A-List: James Stewart
By Josh Spiegel
May 21, 2009
The Philadelphia Story
In his entire career, his extensive, illustrious career, James Stewart only won one Academy Award. One Oscar, which is completely criminal. Especially because Stewart won that pesky Oscar for The Philadelphia Story. Oh, sure, this 1940 screwball comedy is a classic and certainly one of his best pieces of work, but how could the Academy ignore Vertigo, arguably his best performance, or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance? Admittedly, Stewart was so impressive in this film, when you consider the fact that he's playing the other man. In romantic comedies, being the other man is probably the best way to become the least likable character in a movie. As Macaulay Connor, a tabloid reporter brought to disrupt the second wedding of Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn), Stewart brings the goods as a smart and sharp journalist who ends up falling in love with her, the charming ex-wife of C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant). Of course, Dexter Haven has brought the tabloid reporter simply so he can ruin Tracy's remarriage. The Philadelphia Story is one of the best screwball comedies ever created, and Stewart's performance is fantastic, even if you may feel it's overshadowed a bit by Grant and Hepburn's undeniable chemistry (far better than their performances in Bringing Up Baby). It's just a pity that he never won another Oscar for even better work.
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Rear Window
Another one of the collaborations between Hitchcock and Stewart, Rear Window is the best kind of fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat entertainment that typifies all the best of these two Hollywood greats. Stewart is L.B. Jeffries, a famous photographer who's wound up wheelchair-bound in his apartment, during a sweltering New York summer. He's tended to by his helpful nurse (Thelma Ritter) and gorgeous girlfriend (Grace Kelly), but becomes so bored by being shut in that he uses a pair of binoculars to watch the kitchen-sink dramas going on in his own apartment complex. The plot thickens when he sees, from directly across his own apartment, what appears to be a vicious murder. Who is Lars Thorwald? Did he really kill his wife? Is L.B. beginning to see things that aren't really there? As with Vertigo, it's hard to ignore some parallels with the life of Alfred Hitchcock. As a director, he orders people around to do potentially dangerous things. L.B., since he can't walk around, has to get his girlfriend and nurse to do the dirty work of breaking into Lars' apartment, coming this close to getting them killed. Even without the hidden layers, Rear Window is one of the most entertaining films Hitchcock ever made and one of Stewart's most nuanced and subtle performances. Other actors might overact to compensate for not being able to move below the waist, but Stewart never goes over the top, keeping L.B. a believable if often frustrating lead character. Though not as classic as Vertigo, Rear Window is still one of the best Hitchcock-Stewart films.
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