Best Supporting Actress 1945

5. Joan Lorring - The Corn Is Green
Lorring's performance in The Corn Is Green is really very annoying. She overacted every moment she had and there is probably not a single convincing thing about her performance. Only a few things save her from getting the lowest rating from me... 

4. Angela Lansbury - The Picture of Dorian Gray
I really like Angela Lansbury, but this performance of her is really nothing special. Her way of portraying is very subtle, but that makes it a bit boring and forgettable. I don't think she brought anything to this character. Except from her first scene she sings in, there is not a single one scene of her performance that would be mention-worthy. But at least she wasn't bad...

3. Ann Blyth - Mildred Pierce
Though she wasn't bad and her presence in the film is very fine, I always found her portrayal to be a bit non-complex. Her delivers the lines quite well, but she doesn't handle them as the characters tells her, but as the script tell her. And that's not very good... 

2. Anne Revere - National Velvet
Revere is very fine in her role of the mother. She does exactly what the film wants her to, though nothing more, her character is grateful enough to make it enough. Her performance makes her character very likable and I am really sorry for not picking her as my winner...

1. Eve Arden - Mildred Pierce
Though it was very difficult to choose, I'm finally going with Arden. In such a short screen-time (shorter than Revere had) she gives us a believable portrayal of a woman, that she makes so interesting, that I would not mind watching the film she would be a leading character in. It's really obvious Arden enjoyed playing this character and she did it with such an ease. Any other actress would make it a completely forgettable character... 

My Nominees:
1. Eve Arden - Mildred Pierce
2. Anne Revere - National Velvet
3. Butterfly McQueen - Mildred Pierce
4. Ann Blyth - Mildred Pierce
5. Angela Lansbury - The Picture of Dorian Gray

Best Supporting Actress 1945: Ann Blyth - Mildred Pierce

 

Ann Blyth has got really more screen time than previously reviewed Eve Arden. She was playing Veda, Mildred's aloof daughter.

I have to admit that I really loved her after her first scene. It's at the beginning, when Mildred comes home and Veda runs to her frightened. Many (especially young) actresses would easily get into overacting in this moment, but Ann did that not. It was the first scene. The other scenes were really good, but they weren't any special for me. And it was happening almost throughout the whole film. Then came some scene, which was really great, but then again much scenes were just normal.
I just think that she was playing Veda as an innocent young girl, but she really was hurting her mother. In this way I liked more the portrayal(s) of Veda in the new TV series. She somehow failed to give us a complex performance. The way she was behaving depended on the lines she had written in the script, but it should depend on the character she was playing. Sometimes she was an innocent angel and sometimes a bloody devil.
I must say at the end that I wasn't disappointed by with performance, at all. It was fine and some of her moment were really very good, but some things she didn't succeed. And that's a pity...

Best Supporting Actress 1945: Eve Arden - Mildred Pierce

It's a little bit ridiculous that I have seen the new version of Mildred Pierce with Kate Winslet before this old and original version and so I won't avoid comparing, but it probably doesn't matter. Both versions are really great and I enjoyed them very much.

Eve Arden doesn't have very much to do in Mildred Pierce, actually. She doesn't interfere with the main plot of the film. She is only the best friend of Mildred. Sometimes she comes, says something about job, then about Mildred's life and goes away. She doesn't have many time on the screen to spend, but she really uses every minute (out of eight).
Though short screen time, Eve Arden never failed to create a complex and interesting character. In the hands of any other actress Ida would be a completely forgettable character. But here it's different. She was really enjoying every moment of the screen.
It's even hard to choose one best moment of her performance, because every moment is very similar to the other. But it would perhaps be her second scene, when Mildred comes to the restaurant and asks for the job.
So, what to say at the end? You have probably noticed that I liked her, but will I pick her? God only knows...

Next Year: Best Supporting Actress 1945

The Nominees:

Angela Lansbury - The Picture of Dorian Gray

Ann Blyth - Mildred Pierce

Anne Revere - National Velvet

Eve Arden - Mildred Pierce

Joan Lorring - The Corn Is Green

So, who do you think will I pick? Will it be one of the Mildred Pierce ladies? Or will I pick the great Angela Lansbury? Or will I agrre with the Academy? Or will I shock by picking Joan Lorring? Write your prediction for my pick and ranking in comments... :)