The Best Actor of the 1930s, Part II: Frederic March

I know it's a cheat to have Frederic March and Paul Muni tied for the title of Best Actor of the 1930s, but Paul Muni just has too much going for him and did his best work in that decade. Frederic March, on the other hand, was still going very strong in the 60s, but unquestionably his finest body of work covered the 1930s. I hate ties as much as anyone-like they say, a tie is like kissing your sister, but in this case just consider it in terms of your own personal choice of the most beautiful woman in the world being your sister.

Frederic March was very much like Paul Muni in that both men played at the edges of their register. They engaged in makeup and accents to bring a wide variety of humanity to life. Frederic March remains to this day the only man to ever win a Best Actor Oscar for a horror film. His interpretation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is nothing short of phenomenal. The transformation from handsome doctor to hideous monster was accomplished without any cuts or dissolves; the director using lighting effects and March's talent to literally show us a man turning into a beast before our very eyes. March's Mr. Hyde is a masterpiece of comedy and horror; his dark side includes dark humor as well. Frederic March justifiably won an unexpected Oscar for this performance and it's just too bad that the Academy Awards got so hung up on "prestige" that they forgot what makes a performance really good. Academic papers have been written about this version of the story and it still holds up as the best of all time. It is difficult to imagine any other star of March's magnitude being willing to put on the makeup that was required once his full transformation is complete; he looks more like a missing link than a man. (Just compare him with Spencer Tracy's Hyde!) And March's jittery physicality works as an expression of the psychosexual dichotomy that lies at the heart of this classic story.