Bitesize Best Actress Oscar Profiles: Grace Moore

Grace Moore in "One Night of Love"

Lost the 1934 Best Actress Oscar to Claudette Colbert in "It Happened One Night"

Grade: **

Grace Moore is, on the face of it, a sprightly amalgam of Norma Shearer and Irene Dunne; if not quite as naturally magnetic a presence as either, soundly aware of how to work the screen and sexualise a role without coming across as a one-track maneater. The first shot of Moore's character, Mary, is an illuminated view from below a window, as she voices the film's title track with the operatic bravado of a musical Goddess. As it turns out, Mary's assured pipes are a fledgling, untamed beast, as she participates in and fails to win a talent competition, much to the chagrin of her parents. When she eventually decides to take the plunge and travel to Italy, she falls in love with renowned musical composer Giulio Monteverdi, who helps her develop a singing career.

As a production, "One Night of Love" evolves from a bit of harmless artistry, to a tempestuous battle over pride and power between two rashly-compartmentalised characters, but is nonetheless entertaining enough to make us care about these characters, despite their many misgivings. The problem for Moore is that the soapy levels of petulance in the script limit her performance to a bit of a flailing sideshow, too obviously facetious and throwaway in framing Mary's frustration towards her dictatorial singing coach and would-be lover. Her defiance of him feels too playful when one considers the more formally romantic inclinations of the final act, and the thoughtful, sterner approach of co-lead Carminati does little to disguise Moore's misjudgements.

She does, however, manage to channel Mary's inherent sense of performance, both in her stage scenes (well-positioned within the film), and in trying to orchestrate a finality in her relationship with Giulio. Their live-in arrangement is largely an unspoken affair, and Moore ably demonstrates Mary's inability to deal with the lover-pupil duality of their romance. Is she "performing" to make him act one way or the other? To an extent, certainly, but as eminently watchable and thoughtful an Actress as she appears to be, Moore is too susceptible to the trials of her character, and doesn't quite give Mary credit enough. A high-end two stars, but two stars nonetheless.

Men of the Thirties: 1934

1934


The Nominees Were:

Clark Gable - It Happened One Night
Frank Morgan - The Affairs of Cellini
William Powell - The Thin Man


And the Winner Was:

Clark Gable - It Happened One Night

Clark Gable rode the It Happened One Night lovefest to a victory in his very first nomination, and considering he was just 34 and in a distinctly comedic role Gable is a fairly atypical Leading Actor winner. William Powell and Frank Morgan look like fillers in comparison, since Cellini didn't make much of a splash and The Thin Man was well-liked but hardly represented at the ceremony a great deal. Leslie Howard somehow wasn't nominated despite giving two of my favourite performances by an Actor in the entire decade.

My Ratings (in order of preference):-

**** Clark Gable in It Happened One Night

Many of Gable's performances require him to make a bad first impression, and the remainder of the running time involves him charming the pants off us for a re-evaluation. It's no more effective than in It Happened One Night, where his cheeky, sleazy smile reels in Claudette Colbert's willing runaway and sets up what is a killer partnership. His rogue-ish "qualities" of ambivalence and effortless self-sufficiency are pushed to the limit in Capra's frenetic comedy, but Gable seems to bask and enjoy the fun and games of what was labelled "the first screwball". Most of the film feels so gloriously impulsive because of the electricity between the leads, and as a man estranged (intentionally or not) from social etiquette and token quibbles, Gable's attitude is perfect for the role and the film.

*** William Powell in The Thin Man

The film is more a victory for the script than anything else, and one might argue that The Thin Man could have done with lighter and more able actors. Still, Powell as a detective of a maddeningly messy but occasionally hilarious mystery generally succeeds in giving the farce the energy and dryness that's dismissive in tone but rarely encourages us to think outside of the madness. Like Gable, his chemistry with the film's leading lady, Myrna Loy, also elevates the piece, and ensures that The Thin Man, while not always coherent, really gives you a fun-filled time.

Nominees Unseen:

Frank Morgan - The Affairs of Cellini

The Snubbed

**** Leslie Howard in The Scarlet Pimpernel

As the Georgian caped crusader Leslie Howard treats his role exactly how it should be treated, emphasising the fun and flair of his socialite and man of the people. He fiendishly reverts from the tailor-obsessed Lord Percy Blakeney, whom he passes off as a vain, brainless toff, to a man at the head of a network of resistants to the French revolt. Although the film does not chart Percy's transformation into the Pimpernel (a la Batman Begins etc.) Howard gives him the err of someone so immersed in his own culture and yet, on some level, resentful of it. The nasally, pompous voice he puts on is a gratuitous caricature and certainly a knowing, satirical representation of an ambivalent England, and is one of the funniest creations I've seen in a long while.

**** Leslie Howard in Of Human Bondage

Of Human Bondage writer Somerset Maugham must surely have been seeking closure when he penned the unflinching depiction of a very one-sided relationship. While Bette Davis gets all of the juicy lines and showy outbursts, and gives it all of the gusto you'd expect, as a cruel and tactless receiver of love she meets her match in Leslie Howard's persistent, affectionate, sorry Philip. Though very choppily made, to the extent where the film feels more of a montage of their relationship than a chronicle or study, Howard nails the physical hangups of Philip (he has a club foot) and reacts to every lie, scold, and shun with the pain of a mortal wound, and through his defeat somehow manages to extricate a lifetime of self-conscious discomfort.