MJs Sing-Along Blog: Seahawks won the Super Bowl, Woo Hoo!

[Mighty Jack]

1928-29
Man With A Movie Camera (Jan 1929 – Director: Dziga Vertov)
Nominees: The Wind, The Cameraman, The Docks of New York

Oscars pick: The Broadway Melody
Nominees: The Alibi, Hollywood Revue of 1929, In Old Arizona, The Patriot

Understandably, the industry, fans and critics were all a twitter over these new fangled talkies. Hence we see some lightweight music and dance films garnering a lot of attention, while the old fashioned silent movies were largely ignored. Only one silent received a nomination, The Patriot, (a lost movie and the last silent film to receive a nomination until the Artist in 2012).

Among the great silents that failed to receive nominations were Victor Sjöström’s brilliant The Wind with Lillian Gish, Keaton’s last classic The Cameraman and Josef von Sternbergs unsentimental The Docks of New York. A film that features brilliant direction and cinematography, and which tells of a dock worker and a woman he marries after rescuing her after a suicide attempt

Another delightful edition to Oscars nominations would have been the Russian experimental strangeness know as Man With A Movie Camera. It had no intertitles, no story; it’s pure cinema for cinema’s sake alone. A collage of images that TV’s movie guide called… ”…a startlingly avant-garde cross-examination of modern life, as well as a lesson in the power of filmmaking and an autopsy of its methods”

This comes down to a two horse race between The Wind and Man With A Camera. I do know that none of the Oscars choices (that I’ve seen) left as much of an impression - Broadway Moldy... er "Melody" least of all. Mmm, it’s tough, but I can’t help myself; I gotta go with another experimental piece. Man With A Camera is an amazing, one of a kind experience, and I think the new modern soundtrack adds to the surreal feel of it. I strongly recommend checking it out for yourself here -- www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iey9YIbra2U

For more analysis on the movie - www.scope.nottingham.ac.uk/filmreview.php?issue=portals2000&id=885§ion=film_rev

Of note: The director is the brother of award winning cinematographer Boris Kaufman (On the Waterfront, 12 Angry Men)

[Mighty Jack]

1929-30
All Quiet on the Western Front (April 1930 – Director: Lewis Milestone)

Oscars pick: All Quiet on the Western Front
Nominees: The Big House, Disraeli, The Divorcee, The Love Parade

There wasn’t much debate here. There was All Quiet on the Western Font and then there was everyone else. Oscar did a decent enough job with the nominees, The Love Parade was Ernst Lubitisch’s first talkie, The Big House put prison movies on the map. Disraeli is most notable for starring George Arliss. While a forgotten man these days, in his era the aging, noodley Arliss was a hot commodity.

Some folks would say they bungled by not nominating Pandora’s Box (released in the States in Dec 1929, and therefore eligible). But the Louise Brooks vehicle was panned - and it wasn’t until years later that it found some love. Personally I think the original critics underrated it, while the new reviewers are overrating it. It was a good movie, but far from brilliant.

Other possible contenders for the crown were Alexander Dovzhenko’s uniquely edited, overacted Russian silent, Earth: A pro-collective ode to nature and a tractor and people having strange fits (Jiminy thinks Johnny, was Dostoyevsky the only creative mind who had the foresight to see the fly in the communist ointment?) Sternberg offered up The Blue Angel with Marlene Dietrich, and Jean Cocteau made his début with the 55-minute surrealistic comedy Blood of the Poet (which premiered in France in January 1930, before being banned for 2 years). None of these 3 received nominations.

Ultimately though, the Academy got it right. All Quiet is an anti-war film whose power comes in scenes that strips away the romanticism and exposes the grotesque. While it isn’t perfect: It can be overly theatrical, a bit leaden with the dialog and I found Lew Ayers performance hammy. For the most part, All Quiet works.

