Don't freak out but the Smackdown returns in exactly one week after endless delays (if you'd like to vote, details are at the bottom of the post). This time we're looking at 1963 but before we introduce our panel, or start tinkering around with '63 hijinx, let's look at how 2 of the 5 nominated characters are introduced in their films.
First up... a stone-faced nun eyeing Sidney Poitier's muscles...
..."Mother Maria" (Lilia Skala) 1½ minutes into Lilies of the Field
When you've got a 94 minute running time -- as more movies should -- you have to cut right to the chase. Just after the credits roll, Sidney Poitier pulls up to a pathetic little building and rundown garden and we see several older ladies working with big hats. He doesn't yet know they're nuns. The film's second biggest role -- so big it's practically a co-lead -- is the Mother Superior, who emerges in medium shot just like all the other nuns. It's up to Skala, then, to provide the gravitas so we know she is the important one. Then she gets a closeup as she watches Poitier pump water vigorously. It's not lust but faith that rises as she sees his muscles work.
God is good. He has sent me a big strong man.
Mother Maria believes Homer Smith (Poitier) is the answer to her prayers and will build the poor village the chapel they've so long desired. Smith believes these nuns need to quit sizing him up and let him be on his travelling way. This movie has great economy of storytelling; we're already in the central conflict two minutes in!
"Duchess of Brighton" (Margaret Rutherford) 5 minutes into The VIPs
Why do i have to travel with this ridiculous bag? It's like a bottomless pit!
The VIPs is a soapy romantic drama at heart (it's a Liz & Dick star vehicle) but the entire ensemble isn't their for heartache. Each VIP on a flight from London to Florida gets their own introductory scene to establish the outlines of their character before we learn their Obstacle to Overcome within the plot. The music cues, if not the scene itself, immediately inform us that Rutherford will be serving as the movie's comic relief. Rutherford will get very few closeups in the movie but she doesn't use this first to play to the camera so much as FUSS so much that she couldn't possibly notice a camera if it was right next to her. She's constantly in motion, waving tickets around, searching for things in her overstuffed purse, and talking about pepper pills. The Duchess seems utterly confused about flying. The comedy of the character, at least for this first scene, is that people don't get that she's royalty because she comes across as a particularly dotty old civilian.
AGAIN, YES, THIS MEANS THE SMACKDOWN IS COMING.
Both Lilia and Margaret are working classic supporting archetypes - the stern authority figure (in this case a nun) and the funny ol' fussbudget. Who will prevail in the Smackdown? They'll be pitted against the three ladies from Tom Jones, the only movie to have ever received three supporting actress nominations.
If you'd like to vote on the Smackdown (the readers are collectively the final panelist) send in your ballot with each woman rated on a scale of 1 (terrible) to 5 (perfect) hearts by Saturday night -- please only include the performances you've seen on your ballot!
Diane Cilento, Tom Jones
Edith Evans, Tom Jones
Joyce Redman, Tom Jones
Lilia Skala, Lilies of the Field
Margaret Rutherford, The VIPs