The 1954 Retro Hollmann Awards: Part One

Extremely late. The 1954 Retro Hollmann Awards are today and tomorrow, nine categories each day. Who's nominated? You'll find out as we go along. For now, let's start with....

Best Actress

Judy Garland as Esther Blodgett / Vicki Lester

A Star is Born

She truly does it all: singing, dancing, comedy, drama - and more than once, all at once. Her chemistry with James Mason is perfect, her watchfulness, her knowing when to turn it on to cheer him up and when to fade back. Her song-work, of course, is superb, from the way she conjures a second "Born in a Trunk" out of nothing but living room furniture for "Someone at Last" to her gathering all her strength to sell the optimistic "Lose That Long Face" to, of course, "The Man That Got Away." You've heard the legend of Judy Garland; come see for yourself.

In second place, Danielle Darrieux in The Earrings of Madame De... - where frivolous flirting gives way to genuine passion. In third place, Rosaura Revueltas in Salt of the Earth - a marvelous arc where quiet housewife becomes fierce fighter for the working class. In fourth place, Brenda de Banzie in Hobson's Choice - a force of nature that's never overbearing, a genuine warmth that lives in tandem with her curt professionalism. In fifth place, Jane Powell in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers - leading the film's balance between rough-and-ready horniness and family-friendly sweetness.

Eight more categories, including Best Score, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor, after the jump.

Top Ten of 1954

With apologies for both the late posting and the absence of beloved titles like Executive Suite, Hobson's Choice, Prince Valiant, Riot in Cell Block 11, Salt of the Earth, and White Christmas.....

I present the Top Ten of 1954....

Films of '54: Eight

Next week, we'll delve fully into the Best Picture nominees. But while we have the weekend, let's take a closer look at some of the films discussed earlier this week that weren't up for Best Picture...

The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

nominee - Best Actor (Dan O'Herlihy)

My only exposure to this story was a comic adaptation (I think Classics Illustrated) I read in either fourth or fifth grade. I barely remembered any of it except that Crusoe's deserted on an island and then Friday eventually appears and is more or less adopted, so I was prepared for some problematic times. But wow, I was not ready for such a beautifully-shot satire about stubborn imperialism and white supremacy, in which a spoiled idiot almost dies, spends thirty years trying to recreate a parody of western society, before realizing there are other, non-white people on "his" island. It's hilarious.

Eight more, after the jump......

Day Five: Best Actor, 1954

I have no way of knowing this for certain - I wasn't there, I don't have access to archives - but historians tell us that Bing Crosby was the favorite to win for his performance as a recovering alcoholic in The Country Girl. It seems bonkers now, considering Crosby was already an Oscar winner for Going My Way in 1944, while Marlon Brando was not only in the Best Picture frontrunner, but had been accumulating momentum with three previous, unsuccessful nominations, all in consecutive years: 1951's A Streetcar Named Desire, 1952's Viva Zapata!, and 1953's Julius Caesar. Not to mention it was a rematch against Humphrey Bogart, whose win for The African Queen came the same year as A Streetcar Named Desire. Plus, he had already swept what we now call "the precursors." But there you have it - the results were a shock, an upset:

Just another example of how times have changed as far as Oscar narratives, momentum, and expectations go. Anyway, the nominees were: