Queue up the next Smackdown movies
Thursday, September 23, 2021 at 11:45AM All five of the upcoming movies for the next Supporting Actress Smackdowns are rentable or free to stream (if so we've indicated where) so play along at home, won'cha? The Smackdowns are popular but they're more fun if YOU participate and watch and vote.
Tyrone Power and Alice Brady in "In Old Chicago"
Smackdown 1937 -Sunday, October 3rd, 2021
- ★ Alice Brady in In Old Chicago -a family drama, disaster epic, and sort-of musical
- Andrea Leeds in Stage Door - a boarding house dramedy which is an absolute must-see for actressexuals since everyone is in it!
- Anne Shirley in Stella Dallas (Amazon Prime) - a Stanwyck weepie
- Claire Trevor in Dead End (Amazon Prime) - a Bogart noir
- May Whitty in Night Must Fall - a mystery starring Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell
Between them these movies scored 18 nominations and 2 Oscar wins with In Old Chicago, Stage Door, and Dead End also vying for Best Picture. Voting is open until September 30th so send your ballots then with "1937" in the subject line and a rating of 1 (terrible) to 5 (perfection) hearts for each performance.
Up Next
2004, 1997, 1951 -- dates TBA. We're having to shift things around a bit as festival season got crazy!
Smackdown
Reader Comments (19)
Wiest deservedly has 86 in the bag. Hopefully May Whitty prevails in 37, possibly with some surprise Shirley love and an end to the overrating of Leeds purely because her film is beloved by many.
Looking forward to both but especially the 1937. I just watched “In Old Chicago” last week to get ready. I was inspired to stop the movie at one point and take a pic .. oddly(!) it was the same scene Nathaniel chose to illustrate in this post... of Tyrone Power 🧐
It's always time for new generations to discover the charm of Tyrone Power like mine did back in the 1980s.
I'm not sure "In OId Chicago" is a musical :)) It's one of the earliest disaster movies. (It's about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.)
The 1937 films are a really fun "movie-movie" sort of lot. Tyrone Power as a co-star in In Old Chicago was icing on the cake. Very attractive icing.
I think I need to watch more Tyrone Power movies. 😋
Ian -- this is why i said "sort of". there's a few musical numbers but i should of added "sort of musical / sort of disaster movie" too
StephenM -- we've written about him before. he is verrrry easy on the eyes.
Years like 1986 (and soon 1997) are fun because, although there's a runaway favourite, it's a really close race for silver.
I'm thinking Mastrantonio maybe? (and Basinger in 97?)
With Stella Dallas you can see the difference a talented director makes when he has material in his hands that in the hands of a less gifted could easily become vulgar and cheap. King Vidor turns an easy melodrama (on paper) into a jewel with Barbara Stanwyck shining and delivering a protagonist that you love sometimes and that irritates you sometimes. Never the obvious poor little courage mother that could be with other actresses. In a great year she could have won her deserved Oscar here competing with Greta Garbo ( Camille), Irene Dunne (The Awful Truth), Janet Gaynor (A Star is Born) and the winner, Luise Rainer (The Good Earth).
Inspired by Tyrone Power conversation, my list of 1930s Man Candy:
Errol Flynn
Fredric March
Paul Muni
Buster Crabbe
Cary Grant
Gary Cooper
George Brent
Joel McCrea
John Payne
Nelson Eddy
Robert Taylor
James Stewart
Fred MacMurray
Ray Milland
Laurence Olivier
Henry Fonda
Brian Aherne
Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
(I know I missed someone...)
^^^^Yes, Franchot Tone, William Haines and John Wayne.
Eager to know the result of the Smackdown but what if the Smackdown was Leading instead of Supporting, who would win?
I suspect Barbara Stanwyck would take this one for a few reasons (Oscarless, popular - at least among movie buffs and I suppose Smackdown participants are -, and the film is to the academics' taste, it was a hit at the time, she's not, but gives us the impression of being in every scene, etc.) or perhaps Garbo, another popular Oscarless myth in a flick and character tailored to her type and talent, my favorite take on the classic story, or a tie between the two. Who knows?
Re the 1937 candidates:
Of the nominees, I'd keep Claire Trevor in "Dead End". I've liked Alice Brady and Dame May Whitty much better elsewhere.And - to my mind - the two ingenues, Leeds and Shirley were just adequate in their films. Along with Trevor, I'd have cited Fay Bainter in "Make Way for Tomorrow". I'm swimming against the tide when I say I've never cared much for the picture but Fay Bainter's nuanced supporting work in it is pretty marvelous. Also, Billie Burke,a comic treasure in "Topper". Definitely nomination worthy.
The ingenue that should have been nominated in '37 was lovely Jane Bryan, luminous as Kay Francis' daughter in the fascinating "Confession". Bryan seemed to have a great cinema future ahead but chose to marry and leave films at age 21. (the marriage endured).
Filling that fifth spot for me would have been character actress Mary Nash (Hepburn's mother in "The Philadelphia Story" a few years later). In 1937's "Heidi" she was a mesmerizingly mean nemesis for little Shirley Temple. Fully earning her character name, Fraulein Rottenmeier. And I - I think - the '37 supporting Oscar, as well.
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I wanna know how everyone feels about category placement in Hannah and Her Sisters.
Hannah = lead
Her Sisters = supporting
In Old Chicago is also on YouTube, Stella Dallas is on PlutoTV On Demand as is Dead End (which I loved).
Claire Trevor is horribly underrated. She deserved that Oscar for Key Largo. She's amazing in basically everything - Born to Kill, Raw Deal. Not afraid to play the bad girl.
Tyrone Power was reeeeeaally pretty and had a great screen persona. I just watched Nightmare Alley again, and I forgot how good he is in that. We'll see if BCoops can top it later this year.
I appreciate the shifting smackdown dates since that leaves more time to watch all the movie that I want to from the year!
I walked into Big Lots the other day, and sitting right there was In Old Chicago on DVD for $5! I can't wait to read what the panelists say about Alice Brady. Tyrone Power is 🔥🔥 for sure.