The Usual Choices
Around the World in Eighty Days (Michael Anderson)
Giant (George Stevens)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel)
The Killing (Stanley Kubrick)
The Searchers (John Ford)
But how about...
There's Always Tomorrow (Douglas Sirk)
Unlike many other critics with good taste, I've never been overly taken with Sirk's suburban romantic melodramas (e.g. Magnificent Obsession; All That Heaven Allows), but I think TAT is something special and easily the best of them. While the concerns are the same (Life & Opportunity passing us by; the heart wants what the heart wants; sacrifice), what makes the difference here is a major acting upgrade...Barbara Stanwyck + Fred MacMurray pack an emotional punch as a partnership (they made 4 movies together, 3 of them truly great ones), whereas other actors Sirk used (Rock Hudson, Jane Wyman, Lana Turner, Robert Stack, Lauren Bacall) were often swamped by all the suds sloshing about. Barb & Fred run with it, turning the soap opera plot into something heartfelt, familiar and even universal: Days of Our Lives with more guts to it, reaching the weepie high bar set by Brief Encounter.
...and what about...
A Kiss Before Dying (Gerd Oswald)
A rather underrated Hitchcockian murder-thriller that manages to outclass the two actual 1956 Hitchcock releases. Robert Wagner is the college student who gets fellow student Joanne Woodward pregnant. She wants to get married; he wants her father's money which he now won't get...so, it's time for a trade-in. Robert is impressive as the drop dead handsome killer (easily his best onscreen performance) and is well-supported by the likes of Joanne, Jeffrey Hunter, Mary Astor and George Macready. This was Director Gerd's debut picture and he comes across as an old master - clever little details (hmm...better put the gun in the other hand) are mixed in with pure cinema craftsmanship (tracking shots; cranking up the tension via noir atmospherics). But this turned out to be his only film of note. What waste.
...not to mention...
The Harder They Fall (Mark Robson)
I hate fight-sports, regardless of the claims of poetry-in-motion & physical grace made by their admirers. Boxing has got to be the worst...two people who beat the shit out of each other until one is knocked down or (preferably) out. But, it's gotta be said...Boxing has produced some terrific films (my fave: Million Dollar Baby...it weeps compassion) and The Harder They Fall is definitely one of them. Humphrey Bogart's last movie (he was stricken with cancer and died a year later), it tells the story of Toro the Giant, a big simple guy who can't box for nuts, but is built up by his manager via fixed matches, leading to the heavyweight championship. The backstage guys make all the money while the fighter takes all the lumps...so what else is new? Bogie is torn between the need for money and a guilty conscience...guess which wins out? Cut from the same cloth as 1948's Force of Evil, this is one tough movie. Be warned: the final fight scene is a shocker and an obvious influence on Scorsese's Raging Bull.
...and one personal unmentionable...
The Court Jester (Norman Panama; Melvin Frank)
Regularly cited as one of the best films of 1956 (Halliwell loved it), The Court Jester flares up three of my movie-appreciation prejudices: 1) it's a musical-comedy 2) it's a musical-comedy with no memorable songs 3) it's a musical-comedy with no memorable songs and it stars Danny Kaye (aka Vice President of the Red Skelton Not-Very-Funny Club). Every review of this juvenile (Junior High School, tops) flick rhapsodizes over the "the pellet with the poison is in the flagon with the dragon not the chalice from the palace or the vessel with the pestle" wordplay...me, I think it gets old real quick and much prefer Abbott & Costello's "Who's on First?" routine. While the supporting cast is impressive in stature (Angela Lansbury + Basil Rathbone + Cecil Parker + Mildred Natwick) and the VistaVision dayglo colour is truly gorgeous, this Robin Hood parody is ultimately a snooze. Get it? Got it. Good.
My Top 10 Films of 1956
 |
| "Please...just tell me...once and for all... Is it weally wabbit season?" |
#02 A Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Siegel)
#03 A A Town Like Alice (Lee)
#04 A The Killing (Kubrick)
#05 A- There's Always Tomorrow (Sirk)
#06 A- Attack (Aldrich)
#07 A- Bigger Than Life (Ray)
#08 A- The Harder They Fall (Robson)
#09 A- Yield to the Night (Thompson)
#10 A- A Kiss Before Dying (Oswald)
Overflow: More A-/B+ Films
#11 A- The Man Who Knew Too Much (Hitchcock)
#12 A- The Searchers (Ford)
#13 B+ Seven Men From Now (Boetticher)
#14 B+ Baby Doll (Kazan)
#15 B+ The Wrong Man (Hitchcock)
#16 B+ Reach for the Sky (Gilbert)
#17 B+ The Ten Commandments (De Mille)
#18 B+ The Brave One (Rapper)
#19 B+ Friendly Persuasion (Wyler)
#20 B+ Giant (Stevens)
#21 B+ The Girl Can't Help It (Tashlin)
#22 B+ Smiley (Kimmins)
#23 B+ The Rainmaker (Anthony)
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> B Anastasia [dreadfully hokey with an overrated lead performance, but I still kinda like it]
> B Private's Progress [British army satire with the usual nudge-nudging and wonderful comic actors]
> B The Rack [good acting but questionable It's-All-Dad's-Fault family counselling]
> B The Green Man [Brit assassination-comedy which, despite Alastair Sim, is an inexplicable near-miss]
> B Written on the Wind [a great director's showcase...a shame it's not a great actor's showcase]
> B The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit [my grandmother loved the book but was ambivalent about the film...yep]
> B Somebody Up There Likes Me [Paul Newman proving that he's not a Marlon Brando stand-in]
> B Bus Stop [Marilyn completely out-acts, outclasses and out-whams everybody else]
> B- Around the World in Eighty Days [it's still a very long trip, even with the all-star tourist attractions]
> B- High Society [even Satchmo can't dissuade me (and you, right?) from vastly preferring The Philadelphia Story]
> B- X the Unknown [aka Attack of the Throbbing Custard]
> B- The King and I [even 2 catchy songs can't dissuade me from vastly preferring Anna & the King of Siam]
> B- The Great Man [the radio-era progenitor of Network...minus the smart-arse cynical humour]
> B- Beyond a Reasonable Doubt [silly & highly implausible plot which even Fritz Lang can't overcome]
> B- The Catered Affair [a dowdy affair with a frumpy Bette Davis, a muted Debbie Reynolds and Ernest Borgnine]
> B- Forbidden Planet [it stars Robbie the Robot!...and other machines called the cast]
> B- Jubal [just another lust-in-the-dust horse opera]
> B- Wicked as They Come [Finally! An Arlene Dahl movie! And it's...]
> C Pardners [possibly the best Martin & Lewis film...big deal]
> C The Mountain [prematurely-old-due-to-booze Spencer Tracy as a rockclimbing action hero?...hmm...]
> C Tea and Sympathy [painfully dated...and rightly so]
> C The Court Jester [A Personal Unmentionable]
> C A Cry in the Night [abduction drama blighted by an oh-brother portrayal of a nutjob]
> C 1984 [you should read the book first and then only watch this if the book wasn't dreary enough for you]
> C Run for the Sun [quite boring remake of a much, much better film, which you can see HERE]
> C The Man Who Never Was [uninvolving WWII factual-fiction with a synthetic lead performance]
> D Trapeze [aka Love Triangle Under the Big Top...Plus a Triple Somersault!]
> D The Bad Seed [no wonder she was a psycho...bowl-cut fringe & squint-eye-tight pigtails...poor kid...]
"Ah!..Sweet Mystery of Life...": 1956 Films I Apparently Still Need to See
Best Performances of 1956
Oft-Mentioned Choices
Ingrid Bergman in Anastasia
Yul Brynner in The King and I
Kirk Douglas in Lust for Life
Katharine Hepburn in The Rainmaker
Nancy Kelly in The Bad Seed
Dorothy Malone in Written on the Wind
Patty McCormack in The Bad Seed
Anthony Quinn in Lust for Life
But how about...
Walter Pidgeon in The Rack
I always considered Walter to be interchangeable with Melvyn Douglas and Ralph Bellamy...all actors from the golden era who essentially specialised in playing mild characters...and all of whom improved enormously in their craft as they got older. In The Rack, Walter plays a retired colonel who was a lousy dad to his soldier sons (the usual...more authority than parent...couldn't show love but could show disappointment). But rather than focus on the bluster, Walter ratchets up the too-late understanding of the man, his realisation that fatherhood was his greatest opportunity for personal success, and ultimately he failed at it. Other than one let-it-all-out scene, Walter keeps his guilt buttoned-up. He plays it as a mild character who could split apart at the slightest nudge.
...and what about...
