1943 – Mickey Rooney
The Human Comedy
Ok, wow. This was a stupid movie, but I have to ask, is that only through my modern eyes? No, I don’t think so. But here, I’m not judging the movie. I’m critiquing Mickey Rooney’s performance. And as far as that went, he did a fine job. There were actually three members of the cast who I think did a good job with the blatant propaganda dialogue in the script. Frank Morgan, Fay Bainter, and Mickey Rooney. Aside from them and a few others, we got some pretty bad acting.
Rooney played a teenage boy in fictional Ithaca, California named Homer. His father was dead, and his brother had gone off to war. So at his young age, he was the man of the house, going to school during the day and working at night to bring in some money. Rooney certainly looked like any boy you might meet anywhere. He was clean-cut and wholesome, polite, and super-respectful of his elders. He was a golly-gee-whiz kind of a youth with a good head on his shoulders. He was athletic and handsome, hard-working and intelligent, kind-hearted and generous, everything a well-brought-up American boy should be.
But what I didn’t like about the film was that it was nothing more than different characters giving a series of monologues about patriotism, duty, and dealing with the loss of loved ones during war-time. Rooney at least delivered his share of the shoe-horned pontificating with a sense of drama and heartfelt pathos. And he had to shoulder the lion’s share of the deep drama in the narrative, as he learns that his beloved older brother has died in the war. And he takes it with stoicism and bravery, knowing why his brother fought and died. And he was actually really great in that scene. The utter devastation on his face is heart-wrenching.
I actually have only one minor complaint about his performance. In one scene, he has to run in a track race at school. While running, Homer kept glancing over at his opponent, a bad practice for a real runner. Taking the time to check on the other runners is only going to slow you down. Pay attention to what you are doing, not them. But aside from that and the forced wholesomeness of the script, Rooney was good. Some have even called it one of the best performances of his career.