Nun vs Monster! Give our '65 conversation a listen.

by Nathaniel R

Who do you suppose was in second place for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1965? We suspect Shelley Winters won in a landslide for her monster mom but perhaps Peggy Wood's Mother Superior was the runner up since The Sound of Music was so massive. What'cha think? We've noticed on the Smackdown posts that y'all don't really comment about the conversation of the podcast itself but just the write-up / blurb portion. We hope you're listening. The panelists (mwah) were super fun and lively. Here is the podcast again embedded below for your pleasure.

Podcast: 1 hour and 15 minutes
00.01 - Introductions: Spencer Garrett, Kayleigh Donaldson, Baby Clyde, Kevin Jacobsen, and Terence Johnson
06:30 - Othello , Laurence Olivier's "blackface", minstrelsy in that era, Dame Maggie Smith in her youth and today, and the documentary Tea with the Dames
27:00 - Shelley Winters in A Patch of Blue -- some people hate the performance, some love it. The movie is more complex than you've heard and an example of the shifting of the 1960s towards more adult themes
38:30 - Natalie Wood's failed Oscar bid for Inside Daisy Clover. A trainwreck of a movie or a fascinating timepiece or both? But it really needed to be a musical. More new Hollywood vs Old Hollywood issues
54:00 - The Sound of Music. Supremely rewatchable. We talk about musical dubbing, our favourite musical numbers, and Julie Andrews Oscar run. Why didn't they nominate Eleanor Parker? 
1:10:00 - Goodbyes and the re-casting game!

listen on iTunes or download right here

Smackdown 1965

Smackdown '65: Nuns, child abusers, and tragic pawns

The Supporting Actress Smackdown series picks an Oscar vintage and explores...

 

THE NOMINEES  1965 was all about the Julies, Christie and Andrews, headlining the years biggest hits but both were located in the lead actress category. When some of the year's most lauded supporting actress turned up in films Oscar wasn't interested in they selected quite an odd list from which films they were looking at, still missing one very obvious great choice. Recent Oscar winner Shelley Winters (A Patch of Blue) and recent nominee Joyce Redman (Othello) were invited back and future Dame and Oscar darling Maggie Smith (Othello) was invited for the first time. TV regular Peggy Wood (The Sound of Music) and a longtime Hollywood screenwriter Ruth Gordon (Inside Daisy Clover), nabbing her first nomination in an acting category, were also chosen. The resulting shortlist of characters included a nun, a child abuser, two women doomed by hateful petty men, and an eccentric old Californian who wasn't quite in touch with reality... not unlike some Oscar voters! 

THE PANEL  Here to talk about the performances and films are, in alpha order, Oscar buff Baby Clyde (The Film Experience), freelance writer Kayleigh Donaldson (Pajiba, What to Watch, SyFy FanGrrls), character actor Spencer Garrett (Bombshell, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), writer and podcaster Kevin Jacobsen (And the Runner Up Is...), writer, cosplayer, and director Terence Johnson (Le Noir Auteur, Vampyr Resistance Corps). And your host at The Film Experience, of course, Nathaniel R. Let's begin...

1965
SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN + PODCAST  
The companion podcast can be downloaded at the bottom of this article or by visiting the iTunes page...

Click to read more ...

Introducing the Smackdown Panel for '65

Are you ready for the the penultimate episode of this super-sized Supporting Actress Smackdown season? Up next 1965. The Nominees Were: Ruth Gordon (Inside Daisy Clover),  Joyce Redman AND Maggie Smith (Othello), Shelley Winters (A Patch of Blue) and Peggy Wood (The Sound of Music).  Once you've watched that quartet of films, send in your ballots with "1965" in the subject line and a 1 (poor) to 5 (perfection) rating for each of the five performances. You're the collective final vote. Let's meet your fellow panelists, shall we?

PLEASE WELCOME...   

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I'm having trouble leaving 1938 behind. You?

Have you listened to the 1938 Smackdown yet? Such a lively conversation about very memorable movies, for better and worse. We've embedded it again below but some of my personal favourite bits are Steven Weber's Jimmy Stewart impression, Joanna Robinson's reaction to the "twist" in Of Human Hearts, GLOW's Britney Young talking about having a very expressive face and directors asking you to tone it down, and Claudio's deep hatred of opera voices of the 1930s via The Great Waltz. 

AS A SPECIAL BONUS TREAT
I was the guest star on "And the Runner Up" Podcast this week discussing 1938 as well though our focus on that podcast was the Best Picture battle between Boys Town and You Can't Take It With You. You can listen to that here. Kevin is such a great guy and will be one of our panelists for the 1965 Smackdown in October.

1938 Articles

• The Smackdown
• Getting to Know the Five Nominees
• Best Costume Design - a Discussion
• Best Picture - a Ranking
• Adventures of Robin Hood - Production Design
• Bringing Up Baby
• Doris Nolan, Holiday
• Jean Gabin, French Superstar
• Judy Garland, Love Finds Andy Hardy
• Mary Astor, Listen Up Darling
• Myrna Loy in Test Pilot
• Norma Shearer, First Lady of MGM

We intended to do even more 1938 celebrations -- I can't stop watching movies from this year! -- but we'll have to move on to 1965 (not to mention 2020 as the film year is finally revving up). The clock keeps turning!

1938 SMACKDOWN

Smackdown '38: You can't take the great waltz with you, Jezebel!

In the Supporting Actress Smackdown series we take a particular Oscar vintage and explore it with a panel of artists and journalists. This episode goes way back to 1938. 

THE ACTRESSES & CHARACTERS
In 1938 the Academy was still evolving and the "Best Supporting Actress" category was just three years old. Still, their all time favourite type (the long-suffering wife/mom) was already showing its strength (Beulah Bondi in Of Human Hearts, noticeably that film's only nomination). Other then-popular character types like 'the vamp' (Milja Korjus in The Great Waltz) and ditzy/funny moms (Billie Burke in Merrily We Live! and Spring Byington in You Can't Take It With You) didn't stay in vogue with the Academy for as long. In 1938 we also got an historic first: Fay Bainter was the first actor to be double-nominated, competing in both Lead (White Banners) and Supporting (Jezebel) categories simultaneously, winning the latter. Will our panel agree? 

THE PANELISTS
Here to talk about these performances and movies are the actors Steven Weber and Britney Young, Joanna Robinson from Vanity Fair, and TFE's busiest duo, Cláudio Alves and your host Nathaniel R. Let's begin.

1938
SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN + PODCAST  
The companion podcast can be downloaded at the bottom of this article or by visiting the iTunes page...

Click to read more ...