Ed Wynn; Julie London in The Great Man
While the film is not entirely satisfying (its cynicism is self-conscious and overdone), it contains this pair of superb acting vignettes. Ed plays the part of a decent, ethical man who is dismissed as a funny little guy...and he knows it; Julie is the singer who sold her self-respect just to make a name for herself...and now drinks and begs to have her self-worth fed. Neither part is terribly long (10 minutes, tops), but both are convincing, touching and show up every other performance in the film (including the leading man / director). Both performances are centred on a monologue, delivered in what appears to be an uncut take and are flipsides of each other: Ed is the strong man who appears to be weak and Julie is the weak woman who appears to be strong. This is a masterclass in acting impact.
...not to mention...
Diana Dors in Yield to the Night
One of those "based on" films, YttN tells the story of Mary Hilton (aka sort of Ruth Ellis...the last woman executed in the UK) and her last two weeks before that long drop. Diana Dors was Britain's version of the Jayne Mansfield "Blonde Bombshell"...platinum & airheaded & thanks-for-the-mammaries...nobody ever thought she could act. In this performance, she proved them all wrong. Rejecting the opportunity to milk the audience's sympathy (her prison guard, played by Yvonne Mitchell, does that), Diana gives us a warts 'n' all portrayal of a tough woman who was never a saint, never wanted to be a saint, but did expect to be treated with respect...and she could never find a man who was capable of doing that. We never entirely approve of her, but we do come to like her, and the day-by-day trek towards her death quietly tenses up on us. Stamped with the Amnesty International Seal of Approval, I am sure.
...and one personal unmentionable...
Raymond Burr in A Cry in the Night
The part of a psycho must be an actor's dream role (along with multiple personality or identical twins), but it is tough to get it just right...too quiet & subdued, the guy seems merely miffed; too loud & ranting, and he seems to be eating up the room. Norman Bates and Hannibal Lecter are the immortal highmarks...and Raymond Burr as Harold Loftus is way down low. Playing it as a blend of Lon Chaney Jr's Lenny in Of Mice and Men and the tall brother Robert in Everybody Loves Raymond, Mr Burr gibbers and huffs, rolls his eyes and dribbles for universal understanding...he didn't mean to do it; he just wants to be your friend; why are people so unkind; you're soft to pat; put on this pretty dress while I hold the gun; you can leave your hat on. And who is the real villain responsible for creating this poor perverted sap? Why, Mother, of course. Say...Perry Mason could get you off with something like that.
My 10 Favourite Performances of 1956
#01 John Wayne in The Searchers
#02 Kirk Douglas in Lust for Life
#03 James Mason in Bigger Than Life
#04 Karl Malden & Carroll Baker & Eli Wallach in Baby Doll
#05 Ed Wynn in The Great Man
#06 Jack Palance & Eddie Albert & Lee Marvin & William Smithers in Attack
#07 Barbara Stanwyck & Fred MacMurray in There's Always Tomorrow
#08 Marilyn Monroe in Bus Stop
#09 Diana Dors in Yield to the Night
#10 Humphrey Bogart in The Harder They Fall
Overflow: More List-Worthy Performances
#11 Yul Brynner in The Ten Commandments
#12 Kenneth More in Reach for the Sky
#13 Robert Wagner in A Kiss Before Dying
#14 Katharine Hepburn & Burt Lancaster in The Rainmaker
#15 Mildred Dunnock in Baby Doll
#16 Walter Pidgeon in The Rack
#17 Anthony Perkins in Friendly Persuasion
#18 Julie London in The Great Man
#19 Edmond O'Brien in The Girl Can't Help It
#20 Alastair Sim in The Green Man
#21 Virginia McKenna in A Town Like Alice
#22 Joanne Woodward in A Kiss Before Dying
Special Mention: Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Fats Domino and (especially) Little Richard in The Girl Can't Help It
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> Robert Stack in Written on the Wind [even drunk, obnoxious and violent, he still seems bloodless]
> Dorothy Malone in Written on the Wind [an example of the Purse-the-Lips-&-Cock-One-Eyebrow school of acting]
> Ingrid Bergman in Anastasia [overdoes being a mental case but makes a good dead princess]
> Yul Brynner in The King and I [better at being a shiny brooder than a musical charmer]
> Anthony Quinn in Lust for Life [more an impact-cameo than a strong supporting performance]
> Patty McCormack in The Bad Seed [so OTT she deserves to be spanked with a 2x4 rather than a hairbrush]
> Nancy Kelly in The Bad Seed [unconvincing as the mother of Satan's spawn]
And so...onto the annual awards (with a nod of appreciation to Danny Peary)...
