MovieChat Forums > From the Terrace (1960) Discussion > Very risky for 1960 and Oscars..

Very risky for 1960 and Oscars..

posted 17 years ago by mathesonian_7
14 replies | jump to latest

Well, as I said in my subject title this movie was risky in that of its plot and some of its innuendo scenes, for 1960 that is. I was surprised, yet the movie was very good which would have made me think that the Oscars would have paid attention to it. Yet they certainly did not, and this i was dissapointed to hear. Not only did it have a fantastic music score and cinematography, but the writing was very good, the directing left little to be wanted and the acting was all around fairly well done. No Oscars for acting were deserved but certainly for evrything else. this movie is underated, underwatched and BRILLLIANTLY WONDERFUL!! I reccomend this to everyone in the mood to watch a good show.

[–] hobnob53 16 years ago

I think Myrna Loy deserved a supporting actress nomination for her performance here. A terrific job, though she was only on screen relatively briefly. Astounding that Miss Loy never had a single Oscar nomination (let alone win) in her long and distinguished career, though she got an honorary Oscar for her full body of work two years before she died.

[–] Xcalat3 10 years ago

I think Myrna Loy deserved a supporting actress nomination for her performance here.

she was excellent in this movie

Liberate tutemet ex inferis.
pro ego sum diabolus, pro ego sum nex.

[–] EliotTempleton 8 years ago

It's one of the great mysteries in the baffling history of the Oscars that Myrna Loy did not get a nomination for her breathtaking, cast-against-type, performance in this film.

[–] slokes 8 years ago

Loy is not bad in this movie, but it's not a part to remember. Too much on-the-nose dialogue scenes between her and Alfred.

[–] mamacassfan 8 years ago

------------------I think Myrna Loy deserved a supporting actress nomination for her performance here.----------------------

Ms. Loy definitely deserved a nomination somewhere (perhaps The Best Years Of Our Lives) but not for this tiny part. Oscar way too often nominates alcoholic roles and most of them are over-the-top.

[–] hobnob53 8 years ago

Ms. Loy definitely deserved a nomination somewhere (perhaps The Best Years Of Our Lives) but not for this tiny part. Oscar way too often nominates alcoholic roles and most of them are over-the-top.

I can think of a few films she might have been nominated for (such as The Thin Man as well as Best Years, perhaps one or two others), but while you're right that Oscar way too often nominates alcoholic (or other dysfunctional) roles, that doesn't mean that hers in this film wouldn't have been deserved. In Loy's case she didn't go over the top, which was part of its strength. (Besides, while I think Oscar too often nominates such performances, most that have been nominated haven't been over-the-top.)

As to the size of the part, that's irrelevant. David Niven won the Best Actor Oscar for Separate Tables in 1958 even though he was on screen for only 23 of the film's 100 minutes. Montgomery Clift had a Supporting nomination for Judgment at Nuremberg in 1961, though his performance took up a mere 17 minutes out of 179. (He should have won too, over George Chakiris for West Side Story.) I don't know off hand how much screen time Loy has here (out of 149 minutes) -- maybe 15 minutes or so -- but the length of a performance has nothing to do with its quality.

[–] brefane 16 years ago

Considering Spartacus and Psycho received only a few nods and none for Best Picture of 1960, and that the winner that year The Apartment treated sardonically what From the Terrace treats with shallow seriousness, it isn't and never was Oscar material. Surely not for the wooden cliched acting, the monochrome set design, or Mark Robson's belabored and obvious direction. The subject matter is treated in typical Hollywood style, and the previous year Room at the Top handled the same subject matter more believably and frankly.

[–] robin-moss2 11 years ago

In separate posts you have repeated that The Apartment and From The Terrace have the same material. You are completely wrong. You are also wrong to assert that Room At The Top has the same subject matter. Apart from the issue of a man wanting to get to the top and jeopardising personal relationships to do so, the two films have nothing in common.

[–] lizcarlo87 11 years ago

I agree completely.

[–] ahab19 10 years ago

Spartacus, The Apartment and Psycho all still hold up very well 50 years later, though.

Kramer: ...he was very impressed with what I do.
Elaine: What you do? You don't do anything!

[–] lizcarlo87 11 years ago

I wanted to like it because it has some of my favorite actors. Meh it was mediocre. The acting was not very good. The script was alright. The ending seems like it belongs on a romantic comedy. The ending is typical Hollywood. Room At The Top did it much better. It came out earlier.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] DracTarashV 10 years ago

Some of the best films of 1960 are known for containing riskier subjects.

This film does contain some risky stuff, but that's not why it didn't get some Oscar love. The real reason is, it just isn't that good. Now a risky 1960 film that is actually great, is The Apartment. (It even won best picture).

They really are rude to Americans! - Al Bundy on the French

[–] EllisFowler 9 years ago

"Risky?"