Rentaro Mikuni, Chishu Ryu and Haruko Sugimura

Jiyu Gakko with Akiko Tamura

The Law and the Lady with Marjorie Main

Let’s Make It Legal with Marilyn Monroe

M with David Wayne, Norman Lloyd and Howard da Silva

The Medium with Marie Powers

Meshi with Setsuko Hara and Haruko Sugimura

A Millionaire For Christy with Fred MacMurray and Eleanor Parker

Miss Julie with Anita Bjork

The Night Is My Kingdom with Jean Gabin

On Moonlight Bay with Billy Gray

On the Riviera with Danny Kaye

The Prowler with Van Heflin and Evelyn Keyes

The Scarf with Mercedes McCambridge

The Secret of Convict Lake with Ann Dvorak

Shonenki with Akiko Tamura

The Tall Target with Ruby Dee and Adolphe Menjou

Teresa with Pier Angeli and Patricia Collinge

Too Young to Kiss with June Allyson

Westward the Women with Robert Taylor and Hope Emerson

When Worlds Collide with John Hoyt

 

And I would like to see these again …

 

The House on Telegraph Hill for Valentina Cortese

The Idiot for Masayuki Mori, Toshiro Mifune and Setsuko Hara

The Man In the White Suit for Joan Greenwood and Cecil Parker

No Highway in the Sky for James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich and Glynis Johns

[LawrenceA]

Here are the films from 1951 that were mentioned that I have not seen as yet. 

 

The Blue Veil with Jane Wyman, Vivian Vance and Joan Blondell

Come Fill the Cup with James Cagney, James Gleason and Gig Young

The Prowler with Van Heflin and Evelyn Keyes

The Secret of Convict Lake with Ann Dvorak

Teresa with Pier Angeli and Patricia Collinge

When Worlds Collide with John Hoyt

 

I've seen these out of your list, Bogie. The Prowler is probably the pick of the litter. The Blue Veil and Come Fill the Cup were both good, too, but they can be tough to track down, as the former is only available as an old recording off of TV from 25 or 30 years ago. Teresa we discussed earlier, and I think you'd like it, judging by your choices. The Secret of Convict Lake is a minor programmer with an interesting cast (Glenn Ford, Gene Tierney, Ethel Barrymore, Zachary Scott). When Worlds Collide seems corny nowadays most of the time, but it was a groundbreaking SF disaster epic in it's day, and John Hoyt is hilarious as a miserable rich jerk in a wheelchair.