The Alternate Oscars for 1956 are:
FILM of the YEAR
GOLD: Lust for Life (Vincente Minnelli)
SILVER: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel)
BRONZE: A Town Like Alice (Jack Lee)
LEAD ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: John Wayne (The Searchers)
SILVER: Kirk Douglas (Lust for Life)
BRONZE: James Mason (Bigger Than Life)
LEAD ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Marilyn Monroe (Bus Stop)
SILVER: Diana Dors (Yield to the Night)
BRONZE: Virginia McKenna (A Town Like Alice)
SUPPORTING ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Ed Wynn (The Great Man)
SILVER: Yul Brynner (The Ten Commandments)
BRONZE: Walter Pidgeon (The Rack)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Mildred Dunnock (Baby Doll)
SILVER: Julie London (The Great Man)
BRONZE: Joanne Woodward (A Kiss Before Dying)
ENSEMBLE or PARTNERSHIP: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Karl Malden & Carroll Baker & Eli Wallach (Baby Doll)
SILVER: Jack Palance & Eddie Albert & Lee Marvin & William Smithers (Attack)
BRONZE: Barbara Stanwyck & Fred MacMurray (There's Always Tomorrow)
JUVENILE: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Michel Ray (The Brave One)
SILVER: Colin Petersen (Smiley)
BRONZE: Richard Eyer (Friendly Persuasion)
The Alternate Razzies for 1956 are:
CRAP FILM of the YEAR
The Bad Seed (Mervyn LeRoy)
CRAP MALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Raymond Burr (A Cry in the Night)
CRAP FEMALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Gina Lollobrigida (Trapeze)
#14 B+ Baby Doll (Kazan)
#15 B+ The Wrong Man (Hitchcock)
#16 B+ Reach for the Sky (Gilbert)
#17 B+ The Ten Commandments (De Mille)
#18 B+ The Brave One (Rapper)
#19 B+ Friendly Persuasion (Wyler)
#20 B+ Giant (Stevens)
#21 B+ The Girl Can't Help It (Tashlin)
#22 B+ Smiley (Kimmins)
#23 B+ The Rainmaker (Anthony)
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> B Anastasia [dreadfully hokey with an overrated lead performance, but I still kinda like it]
> B Private's Progress [British army satire with the usual nudge-nudging and wonderful comic actors]
> B The Rack [good acting but questionable It's-All-Dad's-Fault family counselling]
> B The Green Man [Brit assassination-comedy which, despite Alastair Sim, is an inexplicable near-miss]
> B Written on the Wind [a great director's showcase...a shame it's not a great actor's showcase]
> B The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit [my grandmother loved the book but was ambivalent about the film...yep]
> B Somebody Up There Likes Me [Paul Newman proving that he's not a Marlon Brando stand-in]
> B Bus Stop [Marilyn completely out-acts, outclasses and out-whams everybody else]
> B- Around the World in Eighty Days [it's still a very long trip, even with the all-star tourist attractions]
> B- High Society [even Satchmo can't dissuade me (and you, right?) from vastly preferring The Philadelphia Story]
> B- X the Unknown [aka Attack of the Throbbing Custard]
> B- The King and I [even 2 catchy songs can't dissuade me from vastly preferring Anna & the King of Siam]
> B- The Great Man [the radio-era progenitor of Network...minus the smart-arse cynical humour]
> B- Beyond a Reasonable Doubt [silly & highly implausible plot which even Fritz Lang can't overcome]
> B- The Catered Affair [a dowdy affair with a frumpy Bette Davis, a muted Debbie Reynolds and Ernest Borgnine]
> B- Forbidden Planet [it stars Robbie the Robot!...and other machines called the cast]
> B- Jubal [just another lust-in-the-dust horse opera]
> B- Wicked as They Come [Finally! An Arlene Dahl movie! And it's...]
> C Pardners [possibly the best Martin & Lewis film...big deal]
> C The Mountain [prematurely-old-due-to-booze Spencer Tracy as a rockclimbing action hero?...hmm...]
> C Tea and Sympathy [painfully dated...and rightly so]
> C The Court Jester [A Personal Unmentionable]
> C A Cry in the Night [abduction drama blighted by an oh-brother portrayal of a nutjob]
> C 1984 [you should read the book first and then only watch this if the book wasn't dreary enough for you]
> C Run for the Sun [quite boring remake of a much, much better film, which you can see HERE]
> C The Man Who Never Was [uninvolving WWII factual-fiction with a synthetic lead performance]
> D Trapeze [aka Love Triangle Under the Big Top...Plus a Triple Somersault!]
