Fred Zinnemann: Top Oscar Directors for Actors
Fred Zinnemann began his career during the studio era, but kept on going, however sporadically, long after most of his contemporaries had retired. Even so, today his name means little for most audiences and critics alike. Why?
Quite possibly because, like William Wyler’s, Zinnemann’s relatively small oeuvre (21 narrative feature films) covers just about every film genre there is: Western (High Noon), romance (From Here to Eternity), socially conscious drama (The Search), historical drama (A Man for All Seasons), adventure (Five Days One Summer), thriller (The Day of the Jackal), crime (Act of Violence), comedy (My Brother Talks to Horses), and musical (Oklahoma).
Most film critics and historians are no different than most simpletons. They tend to value work that can be easily categorized and labeled. And it always helps if the films in question revolve around tough guys and their issues.
Fred Zinnemann, like Wyler and George Cukor, never had a long association with a male actor, while most of his films, though often centered on male characters, could hardly be called "tough." (Even High Noon is more about fear than fearlessness.) Additionally, in his character dramas Zinnemann was better at handling actresses than actors as evidenced by a number of outstanding female star turns in his films. (Nope, that really doesn’t mean the director was gay.)
The ladylike Deborah Kerr, for instance, was transformed into a seductive adulteress in From Here to Eternity (above, with Burt Lancaster) and a country woman roaming the Australian outback in The Sundowners. (The 1960 best actress Oscar had Kerr’s name on it — if only Elizabeth Taylor hadn’t been near death at the time.)
Also, Donna Reed (right) was never better than as the fibbing (and gorgeous) hooker in From Here to Eternity, and the same goes for Audrey Hepburn, reaching a career high as the conflicted nun in The Nun’s Story — one of the most effective films on a religious theme.
Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave excelled in the classy Julia, and so did Julie Harris and Ethel Waters in the psychological drama The Member of the Wedding. Eva Marie Saint, for her part, stole A Hatful of Rain from her showier male co-stars.
Despite all their award wins and nominations, Zinnemann was less successful with his male actors. If Gary Cooper is able to fully convey the inner turmoil of his solitary sheriff in High Noon while Robert Mitchum gives a pleasantly nuanced performance in The Sundowners, Burt Lancaster and Frank Sinatra are just plain old Burt Lancaster and Frank Sinatra in From Here to Eternity, while stage-trained Paul Scofield needed to be considerably toned down so as to make believable his Sir Thomas More of A Man for All Seasons. Scenery-chewing was also the order of the day for Lloyd Nolan, Don Murray, and Anthony Franciosa in A Hatful of Rain.
Zinnemann received seven Academy Award nominations for best direction: The Search, 1948; High Noon, 1952; From Here to Eternity, 1953; The Nun’s Story, 1959; The Sundowners, 1960; A Man for All Seasons, 1966; and Julia, 1977.
He won for both From Here to Eternity and A Man for All Seasons, neither of which is among his best films. (Though, admittedly, both have numerous fans.)
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Tags: Academy Awards, Burt Lancaster, Classic Movies, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Film Awards, Fred Zinnemann, From Here to Eternity, Gary Cooper, High Noon
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Paul Scofield was a superb actor. One of the greatest.