[Mighty Jack]

Note: I'm stretching the Academy's rules of eligibility, most notably in regards to foreign fare. The Oscar rule is that any film that plays in Los Angeles by Dec 31 of a given year, and runs for at least a week is eligible. That rule has kept some foreign films out of the running, as several took years, even decades before they played in the States. Seven Samurai for example, didn't come to America until 1956, 2 years after playing across the globe. The Felix's rule of eligibility broadens its scope. If you had an extended run somewhere, you’re good to go.

Later, Oscar offered a Foreign award and that provided at least 1 interesting development for the Academy. The Emigrants was nominated in 71 for Best Foreign Language film, and again in 72 for Best Picture.





1930-31
L'Age d'Or (Nov 1930 – Director: Luis Buñuel)
Nominees: M, Little Caesar, City Lights, The Public Enemy

Oscars pick: Cimarron
Nominees: East Lynne, The Front Page, Skippy, Trader Horn

Flush off the success of the short Un Chien Andalou Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali team up to offer a bit of subversive surrealism titled L'Age d'Or (Age of Gold). The movie is obstinate and resists description, even its length is defiant- at 62 minutes it is too long to be considered a short, but is shorter than conventional features. L'age opens with documentary footage of scorpions, is bound by a thread of separated lovers - is political, anti clerical and deeply sacrilegious (Jesus plays the role of de Sades literary serial killer, Duc de Blangis) and it made me laugh harder than I did during Chaplin's masterwork, City Lights (one of my nominees). The friendship between Dali & Buñuel unraveled during production, but what emerges from their discord is a wicked and giddy madness.

While it's no surprise than Oscar would avoid the film like the plague, I do find it odd that they bypassed the Chaplin vehicle. They also skipped both gangster films that I nominated (Edward G. Robinson’s Little Caesar / Jimmy Cagne’s Public Enemy) and director Fritz Lang's M (which had several release dates. I'm going by its premier in Germany). M was the strongest challenger for my top spot. Peter Lorre was incredible playing the child killer, the look of the piece is amazing. I felt some of the police procedural stuff was a bit dry, and Lang lingers a little too long on certain scenes, but other than that it's a winner.

For its best picture the Academy went with the overcooked western, Cimarron. The flick has some good acting but there’s a lot of racism and today many consider it one of the worst movies to win the award. Of Oscar's nominees, The Front Page is decent, but not as good as the remake (His Girl Friday). I've not seen the others but from reviews they sound like they are okay, but nothing special. To date, Skippy is the only comic book/strip adaptation to earn a Best Picture nod from Oscar.


Up Next:
I've yet to find a movie that stands head and shoulders above the rest for 31/32, so I'm still pouring through a stack of flicks. Hoping something really great pops out at me. I plan to return to this early next week.

[Mighty Jack]

1931-32
Scarface (April 1932 – Director: Howard Hawks)
Nominees: Grand Hotel, Marius, Vampyr, Five Star Final, Frankenstein, Freaks

Oscars pick: Grand Hotel
Nominees: Arrowsmith, Bad Girl, The Champ, Five Star Final, One Hour With You, Shanghai Express, The Smiling Lieutenant

I actually liked the episodic Grand Hotel quite a bit, it's melodramatic but I enjoyed the stories and it has a great cast. Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, John and Lionel Barrymore… that’s a dream team. So I can’t give Oscar a hard time over picking it.

Of the nominees I've seen. Shanghai Express with Marlene Dietrich was good, though the lead actor bugged me to distraction. Bad Girl was decent; I enjoyed Five Star Finale with Edward G. Robinson putting in a fine performance. I couldn't get into Lubitsch’s Smiling Lieutenant.

For my nominees I went with Grand Hotel, but gave some love to three classic horror flicks, James Whale’s Frankenstein, Tod Browning’s Freaks and the weird, experimental Danish film, Vampyr from Carl Theodor Dreyer. Dreyer’s movie is a talkie that’s more like a silent, full of shadow and atmosphere.

I also greatly enjoyed the first film in the 3-part “Fanny” series, Marius. Based on a play by Marcel Pagnol, Which is about a guy who loves this small town girl, but aches to be out on the high seas. Which of these loves will he chose? Marius isn't about direction or interesting camera work; it’s about the actors and the dialog.

