Best Actress and the end of the Great Depression: An Alternative Oscar History

by Cláudio Alves

Miriam Hopkins in BECKY SHARP (1935), Janet Gaynor in A STAR IS BORN (1937), and Vivien Leigh in GONE WITH THE WIND (1939) were the first 3 Best Actress nominees from full-color movies.

The woes of the Great Depression demanded escapism from Hollywood. Such spectacle came in a myriad of forms, including some technical advancements.

By 1935, the three-strip Technicolor process was ready for features, blessing the silver screen with hues that called themselves natural while shining bright like something out of a dream. New genres came into being, too, sometimes as an echo of the dark times – think gangster pictures and their basis in social realism turned pulp or the rise of horror at Universal – and sometimes as an antidote. The screwball comedy was a child of the Great Depression, alright, with some of its greatest hits holding a blissfully distorted mirror to off-screen miseries, distracting from them and offering some magical impossibility as succor for the soul. In other areas, movies kept getting bigger, upping the ante in ways that recalled the great epics of silent cinema, those endeavors that moved armies and mountains for the camera’s gaze and the audience’s pleasure.

Obviously, this all reverberated through the Oscars, including and especially the Best Actress race. But will my personal ballots reflect it in the same fashion? Well…

Ingrid Bergman made such an impression in the Swedish classic INTERMEZZO (1936), that Hollywood remade it in 1939, with the actress reprising the role in English.

First, a reminder that, up until 1936, there were no awards specifically for supporting performers, so technically everyone was eligible for the Best Actor and Best Actress prizes. This will manifest in one tiny performance making it into my 1935 ballot, which is not to say I consider it a leading lady part – she’s got two scenes only, and not even I am that demented with category placements. The scandal of Bette Davis’ snub in 1934 for Of Human Bondage also prompted the Academy to expand Best Actress, resulting in six slots the following year, which I will be ignoring so all the collages look the same. I’ve been doing it thus far, so you’re probably already used to it. In many ways, the current acting races were consolidated in 1936 with the 9th Academy Awards, with four categories and five nominees each.

The only major changes after that would be minor. After Barry Fitzgerald got nominated in both Actor and Supporting Actor for 1944’s Going My Way, the rulebook was changed to make such a thing impossible. Finally, this year, the rule that prohibited actors from receiving multiple nominations for different films in the same category was revoked. Theoretically, we can see the return of double nominations, like the ones in the early 30s for Norma Shearer.

But let’s re-situate ourselves at the end of the Great Depression, when Hollywood spectacle was ratcheting up and, across oceans, war was brewing. Curiously enough, though the coming years of armed conflict would reverse this instantly, by 1938 the Academy was finally including “foreign” films in its reminder lists. Because the industry kept importing them, audiences kept watching them, and, as ever, Oscar reflects the state of Hollywood and American film culture in general. At the 11th Academy Awards, Grand Illusion became the first non-English-language film to score a Best Picture nomination, and six other French productions joined it in the reminder list. Also on that list was a little Swedish film called Intermezzo, whose success would soon bring its young star to the States. Her name? Ingrid Bergman. 

Sadly, I can already warn you that no non-English-language performance made it into my lineups. That’ll only happen in the postwar period, as far as this alternative Oscar history is concerned. Still better than the real Oscars, though, as AMPAS only broke that particular Best Actress glass ceiling in 1961.

☆ = Oscar nominee that season

1935

Katharine Hepburn, ALICE ADAMS *winner* ☆
Elsa Lanchester, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN
Carole Lombard, HANDS ACROSS THE TABLE
Ginger Rogers, ROBERTA
Sylvia Sidney, MARY BURNS, FUGITIVE 

Honorable Mentions: Jean Harlow and Hattie McDaniel in CHINA SEAS, Katharine Hepburn in SYLVIA SCARLETT, Ginger Rogers in TOP HAT, Rosalind Russell in RENDEZVOUS, Barbara Stanwyck and Genevieve Tobin in THE WOMAN IN RED.

Ineligible: Sachio Chiba, Toshiko Itō and Ryuko Umezono in THE GIRL IN THE RUMOR, Carol Goodner, Diana Napier and Gertrude Lawrence in MIMI.

On the Watchlist: Elisabeth Bergner in ESCAPE ME NEVER ☆, Claudette Colbert in PRIVATE WORLDS ☆, Ann Harding in PETER IBBETSON, Merle Oberon in THE DARK ANGEL ☆, Margaret Sullavan in THE GOOD FAIRY.

