1937 – Mae Whitty
Night Must Fall
Dame Mae Whitty was perfectly cast as the cranky old rich lady. She had a natural air of privilege and entitlement about her that was unmistakable. She was self-righteous, cantankerous, and mean spirited, everything that the character of Mrs. Bramson was supposed to be. She was so perfectly annoying to watch on the screen, which only tells me that Mae Whitty, the actress did her job well. But she wasn’t so over-the-top that she wasn’t believable. The way I see it, there was a fine line between being the character, and being a caricature, and I could easily see a lesser actress crossing that line.
Mrs. Bramson was a wealthy property owner in the small English village who lorded her status and position over everyone. She expected everyone to always defer to her because it was her right. But she consistently used her age and her money to manipulate and control everyone around her. She was bound to a wheelchair, and masterfully played the sympathy card at every opportunity. I’m old. I’m infirm. Take care of me. Please me. Ugh! And I wasn’t a bit surprised when she was alone, and got up out of her chair without the slightest bit of difficulty.
But she was an integral part of the plot and Whitty’s performance was good. But notice that I don’t say she was great. It’s too bad that Mrs. Bramson was written as a bit of a one note character, which wasn’t Whitty’s fault. The only part of the movie in which Whitty was able to show some real acting chops was right before her character, spoiler alert, was murdered. She was alone in the house, something she wasn’t used to. She became genuinely frightened. I liked the way the actress drew me into her fear. When Danny came in the room, her sense of relief and pent-up fear was perfectly portrayed. The way her hands trembled as she drank a glass of water was spot-on.
And honestly, I think it was her last few minutes of screen time that really earned her the award nomination. She was wonderful. She was good in the rest of the film, but great in that final sequence. The trick is, she was so perfect for this role, I just can’t picture her playing anything else, though I’m sure she frequently did.