Best Actress in a Supporting Actress 1962: Thelma Ritter in Birdman of Alcatraz

Thelma Ritter received her sixth and final Oscar nomination for her performance as Elizabeth Stroud in Birdman of Alcatraz.

Birdman of Alcatraz is a fine enough movie about the true story of Robert Stroud, a murderer convincted to life in prison who became a bird expert. The movie is hardly perfect - it's definitely overlong and is very far from being historically accurate but I have to admit I did find it quite interesting and even moving in parts. Out of its nomination, I think its most deserved was the one for Best Cinematography as it was really quite great. 

Thelma Ritter plays the role of Elizabeth Stroud, Robert's mother. Thelma Ritter was an extremely talented character actress and whenever she had the chance to show her chops, she absolutely delivered (I personally think she should've been nominated for Rear Window): unfortunately, though, she was often cast in stereotypical roles (such as the sassy, sarcastic friend) that didn't quite allow her to show her talent and even if she played those role perfectly there just wasn't much to those roles to begin with. And that's the case with most of her Academy Awards nominations: with the exception of Pickup on South Street, she was always nominated for entertaining but ultimately standard roles. The role of Elizabeth Stroud is a bit different from her usual roles as here she isn't the sassy sidekick of the main character but instead she is his loving, long-suffering mother: but even this role has been seen and played a thousand times and Elizabeth Stroud, screen-time and writing wise, is a particularly limited example of it. The part doesn't ask for much and for most of her ten minutes on screen Ritter has only to add warmth to the proceeding and establish a loving relationship between her character and Burt Lancaster's. But, surprisingly, Ritter doesn't even provide the little she's required to. 

Most of her performance is, in fact, surprising lifeless; her chemistry with Burt Lancaster is just non-existent and I think that's mostly Ritter's fault: Lancaster is actually good in their scenes together and portrays a more tender side of Robert whenever they share the screen, whereas Ritter is oddly cold and she delivers her line in a strangely stiff manner. In particular, her plea to not sentence her son to death and give him a life sentence instead, feels surprisingly robotic and emotionless. Whenever she's on screen she is simply uninteresting, and whenever she's not, she's instantly forgotten. 

Her performance isn't a complete failure though, and that's mostly thanks to her two final scenes. Up to those moments, Elizabeth Stroud had been a boring, standard character but in those scenes it takes a surprising, unexpected turn as she finds out that Robert wants to get married and, feeling betrayed, turns her back on him and abandons him. In the rest of her performance, I disliked the writing regarding Elizabeth and Ritter's portrayal of it but in those two scenes they're both excellent. Ritter does a very strong job in portraying a less noble side of her character - which had been portrayed almost as a saint previously in the movie - and does very well in showing the irrationality of her behavior but still making the viewer empathize a little bit to her plight, as she shows that her behavior, as questionable as it may be, comes from her shock and sadness of feeling rejected and replaced after all she had done for him before. And her final close-up is a surprisingly poignant moment even if the movie gets over her character very quickly. 

Ultimately, Ritter gives a rather disappointing performance that athough partially saved by her good final moments still ends up being quite forgettable. And as strong as she is aforementioned scenes, I think they would have been twice as powerful if she had established a good chemistry with Burt Lancaster and shown her character's love for her son more effectively - which unfortunately, she failed to do. In the end, Thelma Ritter has her moments but ultimately fails to bring her character to life. 

2.5/5