1936

Ruth Chatterton, DODSWORTH *winner*
Frances Farmer, COME AND GET IT
Gloria Holden, DRACULA’S DAUGHTER
Carole Lombard, MY MAN GODFREY ☆
Rosalind Russell, CRAIG’S WIFE 

Honorable Mentions: Marlene Dietrich in DESIRE, Jean Harlow in WIFE VS SECRETARY, Miriam Hopkins and Bonita Granville in THESE THREE, Paulette Goddard in MODERN TIMES, Myrna Loy in LIBELED LADY. 

Ineligible: Florelle in THE CRIME OF MONSIEUR LANGE, Isuzu Yamada in OSAKA ELEGY and SISTERS OF THE GION.

On the Watchlist: Bette Davis in PETRIFIED FOREST, Irene Dunne in MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION, Gladys George in VALIANT IS THE WORD FOR CARRIE ☆, Hedy Lamarr in ECSTASY, Aline MacMahon in KIND LADY.

1937

Jean Arthur, EASY LIVING
Beulah Bondi, MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW
Irene Dunne, THE AWFUL TRUTH ☆
Greta Garbo, CAMILLE *winner* ☆
Barbara Stanwyck, STELLA DALLAS ☆

Honorable Mentions: Jean Arthur in HISTORY IS MADE AT NIGHT, Marlene Dietrich in ANGEL, Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers in STAGE DOOR, Sylvia Sidney in DEAD END and YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE.

Ineligible: Takako Irie in A WOMAN’S SORROWS, Noboru Kiritachi in AVALANCHE. 

On the Watchlist: Joan Blondell in STAND-IN, Claudette Colbert in TOVARICH, Kay Francis in CONFESSIONS, Gladys George in MADAME X, Miriam Hopkins in WOMAN CHASES MAN.

1938

Bette Davis, JEZEBEL ☆
Katharine Hepburn, HOLIDAY *winner*
Norma Shearer, MARIE ANTOINETTE ☆
Barbara Stanwyck, ALWAYS GOODBYE
Anna May Wong, DANGEROUS TO KNOW

Honorable Mentions: Claudette Colbert in BLUEBEARD’S EIGHTH WIFE, Katharine Hepburn in BRINGING UP BABY, Myrna Loy in TEST PILOT, Ginger Rogers in VIVACIOUS LADY, Margaret Sullavan in THREE COMRADES ☆.

Ineligible: Ingrid Bergman in A WOMAN’S FACE, Signe Hasso and Tollie Zellman in CAREER.

On the Watchlist: Danielle Darrieux in CLUB DE FEMMES and THE RAGE OF PARIS, Merle Oberon in THE DIVORCE OF LADY X, Sylvia Sidney in YOU AND ME, Margaret Sullavan in THE SHOPWORN ANGEL.

1939 

Bette Davis, DARK VICTORY ☆
Greta Garbo, NINOTCHKA ☆
Judy Garland, THE WIZARD OF OZ
Vivien Leigh, GONE WITH THE WIND *winner* ☆
Norma Shearer, THE WOMEN

Honorable Mentions: Jean Arthur in ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS, Claudette Colbert in MIDNIGHT, Irene Dunne in LOVE AFFAIR, Claire Trevor in STAGECOACH, Lupe Vélez in THE GIRL FROM MEXICO.

Ineligible: Kakuko Mori in THE STORY OF THE LAST CHRYSANTHEMUMS, Flora Robson in POISON PEN.

On the Watchlist: Fay Bainter in DAUGHTERS COURAGEOUS, Belle Chrystall in THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, Ginger Rogers in BACHELOR MOTHER, Ann Sothern in MAISIE, Barbara Stanwyck in GOLDEN BOY.

Next up, the war years, when movie production slowed down considerably worldwide, and we get some of our shortest Oscar reminder lists yet. The first inklings of new mentalities also start hinting at the rise of film noir while the screwball dies a slow death, with one particular actress mastering both genres to real and imaginary Oscar glory. Also, more musical glory and much more Judy Garland to go with it. Stay tuned!

Comments

[Finbar McBride]

For the most part, I thought this submission to the series was particularly insightful. Well done.

However, I will bring attention to the year 1936 and the surprising omissions of Sylvia Sidney in Fury and Ginger Rogers in Swing Time.

[Cláudio Alves]

Finbar McBride -- I tried to keep the Honorable Mentions to five per year, so that's why they're missing. Indeed, I'm already stretching it by naming multiple people for THESE THREE. In any case, I love Rogers in SWING TIME and Sidney in FURY. They'd, for sure, appear in my top 10 for 1936. You can read more of my thoughts on SWING TIME in an earlier article I wrote for TFE about all her collaborations with Astaire.

And I reviewed FURY on Letterboxd. Here's part of that three-paragraph capsule:

"Still, if FURY belongs to a performer, she is Sylvia Sidney. Her transformation from throwaway line readings and a relaxed sort of joy into a piece of tear-stricken cinematic sorrow on the verge of religious iconography is nothing short of miraculous."

