1942 – Monty Woolley
The Pied Piper
I’d seen this movie before and wasn’t terribly impressed with it. Monty Woolley played a stock character that didn’t have much depth. Some, but not much. He played the stereotypical British old man who is thrown into the extraordinary circumstances of World War II. But I actually enjoyed the film more in this second watching than I did the first time. I found more to like this time around, and Wooley’s performance was a sizeable part of that.
He is elderly and crotchety, named Howard, and he hates children… or does he? As he tries to make his way out of France with the two children of some friends who have other responsibilities in those dangerous times, the journey is long and rough. Along the way more orphaned children join his party, one at a time, until at last he makes it to England with a total of six young kids in tow. And because of his proper British stoicism and bravery against the officers of the Third Reich, he not only reveals his affection for the children like a kindly grandfather, but he also has time to give the evil Nazi bad-guy a piece of his English mind.
So did he turn in a great performance? Well, it wasn’t a bad one, but I don’t know If it was worth an Oscar nomination. He was like an old bearded version of Leslie Howard, you know that British actor who plays the exact same British character in every film he is in, whether the character is British or not. The same proper English gentleman, the same stereotypical stuffy aristocrat we’ve seen a thousand times before. Yet, he did the role justice. After all, that’s the way the part was written. But I saw nothing new here, nothing out of the ordinary.
He had a couple of good scenes that stand out in my memory. One was where he confronted the Nazi commander, professing his innocence to the accusation of being a spy. The other is when he had to pretend to be an addled old man front of the SS. Wooley did a good enough job, I suppose, but was is worth an Oscar nod? The problem is that any more intense display of emotion would have been out of character for him. I don’t know. The role itself was just too cookie-cutter for my tastes, and Wooley didn’t seem to be challenged by anything about the part.