Best Supporting Actor 1937: Results

5. H.B. Warner in Lost Horizon- Warner is perfectly fine in his role as the knowledgeable mysterious man, but it never makes a memorable impact on the film.

4. Roland Young in Topper- Young is okay throughout the film and except for an occasional moment here or there Young never finds just the right way to be a straight man.

3. Ralph Bellamy in The Awful Truth- Bellamy unlike Young does find the right way to be the straight man in his film, and gives a fairly enjoyable performance.

2. Joseph Schildkraut in The Life of Emile Zola- Schildkraut's role is exceedingly limited but he always does make an impact with his passionate and moving performance.

1. Thomas Mitchell in The Hurricane- Good prediction moviefilm. Mitchell wins this year, and yes my first five wins are shared among only two actors. Mitchell gives a strong performance where he is always an energetic, entertaining and charming presence as well as really brings the tragedy at the center of the film to life.

Deserving Performances:
Jean Hersholt in Heidi

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Best Supporting Actor 1937: Roland Young in Topper

Roland Young received his only Oscar nomination for portraying the titular Cosmo Topper in Topper.

Topper tells about a stuffy rich man Topper, who his haunted by the ghosts of his care free acquaintances the Kerbys (Cary Grant, Constance Bennett).

 Roland Young is the very first case of category fraud in Best Supporting Actor as Roland Young is not supporting film. This is rather the indications of the trend that is common which is character actors in lead roles, as well as unassuming characters can commonly find themselves put in the supporting category. The film is titled Topper for a reason as it is about the stuffy Topper being basically forced to be more carefree by his ghostly friends. This is not even a case of secondary male lead, Cary Grant is not even in the film all that much and half the time he is he is only a disembodied voice.

Roland Young whole performance is pretty much made up of him being stuffy and being taken aback by his other worldly friends. The whole point of his performance really is to be funny as the proper man is forced into improper behavior by them. Young certainly is a proper enough man with his demeanor as Topper but Young actually might try to be to realistic as Topper. He is always very to the point, and underplays every situation maybe a little too much. I would rather he wouldn't overact, but maybe in reality Young's Topper is just a bit too stiff.

Not that being is stiff is the incorrect way to portray Topper, that is the point of the character, I just think there probably could have been funnier. It is actually very difficult to do the straight man right, to be comedic without ever seeming to be comedic, but Young does not really accomplish this difficult task. A straight man must somehow have the same comedic energy that matches the comedians, but at the same time never looks like he is having fun, Young certainly does not look like he is having much fun, but the underlying comedic energy never is there.

I don't want to sound too harsh because Young really is not bad as Topper he certainly fits the role, and portrays it without overacting. At the same time though this could have been a truly classic comedic performance with a greater straight man in the role. There is the occasional moment where Young does have a glint of how the performance really should have been but there really are not enough of them. He also is perfectly fine in his portrayal of Topper loosening up.Young is always consistently competent in the role, but he never really makes the part hilarious when it very well could have been.

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Best Supporting Actor 1937

And the Nominees Were:

Ralph Bellamy in The Awful Truth

Thomas Mitchell in The Hurricane

Joseph Schildkraut in The Life of Emile Zola

Roland Young in Topper

H.B. Warner in Lost Horizon

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