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Paul Muni - a performance rivaling Brando in Streetcar?

posted 14 years ago by nettwench
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I was so impressed with this movie when I saw it on TCM the first time, when Alec Baldwin chose it as a guest programmer. I watched it again last night, after seeing "A Streetcar Named Desire" last weekend. Brando's performance in "Streetcar" is nuanced on so many levels, but when I first saw "Fugitive" I was astonished at how Modern, how Method-like, how gritty, powerful, and naturalistic Muni's performance is. There is nothing of the hamminess or staginess or overblown theatricality found in the performances of so many early films.

Muni shows so much depth and range here. I felt like I was in the chain gang, sweating like a mule in the unforgiving summer heat, choking with dust, not even allowed to wipe the sweat off my brow without permission. The scene where he pulls his leg irons off over his feet BEFORE the gang master notices he's missing is like a caged animal knowing he has 2 seconds before the bear trap slams down on him again. The claustrophobic frenzy he's in is tangible and frightening, with a dash of "maybe I might just make it out of here!" He so should have gotten an Oscar for this.

Anyway, I get why Brando or Olivier are the greatest of all time, but I say that Muni's preformance here rivals Brando. Sacrilege or No?

Love is the best, most insidious, most effective instrument of social repression

[–] marvel88 14 years ago

Muni is most certainly a great actor, and yes, he is terrific in this film. Like you said, Muni seems to be one of the more modern actors with a timeless feel without some of the old-time trademarks of other big actors of the time.

What impresses me most about Muni is how he seemed to be the Daniel Day-Lewis of classic Hollywood. He only seemed to appear in movies that he truly wanted to do and seemed to accept roles based on the challenged they would present to him as an actor. The versatiltity in his filmography is impressive with roles such as gangsters and historical figures like Benito Juarez and Emile Zola.

Brando himself admired Muni as an actor and the two appeared on Broadway together in 1946 in Ben Hecht's "A Flag is Born."

"I know you're in there, Fagerstrom!"-Conan O'Brien

[–] DD-931 14 years ago

Sorry, but while Muni does have some naturalistic moments, he's simply a generation removed from the more advanced behavioral acting of a Brando. There are too many theatrical flourishes from the more primitive pre-Method period that Muni came from. In particular his habit of bugging out his eyes in particularly dramatic moments is over the top.

But to be fair, film acting in the pre-WWII era was usually hit-and-miss, since the medium was so new and actors were just beginning to find their way in it. It can be honestly stated that both the mistakes and the successes of the early actors like Muni were studied by Brando and others. They built their more-advanced film acting techniques on the shoulders of actors like Muni.

That being said, however, I will always consider Spencer Tracy to be the first truly successful dramatic film actor.

[–] nettwench 14 years ago

I really thought Spencer Tracy was great in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." He was actually scary, and I can't think of any other part where he played someone who was so evil. It's unexpected with him, he's always likable in his parts.

Ssssshh! You'll wake up the monkey!

[–] AtomicReturns (1252) 7 years ago

"Brando himself admired Muni as an actor and the two appeared on Broadway together in 1946 in Ben Hecht's 'A Flag is Born.'"

It's true Brando deeply admired Muni and cites him as one of his greatest influences. He mentioned seeing Muni on stage one time and was transformed on the spot. Brando also mentioned actress Luise Rainer (The Great Ziegfeld, The Good Earth) as another major influence on his work after seeing her theater performances.