Monday, July 13, 2020 at 1:15PM Are you enjoying our super-sized Supporting Actress Smackdown season? We've already discussed 1947, 1957 (new!), 1981, and 2002. Ready for the fifth episode this season? It's focused on 1991 and it's coming up in just two weeks on Sunday July 26th so get watching and voting. Ready to meet the panel?
PLEASE WELCOME IN ALPHA ORDER ...
Monday, July 13, 2020 at 10:00AM Before each Smackdown (and the next is for 1991), Nick Taylor suggests Supporting Actresses from an alternate ballot...
What do you call the experience of watching a film with only one or two Oscar nominations to its name and discovering it’s one of the most jaw-dropping, accomplished films of its year? Maybe the Academy honored strong, worthwhile films across the board, maybe it didn’t, but you’re still left wondering how this stone cold masterpiece only got a modicum of the attention it so richly deserved. Case in point for 1991 is Boyz n the Hood, where writer/director John Singleton earned an Original Screenplay nomination and made history as the first black filmmaker ever nominated for Best Director. Boyz n the Hood ranks among the best of an Academy vintage that's largely filled with formally impressive, generically diverse, time-tested films. Its inclusion is even more exciting considering how easily it might not have happened. Who knows what chance it had of cracking the technical categories given how prescriptive those fields are against films as small as Boyz? On the other hand, the inability of Ice Cube or Laurence Fishburne to make headway in that anemic Best Supporting Actor lineup is another matter entirely. But the real topic for today’s sermon is the equally deserving and less regularly heralded performance from Tyra Ferrell, doing the most startling work of the female ensemble from the film's edges...
Sunday, July 12, 2020 at 11:00PM by Nathaniel R
Three afterthoughts about the 1957 Smackdown.
1. The reader ballots were quite interestingly divided though they were sparser than usual - are we doing too many Smackdowns or is it just that the films were harder to find this time? I was shocked to see that TFE readers who had seen The Bachelor Party weren't particularly fond of Carolyn Jones who, in my estimation, was the best of the nominees. Overall it was the lowest rated field of nominees I've ever seen for reader polling.
2. My own ballot for '57 would go like so...
Though I reserve the right to ditch Lanchester and/or Thompson should I see something better. The speed of this summer's Smackdown schedule has made catching up or revisiting 'extra' films impossible. I definitely need to see Ruby Dee in Edge of the City as Nick suggested we all do. If you missed the 1957 podcast, it's right here at the bottom of this post for you listening pleasure or you can head to iTunes.
3. What was your 1957 takeaway? Mine was that I could probably watch Peyton Place again right this minute. It's not, maybe "good", but it's sooo watchable. And that ad campaign is a particular kitsch pleasure that I can't stop staring at.
Sunday, July 12, 2020 at 6:30PM 
The voting period for the Emmy nominations is coming to an end. It's true that, now, a FYC may feel a bit late, but I can't let go of the opportunity to shine a light on one of the most impressive achievements in recent television. While I love to explore the marvels of acting, costume design will forever be my main passion when talking about the performing arts. The Emmys are particularly interesting when it comes to the honoring of costume excellence since, unlike the Oscars, they have categories separating Period, Contemporary and Fantasy designs, not to mention separate prizes for live specials. In theory, that makes it somewhat easier for great costuming to be honored but that's not always the case, especially when the clothes being considered are more subtle than showy. Sometimes, sheer flashiness can blind people, and subtler creations are left unrewarded.
Hopefully, such an unjust fate won't happen to the wondrous Mrs. America…
Saturday, July 11, 2020 at 11:00PM We've been celebrating 1957 for a couple of weeks. Here's one more from Cláudio Alves
In 1957, Miyoshi Umeki became the first and only Asian woman to win an acting Oscar. However, the Best Supporting Actress champion wasn't the only Japanese performer to score an Academy Award nomination that year. Sessue Hayakawa, who played the ruthless Colonel Saito in the Best Picture winner The Bridge on the River Kwai, became the first male actor of Japanese descent to be nominated by the Academy. Unlike Umeki, who had less than a decade of experience in show business by the time she achieved Oscar glory, Hayakawa had a long history with Tinsel Town. Many decades before his nomination, when the American film industry was creating itself and Silent Cinema was entertainment for the masses, Sessue Hayakawa had been one of the first sex symbols…
