Clift @100: Monty arrives in "The Search"

by Eric Blume

We’re celebrating actor Montgomery Clift’s centennial here at TFE with a staff-wide observance of every single one of his films.  I’m the lucky bastard who gets to launch this exciting series with his first released film, 1948’s The Search.  

Director Fred Zinnemann crafted a film that holds up surprisingly well at age 72.  Sure, you have to muddle through some stilted expository voice-over and some now-dated narrative conventions, but this film’s emotional power still taps primal feelings and has an incredible payoff.  It’s a Hollywood film through and through, but Zinnemann shows extraordinary restraint and intelligence, keeping his focus on his young actor, and the American cheerleading to a minimum...

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Mickey Rooney @ 100: "The Human Comedy"

by Cláudio Alves

While Mickey Rooney's career is famed for its longevity, the actor's professional life wasn't without its hurdles, declines, and subsequent comebacks. Transitioning from childhood stardom to adult celebrity isn't easy for anyone, much less for someone as famous as Rooney. Blessed with a boyish face and short stature, he was perfect for playing young people like the famed Andy Hardy, still acting as a teenager well into his 20s. Boundless energy typified his screen persona, often verging on manic cheer that befitted youthful roles but was out of place in grown-up parts.

In this context, World War II marked a turning point. Before it, Rooney was a performing wunderkind who gave a face and a voice to American teenagers everywhere while earning MGM big bucks at the box office. After it, the young boy shtick lost its appeal, the star quickly fading into a character actor. The Human Comedy, released in 1943, one year before Mickey Rooney was inducted into the US Army, was one of his last big hits. It also netted him a second Best Actor nomination…

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Mickey @ 100: "Babes in Arms"

by Camila Henriques

As we continue our centennial tribute to Mickey Rooney, it’s time to talk Babes in Arms. For a long time the 1939 musical was remembered mostly because of the pairing of Rooney and real life BFF Judy Garland, but the conversation has shifted to a necessary bumpier road, since the movie is just one of many examples of that era to feature performances in blackface (including the two leads).

The film’s place in Mickey’s career is not to be diminished: he received an Oscar nom for Best Actor at the age of 19 (the second youngest ever nominated) . The year before he had been awarded a Juvenile Oscar (Judy won the same honor the following year, as she had this hit and that other 1939 film).

A vaudevillian kid just like his co-star, Rooney was already a veteran when Babes… came around, with his Andy Hardy journey already begun...

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Emmy Review: Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie

By Juan Carlos Ojano

Herewith a strange category in that all of the nominees have considerable hurdles to overcome to win this Emmy. As it stands, this group is an eclectic mixture of the young (Mescal, Pope), the old (Irons), and the superheroes in between (Jackman, Ruffalo). Do note that this category as well as Best Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie do not have episode submissions. Instead, the performance from the entire series will be considered...

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Almost There: Jake Gyllenhaal in "Nightcrawler"

by Cláudio Alves

For the past decade or so, Jake Gyllenhaal has been on the cusp of a second Oscar nomination. At least, that's what it seems like when one takes a look at his career. Instead of coasting by on his good looks and innate charisma, Gyllenhaal is always up for a challenge, be it a physical transformation or some unlikely feat of tonal somersaulting. Still, regardless of critical acclaim, that second nod remains elusive with 2014's Nightcrawler being the closest the actor ever came to reconquering the good graces of AMPAS...

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