1943 – Charles Bickford
The Song of Bernadette
This movie had an incredible script, so much so that no matter what character you look at, it was kind of hard to go wrong. But if that’s true, then why do I have so many misgivings about Charles Bickford’s performance? Was he good? Yes, but he was not great. I’d call his performance adequate. He only had one facial expression in the entire film. He was stoic, and that was it. Even when he needed to be skeptical, unsure, loving, kindly, angry, or even priestly and forgiving, he was nothing more than stoic. I don’t know if he deserved his Oscar nomination.
I mean, I looked up a photo of the actor in a publicity picture, one where he is wearing a suit and tie instead of the robes of a clergyman. The expression on his face in that pic is exactly the same as in this film. No smile, no expressive emotion, nothing but sternness. But then I have to ask, did this lack of emotion serve the character, or did it detract from the performance? And I suppose, in certain scenes, it did. But there were times I wanted more.
Bickford played Abbé Dominique Peyramale, the parish priest of Lourdes. At first he is a doubter of Bernadette’s visions, then a curious skeptic, then a believer, and finally a true advocate. I’m not saying the actor did a terrible job. I wouldn’t say he stood out as a bad actor. He did just fine. He looked the part, seemed to be age appropriate, and had a good speaking voice. But if I’m being picky, then I’ll also say that there was no softness to him. There was very little about him that felt inviting or intimate. I wasn’t drawn in by his fatherly relationship with Bernadette.
I think his best scene was the one where he says goodbye to Bernadette as she is leaving to join the Sisters of Charity of Nevers. But I think this had just as much to do with the script as it did with the actor. But here, at least, he displayed a modicum of kindness, and perhaps even sympathy for the girl, though you wouldn’t know it looking at Bickford’s face. It was exactly the same as it was every other time he was on the screen. And just as an interesting note, his character embodied one of the few historical inaccuracies in the movie. The real Peryamale never visited Bernadette on her deathbed. He’d actually died several years before her.