1938 – Robert Donat
The Citadel
Robert Donat was ok. He wasn’t great, he wasn’t bad. He was ok. It seems to me, there was a kind of a trend in movies from the 1930s and 40s, especially if they are historical dramas, which the Academy seemed to really like. The movie goes along without resolving the main conflict until the last few minutes. There, the protagonist delivers an impassioned speech that usually is one of those “how can you be so short-sighted / narrow-minded” speeches, after which, the end credits immediately start to roll. And it seems to me that this is the big scene that earned Robert Donat his Oscar nomination.
I want to make it clear that I think his performance in the rest of the film was just fine, but I don’t see how he really stretched himself as an actor. I don’t think he displayed more than 4 emotions in the entire movie. And when he did show us something new, it was rarely very dynamic or impactful. There was a scene in which he saves the life of a newborn baby. That one was a good scene, but that was about it.
But I have a notion that it was a decidedly British performance. British actors, especially the male actors tended to keep their emotions in check. The proper Englishman was the calmest and most subdued. Unfortunately, this often comes across as dispassionate on the screen. And the trick is, I’ve seen Robert Donat in other films where he displayed more gravitas, more emotionally animated. Still, he played the part pretty well, as it was written.
The movie followed professional career of Dr. Andrew Manson. As a younger physician, he is idealistic with a desire to work for the betterment of all mankind. But after years of poverty and being underappreciated, he falls into a cushy job where he gets paid a lot of money to pamper wealthy socialites without having to do any real work or altruistic research. But once his new ways inadvertently cause the death of his best friend, he remembers why he got into medicine in the first place, and he returns to the passion of his youth. Cue the power speech. Still, I have to give Donat credit for making a distinct difference between the two doctors.