1938 – Gene Lockhart
Algiers
I originally started watching this movie because Charles Boyer had been nominated for Best actor, not realizing that Gene Lockhart had also been nominated for Best Supporting Actor. While watching the movie, I was thinking that Lockhart should have been nominated as well. Imagine my surprise, and my validation, when I learned that Lockhart had gotten an Oscar for his work. He deserved it.
He played the part of Regis, a sleazy resident of The Casbah, the criminal quarter in the city of Algiers. On the surface, he is a toady of the notorious thief Pepe le Moko, doing what he can to be of service to the crook, while always feeling underappreciated. But under that, he is a police informant who devises a plan to betray Pepe and collect the reward money. Lockhart was perfect in both capacities. His plan consisted of luring Pepe’s close friend out of the Casbah so that Pepe will follow him. But the plan fails and the other man dies as a result. Pepe then learns of Regis’s involvement and betrayal.
Lockhart’s final scenes were memorable, and so well acted. Pepe takes Regis into an empty room. Already nervous about the suspicious attention, Regis begins sweating. But when Pepe’s thugs slowly begin to join them, Regis knows he’s been discovered. Lockhart was great here. He knows he can’t run, and that he probably isn’t leaving the room alive. He’s so terrified, he can barely think. The assassins are all nice to him while he is a shaking, sweating, pile of fear.
I thought Lockhart’s performance was good, but in this scene he was great. He was so perfectly pathetic. And when the man he betrayed came back with a fatal gunshot wound, you could see in Lockhart’s eyes that the game was up. The actual death moment was almost surreal. Pierrot is carried into the room with a gun in his hand. Regis starts whimpering and backing away. The fear in his eyes was palpable. He bumps into a player piano which begins playing a happy, jaunty ragtime tune, a horrifying underscore to his impending murder. Pierrot’s approach is slow, giving Regis an uncomfortably long time to cower in the corner and wait for death. Lockhart handled it like a pro and I really believed his performance.