One worth mentioning that ranks high with others is René Clair’s À nous la liberté, a musical farce about dehumanization caused by the industrial revolution, which might have inspired Chaplin’s Modern Times (Charlie said no, but he was sued for the similarities anyway). Clair’s take on the subject is more lyrical and lacks Chaplin’s self-aggrandizing and cloying sentimentalism, though it’s not as engaging.

The movie that stands far and above the rest is Howard Hawk’s Scarface. A brutal gangster film that must have inspired Scorsese when he made Goodfellas, as in each the Mobsters aren't the savvy, organized Mafia family seen in Copolla’s Godfather series. They are instead - crude, stupid, immature thugs. Despite studio interference (Ala the forced scene where a newspaper man gives a leaden lecture about civic duty) the movie retains its violent edge (and a hint of an incestuous relationship between brother and sister). Hawks also works in some humor. Actor Paul Muni is a revelation in the title role, but I was impressed with the cast across the board.

[Mighty Jack]

1932-33
Queen Christina (December 1933 - Director: Rouben Mamoulian)
Nominees: Duck Soup, King Kong, I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang, Island of Lost Souls, Trouble in Paradise

Oscars pick: Cavalcade
Nominees: A Farewell to Arms, 42nd Street, I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang, Lady for a Day, Little Women, The Private Life of Henry the VIII, She Done Him Wrong, Smilin’ Through, State Fair

This is another good collection of movies, though none of my group of favorites stands clearly above the rest, so they made it tough on me. There’s Trouble in Paradise - Ernst Lubitsch’s sophisticated romance about a couple of con artists caught in a lovers triangle. And I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang, another movie with a topnotch performance from Paul Muni (Scarface).

I also nominated the Island of Lost Souls, in which Charles Laughton outshines his own Oscar winning performance as Henry the VIII. Laughton has always been an energetic scenery chewer, but I split with the majority who hail his work as the infamous King. He looks the part, sure, but it's far too broad, more a caricature than anything. I liked him better as Dr. Moreau. It’s a plumb role, one that sadly Marlon Brando pisssed down his leg. But Laughton doesn’t squander the opportunity. Moreau’s a chilling figure: Behind his cherubic smile lays cruelty and in his eyes, arrogance and madness.

My top 3 contenders (and of course Oscar didn't nominate any one of them for best picture) include The Marx Brother's, Duck Soup, which was directed by the great Leo McCarey and featured Groucho's timeless turn as the dictator of Freedonia, Rufus T. Firefly. Soup is total chaos, and I admit to having a low tolerance for Harpo’s brand of physical mayhem. But Groucho’s quick rejoinders make the movie for me. He kept me in stitches.

The classic creature feature King Kong, established the standard for future giant monster flicks (which steal from it liberally). Its appeal for me is in its technical achievements. The work and innovation put into the animation and FX is stunning. It very nearly was my winner...

But the movie that ultimately landed the Felix was the sweeping love story Queen Christina - which chronicles of the events that led to the Swedish Queen’s abdication of the throne in the seventeenth century. Christina is pure historical fiction and pure romantic melodrama, but I have a great affection for it. And while Greta Garbo’s performance is reflective of the theatrical era she worked in, it still is her finest effort. She should have won best actress (she wasn't even nominated. Katherine Hepburn took it for Morning Glory).

Oscar chose Cavalcade as its best picture, which is a drama about a British family. And it wasn't bad at all, but wasn't Oscar-level material to my mind and couldn't crack my list of nominated pictures.

Of note: After this the Academy would switch to a standard calendar year, which meant that since they extended 1933 to the end of the year, this Oscar season was 17 months long.