> D The Bad Seed [no wonder she was a psycho...bowl-cut fringe & squint-eye-tight pigtails...poor kid...]
"Ah!..Sweet Mystery of Life...": 1956 Films I Apparently Still Need to See
Bandido! (Fleischer); The Battle of the River Plate (Powell; Pressburger); Behind the High Wall (Biberman); Between Heaven & Hell (Fleischer); Carousel (King); Child in the House (Endfield); Come Next Spring (Springsteen); Crime in the Streets (Siegel); Earth vs the Flying Saucers (Sears); Hollywood or Bust (Tashlin); Home and Away (Sewell); House of Secrets / Triple Deception (Green); The Killer is Loose (Boetticher); The Long Arm (Frend); Man in the Vault (McLaglen); Moby Dick (Huston); Patterns (Cook); Sailor Beware (Parry); Slightly Scarlet (Dwan); The Solid Gold Cadillac (Quine); The Spanish Gardener (Leacock); Storm Centre (Taradash); The Swan (Vidor); Teahouse of the August Moon (Mann); That Certain Feeling (Panama; Frank); Tiger in the Smoke (Baker); Time Table (Stevens); Tribute to a Bad Man (Wise); 23 Paces to Baker Street (Hathaway); Walk the Proud Land (Hibbs); War and Peace (Vidor); While the City Sleeps (Lang); World Without End (Bernds)
Best Performances of 1956
Ingrid Bergman in Anastasia
Yul Brynner in The King and I
Kirk Douglas in Lust for Life
Katharine Hepburn in The Rainmaker
Nancy Kelly in The Bad Seed
Dorothy Malone in Written on the Wind
Patty McCormack in The Bad Seed
Anthony Quinn in Lust for Life
But how about...
Walter Pidgeon in The Rack
I always considered Walter to be interchangeable with Melvyn Douglas and Ralph Bellamy...all actors from the golden era who essentially specialised in playing mild characters...and all of whom improved enormously in their craft as they got older. In The Rack, Walter plays a retired colonel who was a lousy dad to his soldier sons (the usual...more authority than parent...couldn't show love but could show disappointment). But rather than focus on the bluster, Walter ratchets up the too-late understanding of the man, his realisation that fatherhood was his greatest opportunity for personal success, and ultimately he failed at it. Other than one let-it-all-out scene, Walter keeps his guilt buttoned-up. He plays it as a mild character who could split apart at the slightest nudge.
...and what about...
Ed Wynn; Julie London in The Great Man
While the film is not entirely satisfying (its cynicism is self-conscious and overdone), it contains this pair of superb acting vignettes. Ed plays the part of a decent, ethical man who is dismissed as a funny little guy...and he knows it; Julie is the singer who sold her self-respect just to make a name for herself...and now drinks and begs to have her self-worth fed. Neither part is terribly long (10 minutes, tops), but both are convincing, touching and show up every other performance in the film (including the leading man / director). Both performances are centred on a monologue, delivered in what appears to be an uncut take and are flipsides of each other: Ed is the strong man who appears to be weak and Julie is the weak woman who appears to be strong. This is a masterclass in acting impact.
...not to mention...
Diana Dors in Yield to the Night
One of those "based on" films, YttN tells the story of Mary Hilton (aka sort of Ruth Ellis...the last woman executed in the UK) and her last two weeks before that long drop. Diana Dors was Britain's version of the Jayne Mansfield "Blonde Bombshell"...platinum & airheaded & thanks-for-the-mammaries...nobody ever thought she could act. In this performance, she proved them all wrong. Rejecting the opportunity to milk the audience's sympathy (her prison guard, played by Yvonne Mitchell, does that), Diana gives us a warts 'n' all portrayal of a tough woman who was never a saint, never wanted to be a saint, but did expect to be treated with respect...and she could never find a man who was capable of doing that. We never entirely approve of her, but we do come to like her, and the day-by-day trek towards her death quietly tenses up on us. Stamped with the Amnesty International Seal of Approval, I am sure.
...and one personal unmentionable...
