1927-28 – Richard Barthelmess
The Patent Leather Kid
Much like with Emil Jannings, I have never heard of Richard Barthelmess, but with this one, I’m not terribly surprised. His acting was, if I had to put a word to it, unremarkable. He wasn’t bad, but I just can’t see how he stood out enough to earn himself a Best Actor nomination. So I have to ask myself, why?
Maybe it was the role he played in The Patent Leather Kid or the second film he was nominated for, The Noose, that caught the Academy voters’ attention. To be honest, it didn’t catch mine. The story was fairly bland, especially when compared with other nominated films in the Best Actor category like The Last Command, or with other movies that were nominated for Outstanding Picture like Wings, which had more dramatic storylines for the male leads.
Here he was a boxer who meets a woman who he falls in love with. She has a patriotic streak in her, and she encourages the Kid to enlist in the military and fight for his country. He refuses and she eventually leaves him to join the war effort, herself, as a nurse. The Kid is drafted and is shipped to France. He is a coward in battle until his friend Puffy is killed. Then he becomes brave enough to fight. But he is wounded and nearly dies, but recovers enough to face life paralyzed from the neck down. Then his desire to salute the American flag is so great that he forces his inert limbs in to motion, apparently healed by the passion of his own patriotism. I just don’t think the role required that much of him.
Was Barthelmess’ Best Actor nomination due to him being a movie idol heartthrob of his day? Well, he was certainly a handsome man, and he looked good without his shirt on in the boxing ring. But I didn’t find him any more attractive than other leading men in Hollywood at the time. So what was it that got him nominated? Honestly, I don’t know. In my uneducated opinion, neither his acting, nor the role itself were outstanding enough to be nominated for Best Actor. Maybe his acting in The Noose was more notable, more worthy of recognition. I would like to see that film to see if he was more dynamic.