[Mighty Jack]

1934
L’Atalante (Director: Jean Vigo)

Oscars pick: It Happened One Night
Nominees: The Barretts of Wimpole Street, Cleopatra, Flirtation Walk, The Gay Divorcee, Here Comes the Navy, The House of Rothschild, Imitation of Life, One Night of Love, The Thin Man, Viva Villa! The White Parade

While I liked them, I wasn't overly enthused by the top comedies of the year. Howard Hawk's Twentieth Century and Capra's Oscar-sweeping It Happened One Night, Both were pleasant entertainment, but neither one blew me away as Best Picture material. And while hailed as a comedy classic, I couldn't stand Its a Gift. Sorry folks but I never found W.C. Fields funny in the least. People will point out humorous moments in the movie, but they just made me yawn.

The Thin Man as well. Nice, light entertainment, but not a personal favorite. I never understood the glowing affection people have for it, and was never that charmed by the drunken duo of Nick and Nora Charles (or their little dog too).

One movie that failed upon its release but is now hailed as a classic is the insane debauchery of the Scarlet Empress. Dietrich and Von Sternberg together again, this time in an over-the-top drama that chronicles the rise of Catherine the Great. The film is a study in excess: An excess of style and performance and production

But after all the dust has settled, only one movie was Felix worthy. That being Jean Vigo's endearing, L’Atalante

Jean Vigo was one of the major influences on the French New Wave of the 50s and on Truffaut in particular. Sadly Jean died at 29, with only 1 full-length feature and a handful of shorter films to his name. His L'Atlante is a brilliant bit of work that focuses on a newlywed couple that lives on a barge... until the call of Paris draws the wife away. The film is poetic, bittersweet. The cinematography by Boris Kaufman is noteworthy. There is a sex scene, conducted in a dream, while the couple is separated, that is one of most memorable moments in film history.

The film was sadly chopped up and set to ruin. Vigo was dying of tuberculosis and could do nothing to save his baby. Years later it found its audience and is now offered, restored (as best as it can be) by Criterion. It is absolutely a must see movie and without a doubt the cream of the crop, in a year where few things really wowed me.

[Mighty Jack]

1935
The 39 Steps (Director: Alfred Hitchcock)
Nominees: Ruggles of Red Gap, Top Hat, A Tale of Two Cities

Oscars pick: Mutiny on the Bounty
Nominees: Alice Adams, Broadway Melody of 1936, Captain Blood, David Copperfield, The Informer, The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Les Misérables, Naughty Marietta, Ruggles of Red Gap, Top Hat

My mother loved Clark Gable, my father liked Marlon Brando, so there was always this good natured argument about which version of Mutiny on the Bounty was the better one. Most critics sided with my mother and the Academy; I gotta go with dear old dad. Brando’s take is full of depth and layers, Gable's is pretty straight forward, with his Fletcher Christian a man’s man, who walks with a manly purposeful stride. Charles Laughton is a delightful scenery chewing Bly. But it's all pretty cut and dry and truly, the original Bounty doesn’t do a whole lot for me. Saying that, I can understand why it won the Oscar. It carries itself with a certain prestige and it is well made.

For me though there was one, and only one deserving winner of the year’s top prize. While I adored the hilarious Ruggles of Red Gap, with Charles Laughton, the music and dance number, Top Hat with Fred and Ginger and the striking A Tale of Two Cities. Alfred Hitchcock's suspenseful romance, The 39 Steps, is a God among mortals. Others might argue for the Bride of Frankenstein. And while I agree its a masterful production, Bride is undone by a thick slice of camp and the broad antics of Una O’Connor - whereas the twists and turns and humor, as well as the look and pacing and performances to be had in 39 Steps, is pure bliss and perfection.

The grandfather of North by Northwest, this tightly woven spy story establishes many of the themes we’ll see in future Hitchcock tales. There’s the paranoia, the man on the run, and the humor nestled side by side with nail biting suspense. And of course, the camera work is disticnt and eye catching. This is Hitch's first truly great film, the best of his early British era... and it is very British - More understated and urbane than his American films, it never the less shows the director in full stride.

Unflappable Robert Donat (Mr Chips) was a delight in the leading role. Madeline Carroll was Alfred's first "cool blonde" and became an in demand star after this picture.

[Mighty Jack]

1936
Swing Time (Director: George Stevens)
Nominees: Modern Times, Sabotage, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, The Story of a Cheat, Dodsworth.