Raymond Burr in A Cry in the Night
The part of a psycho must be an actor's dream role (along with multiple personality or identical twins), but it is tough to get it just right...too quiet & subdued, the guy seems merely miffed; too loud & ranting, and he seems to be eating up the room. Norman Bates and Hannibal Lecter are the immortal highmarks...and Raymond Burr as Harold Loftus is way down low. Playing it as a blend of Lon Chaney Jr's Lenny in Of Mice and Men and the tall brother Robert in Everybody Loves Raymond, Mr Burr gibbers and huffs, rolls his eyes and dribbles for universal understanding...he didn't mean to do it; he just wants to be your friend; why are people so unkind; you're soft to pat; put on this pretty dress while I hold the gun; you can leave your hat on. And who is the real villain responsible for creating this poor perverted sap? Why, Mother, of course. Say...Perry Mason could get you off with something like that.
My 10 Favourite Performances of 1956
 |
| "Cowabunga dudes! Surf's up!" |
#02 Kirk Douglas in Lust for Life
#03 James Mason in Bigger Than Life
#04 Karl Malden & Carroll Baker & Eli Wallach in Baby Doll
#05 Ed Wynn in The Great Man
#06 Jack Palance & Eddie Albert & Lee Marvin & William Smithers in Attack
#07 Barbara Stanwyck & Fred MacMurray in There's Always Tomorrow
#08 Marilyn Monroe in Bus Stop
#09 Diana Dors in Yield to the Night
#10 Humphrey Bogart in The Harder They Fall
Overflow: More List-Worthy Performances
#11 Yul Brynner in The Ten Commandments
#12 Kenneth More in Reach for the Sky
#13 Robert Wagner in A Kiss Before Dying
#14 Katharine Hepburn & Burt Lancaster in The Rainmaker
#15 Mildred Dunnock in Baby Doll
#16 Walter Pidgeon in The Rack
#17 Anthony Perkins in Friendly Persuasion
#18 Julie London in The Great Man
#19 Edmond O'Brien in The Girl Can't Help It
#20 Alastair Sim in The Green Man
#21 Virginia McKenna in A Town Like Alice
#22 Joanne Woodward in A Kiss Before Dying
Special Mention: Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Fats Domino and (especially) Little Richard in The Girl Can't Help It
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> Robert Stack in Written on the Wind [even drunk, obnoxious and violent, he still seems bloodless]
> Dorothy Malone in Written on the Wind [an example of the Purse-the-Lips-&-Cock-One-Eyebrow school of acting]
> Ingrid Bergman in Anastasia [overdoes being a mental case but makes a good dead princess]
> Yul Brynner in The King and I [better at being a shiny brooder than a musical charmer]
> Anthony Quinn in Lust for Life [more an impact-cameo than a strong supporting performance]
> Patty McCormack in The Bad Seed [so OTT she deserves to be spanked with a 2x4 rather than a hairbrush]
> Nancy Kelly in The Bad Seed [unconvincing as the mother of Satan's spawn]
And so...onto the annual awards (with a nod of appreciation to Danny Peary)...
The Alternate Oscars for 1956 are:
FILM of the YEAR
GOLD: Lust for Life (Vincente Minnelli)
SILVER: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel)
BRONZE: A Town Like Alice (Jack Lee)
LEAD ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: John Wayne (The Searchers)
SILVER: Kirk Douglas (Lust for Life)
BRONZE: James Mason (Bigger Than Life)
LEAD ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Marilyn Monroe (Bus Stop)
SILVER: Diana Dors (Yield to the Night)
BRONZE: Virginia McKenna (A Town Like Alice)
SUPPORTING ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Ed Wynn (The Great Man)
SILVER: Yul Brynner (The Ten Commandments)
BRONZE: Walter Pidgeon (The Rack)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Mildred Dunnock (Baby Doll)
SILVER: Julie London (The Great Man)
BRONZE: Joanne Woodward (A Kiss Before Dying)
ENSEMBLE or PARTNERSHIP: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Karl Malden & Carroll Baker & Eli Wallach (Baby Doll)
SILVER: Jack Palance & Eddie Albert & Lee Marvin & William Smithers (Attack)
BRONZE: Barbara Stanwyck & Fred MacMurray (There's Always Tomorrow)
JUVENILE: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Michel Ray (The Brave One)
SILVER: Colin Petersen (Smiley)
BRONZE: Richard Eyer (Friendly Persuasion)
The Alternate Razzies for 1956 are:
CRAP FILM of the YEAR
The Bad Seed (Mervyn LeRoy)
CRAP MALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Raymond Burr (A Cry in the Night)
CRAP FEMALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Gina Lollobrigida (Trapeze)