Love how much Lang gets out of her low-key realism in the early, more romantic passages, and then just capitalizes on the power of that face in close-up, a picture-perfect big-screen icon. Indeed, I keep thinking she had one of the best faces of 1930s American cinema, so expressive yet able to hold mysteries. Her terror in the cclimactic sequence, mid-movie, comes through viscerally, and the moral conflict near the end, even more so. And again, she really looks like religious imagery at the denouement, gazing at Tracy as he does the right thing.

Honestly, I should watch more of her movies.

[Dave in Hollywood]

Ooh, Bette Davis is going to be pissed, and Luise Rainer is going to be...sad I guess? I suppose Dangerous has no sticking power in one's brain really, but Jezebel is a worthy win, and here losing to Katharine Hepburn? Oh boy.

As for poor Luise, I personally don't dislike her work. I think The Great Ziegfeld is clearly a supporting role, and they existed that year, right? But I think if you were considered a Leading Lady then they wouldn't put you in that category at that time. And I know I am alone in the world, but I rather like her performance in The Good Earth. I can't blame Luise for being assigned the role and having to dress up in drag, and I think she did a good job all things considered.

I'm actually surprised, and somewhat pleased that Garbo and Shearer did so well in your ballots. To me they're definitely mannered actresses left over from the silent era, but Garbo was always trying to do as little as possible on screen it seems, even when she's "crying and dying" and I think that's why her acting has survived. Norma was pretty good if the part was right for her, i.e. it required a lot of drama!

How nice to see Carole Lombard, Jean Arthur and Barbara Stanwyck, among others, so well represented.

Oh, and one of my favorite parts of this whole thing was seeing the three color images side by side. You can really see the progression of the quality of the images. I've seen Becky Sharp (one and done) and A Star Is Born several times. A Star Is Born looks a bit washed out, as though a color or two are missing from the technicolor. But Gone With The Wind has such beautiful cinematography and was such a huge leap ahead in quality (The Wizard of Oz as well). 1939 was really the year it all came together.

I think there are a lot of movies I need to see or rewatch for sure.

[TomG]

I need to watch more movies from the 1930's. I've been reviewing my picks and for most years when I split lead and supporting I only end up with about 7 movies nominated.

Dave in Hollywood- I like Dangerous and Luise Rainer's performance (I also agree that she is supporting in Ziegfeld but the studio was promoting her as a new star so she was never going to be put in supporting. )

1935
Bette Davis- Dangerous
Greta Garbo- Anna Karenina
Irene Dunne- Roberta
Merle Oberon- The Dark Angel
Ginger Rogers- Top Hat

Kitty Carlisle- A Night at the Opera
Margaret Dumont- A Night at the Opera
Valerie Hobson- Bride of Frankenstein
Elsa Lanchester-Bride of Frankenstein
Helen Westley- Roberta

1936
Irene Dunne- Theodora Goes Wild
Gloria Holden- Dracula’s Daughter
Myrna Loy- Libeled Lady
Jeanette MacDonald- San Francisco
Norma Shearer- Romeo and Juliet

Jean Harlow- Libeled Lady
Edna May Oliver- Romeo and Juliet
Maria Ouspenskaya- Dodsworth
Luise Rainer- The Great Ziegfeld
Sylvia Sidney- Fury

1937
Beulah Bondi- Make Way for Tomorrow
Greta Garbo- Camille
Janet Gaynor- A Star is Born
Flora Robson- Fire Over England
Luise Rainer- The Good Earth

Fay Bainter- Make Way for Tomorrow
Lucille La Verne- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Andrea Leeds- Stage Door
Gale Sondergaard- The Life of Emile Zola
Claire Trevor- Dead End

1938
Bette Davis- Jezebel
Olivia de Havilland- The Adventures of Robin Hood
Katharine Hepburn- Bringing Up Baby
Wendy Hiller- Pygmalion
Norma Shearer- Marie Antoinette

Fay Bainter- Jezebel
Beulah Bondi- Of Human Hearts
Militza Korjus- The Great Waltz
Margaret Lindsay- Jezebel
May Robson- Bringing Up Baby

1939
Bette Davis- The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
Irene Dunne- Love Affair
Greta Garbo- Ninotchka
Judy Garland- The Wizard of Oz
Vivien Leigh- Gone With The Wind

Jean Arthur- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Olivia de Havilland- Gone With The Wind
Greer Garson- Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Butterfly McQueen- Gone With The Wind
Enda May Oliver- Drums Along the Mohawk

[TOM]

1939-You can’t deny that Margaret Hamilton deserved a BSA nomination for The Wizard of Oz.