Oscars pick: The Great Ziegfeld
Nominees: Anthony Adverse, Dodsworth, Libeled Lady, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Romeo and Juliet, San Francisco, The Story of Louis Pasteur, A Tale of Two Cities, Three Smart Girls

Hindsight is 20/20, but even then it astounds me that the overstuffed, cliché riddled Great Ziegfeld, was Oscar's best picture. While the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers’ classic, Swing Time received barely a nod in its direction (it got 2 nominations, wining 1 for Best Song). Of the two, Swing Time has better music, better dancing, is a funnier comedy and tells a more captivating story… plus it doesn't go on forever. Today the 3-hour Zeigfeld is largely forgotten, while the effervescent Swing Time is timeless.

Swing Time had some stiff competition from Hitchcock’s underrated Sabotage and Capra's charming Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, which starred Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur. The strongest contender was Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times. Chaplin’s gooey sentimentality has always been his Achilles heel, but he doesn’t let it get too messy in this flick. It is of course funny and Chaplin is a brilliant pantomime. Its story of a man and a young woman (Paulette Goddard) trying to get by in this impersonal industrial age is a winner.

But so to is Swing Time, which is flawless -from the Jerome Kern score to the Art deco sets- simply flawless, I think it's Fred and Ginger's very best, surpassing even their superlative Top Hat. The supporting characters are a joy, especially Victor Moore as the addled Pops. Overall the movie is like bottled happiness; a special confection that allows me –for an hour or so- to leave all my cares behind. Hate to bypass Modern Times but I feel it would be a greater crime to ignore the musical. Sorry Charlie.

[Mighty Jack]

1937
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Director: David Hand)
Nominees: Pépé le Moko, The Life of Emile Zola, Make Way For Tomorrow, The Awful Truth, Captains Courageous

Oscars pick: The Life of Emile Zola
Nominees: The Awful Truth, Captains Courageous, Dead End, The Good Earth, In Old Chicago, Lost Horizon, One Hundred Men and a Girl, Stage Door, A Star is Born

Though a few folks see it as an Oscar blunder these days, I thoroughly enjoyed the Life of Emile Zola. Paul Muni gives one of his best performances playing the feisty Zola, who goes on a tireless crusade to defend the wrongly accused Alfred Dreyfus. It’s an idealized account, but still an edifying bio-drama.

Better than Zola was Disney’s seminal feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Disney’s folly (as it was called by critics during its making) wound up changing the animation world. Proving that an animated full-length feature could be both commercially and artistically viable. Snow White doesn’t feature the company’s best art, and our heroine isn’t a great feminist role model - wanting only to marry her Prince and cook for dwarfs (and to make sure the filthy gits wash their hands). In fact Snow -with her irritating baby-woman voice- and her Prince are the least interesting figures in the movie. The Dwarfs and the evil Queen are the personalities that drive the film. Nit picks aside: The slight story still charms, the primitive art is frequently striking and the music is as wonderful as ever.

Of the other Oscar nominees: I enjoyed The Good Earth and Lost Horizon. Stage Door had a stellar cast playing its collection of struggling actresses -among them, Kate Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Lucille Ball, Ann Miller and Eve Arden. I liked it, though parts didn’t click for me (it’s a little stagy and too impressed with its own quick banter, it’s overly melodramatic at times, and actress Andrea Leeds was terrible).

My nominees included Captains Courageous with Spencer Tracy and his bad accent. Leo McCarey’s The Awful Truth, a romantic comedy that featured standout performances from Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. McCarey also pulled at the heartstrings with Make Way For Tomorrow. A film which anticipates Ozu’s Tokyo Story in it’s tale of an old couple having to stay with their children (who don’t really want them there).

1937 didn’t offer a truly great motion picture, as just about every top offering had its noticeable imperfections. But what was had was often delightful, and Snow White gets the bump to the ‘best of’ for being groundbreaking as well.


Edit - 4/2/2012: I've just watched and am adding France's Pépé le Moko to my nomanees. This was an tense, romantic flick about a master criminal (Jean Gabin) hiding out in the Casbah in Algiers. It's an influential film, the proto-type for Noir, and an inspiration for a few elements in Casablanca

[Mighty Jack]

1938
Bringing Up Baby (Director: Howard Hawks)
Nominees: The Lady Vanishes, Olympia

Oscars pick: You Can’t Take It With You
Nominees: The Adventures of Robin Hood, Alexander’s Ragtime Band, Boys Town, The Citadel, Four Daughters, Grand Illusion, Jezebel, Pygmalion, Test Pilot

Looking over the field, there’s the dashing Errol Flynn as Robin Hood, in a rousing adventure about manly men in brightly colored manly tights. It’s a beloved feature, but it kind of comes off featherweight and silly today (at least to me). Fun – yes, but not special enough to warrant a nomination. So to the popular Boys Town and Jezebel, both fine movies but neither posses that certain something I’m looking for. Oscars best picture, Frank Capra's You Can’t Take it With You is the worse of the lot and is one of Oscar’s weakest "Best Picture" winners.

While I will give the Academy props for nominating a foreign language film (their first), Jean Renoir's highly praised Grand Illusion, I have to admit I don’t care for the movie. I’ve never been into polite or comedic prisoner of war flicks (Stalag 17) or TV (Hogan's Heroes) and I can’t seem to get into Renoir’s work overall.

I know I’m off to a rousing start: dissing Robin Hood and Grand Illusion. But hey, Oscar wasn’t perfect either. They left out 2 of the years brightest. Hitchcock's Lady on a Train and Howard Hawks screwball delight Bringing Up Baby (more on that later).

Another highly rated production was Eisenstein’s historical epic, Alexander Nevsky, The film was closely watched by Stalin, which gives it the air of propaganda, but it’s still a notable effort. Sticking to the theme of propaganda (as some claim), there’s Leni Riefenstahl’s documentary, Olympia. I know Riefenstahl’s name is cloaked in controversy due to her ties with Hitler, but there’s no denying her talent. From Wiki: The film was released in two parts: Olympia 1. Teil — Fest der Völker (Festival of Nations) and Olympia 2. Teil — Fest der Schönheit (Festival of Beauty). It was the first documentary feature film of the Olympic Games ever made. Many advanced motion picture techniques, which later became industry standards but which were groundbreaking at the time, were employed —including unusual camera angles, smash cuts, extreme close-ups, placing tracking shot rails within the bleachers, and the like. The techniques employed are almost universally admired, but the film is controversial due to its political context. Nevertheless, the film appears on many lists of the greatest films of all-time, including Time magazine's "All-Time 100 Movies."

But for me the comedy classic, Bringing Up Baby is the topper most. It's a madcap tale about an uptight guy (Cary Grant) a shrill eccentric (Katherine Hepburn) and a leopard named baby. There's nothing subtle about BuB, it's flat out insane. And one of the most uproarious pictures I've ever seen, as well as one of the quintessential screwball comedies of the era.

[Mighty Jack]

1939
The Wizard of Oz (Director: Victor Fleming)
Nominees: Ninotchka, Gone With the Wind

Oscars pick: Gone with the Wind
Nominees: Dark Victory, Goodbye Mr. Chips, Love Affair, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Ninotchka, Of Mice and Men, Stagecoach, Wizard of Oz, Wuthering Heights

I have no problem with Oscar's choice; it’s a good one. The sprawling civil war romance represented the year well. Capturing the hearts of the public for years, it became one of filmdom’s biggest box office hits. I just believe that Oz is better - a bit tighter a production and just as timeless. Interestingly, Victor Fleming is credited as director on both films, even won an Oscar for GWTW, but he didn't complete either movie. On Wind, he was the middle director (George Cukor started it, Sam Cook was directing by the end of it) and on Oz he was assisted by several, including King Vidor who filmed the song "Somewhere, Over the Rainbow", while Fleming was off shooting GWTW.

Oz is magical. It opens in dusty colored Kansas before blooming into candy colored hues once Dorothy enters the land of Oz. It’s an exquisite looking picture, from the sets to the costumes to the special effects. And the music, so full of whimsy and longing, contributes to the vibrancy of the production. Scary, wondrous, heartwarming and funny... Oz has it all.

Beyond Oz, I also have great affection for Ernst Lubitisch's sophisticated romantic comedy, Ninotchka, Penned by Charles Bracket and Billy Wilder and starring Greta Garbo as the title character. The movie works best at the start, with Garbo’s hilarious work as the taciturn Russian, Ninotchka. But once she lightens up the film loses the thing that made it different/special, and it becomes a standard romance, Still great, but it slips enough to give the advantage to Oz.

Other writers who have attempted this task often select Rules of the Game for this season, and Renoir’s film has its merits, but I find it a bit too chaotic, and I didn't care for the aspects of farce.

In total, I don’t think Oscar did a bad job in selecting its nominations for Best Picture. They are all well worth checking out. John Ford's Stagecoach is of particular interest as it features John Wayne's star making role. Wayne had been plugging away for years without making much of a splash. With Stagecoach he took his first steps towards becoming an icon of the silver screen.

[Mighty Jack]

1940
The Grapes of Wrath (Directed by John Ford)
Nominees: Foreign Correspondent, Rebecca, The Philadelphia Story, His Girl Friday, The Shop Around the Corner, Pinocchio

Oscars pick: Rebecca
Nominees: All This and Heaven Too, Foreign Correspondent, The Grapes of Wrath, The Great Dictator, Kitty Foyle, the Letter, The Long Voyage Home, Our Town, The Philadelphia Story

The Academy didn't know who to pick this year, so they spread the wealth. They gave Best Director to John Ford, Best Screenplay to Philadelphia Story and Best Picture to Rebecca.

I love Hitchcock's gothic Rebecca, but I enjoyed his other nominee, Foreign Correspondent a little better. While it’s not as classy as Rebecca, Correspondent is good suspenseful fun. Just behind them is one of Disney’s best from their classic era, the freaky Pinocchio. I also enjoyed Lubitsch's Shop Around the Corner with Jimmy Stewart and Howard Hawk's brilliant comedy His Girl Friday, with Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell trading quick and clever quips.

But the best of the best was the strange pairing of conservative John Ford adapting leftist John Steinbeck's sociopolitical dust bowl drama The Grapes of Wrath. While I didn't care for Jane Darwell's weepy performance as Ma Joad (edit: Watched it again, and she's not as bad as I'd remembered), Ford keeps things sober and relatively unsentimental. The driving force behind the picture was Henry Fonda's unforgettable turn as Tom Joad. His famous speech near the end of the movie was one of cinemas most stirring and powerful moments. So, not only did Oscar pick the wrong Best Picture, but they also got the wrong Best Actor. I like winner Jimmy Stewart, and he was good in The Philadelphia Story, but even he thought his good friend Fonda deserved the golden statuette.

[Mighty Jack]

1941
Citizen Kane (Director: Orson Welles)
Nominees: Sullivan's Travels, The Lady Eve, The Maltese Falcon, Ball of Fire

Oscars pick: How Green Was My Valley
Nominees: Blossoms in the Dust, Citizen Kane, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, Hold Back the Dawn, The Little Foxes, the Maltese Falcon, One Foot in Heaven, Sergeant York, Suspicion

Are you kidding me? This is a no brainer. How Green Was My Valley is a fine film, but fine vs. timeless all world classic one of a kind masterpiece? I wouldn't even rank the overly maudlin "How Green" as one of John Ford's top 5 or 7 movies, and its win is an example of Oscar politics. Since he lost for the ‘much superior’ Grapes of Wrath last year, they gave it to the lesser film the following ceremony. Again, not a bad film, but not as good a film as John Huston's Maltese Falcon, or Preston Sturges' delightful twin offerings, Sullivan's Travels and The Lady Eve, or even Howard Hawk's snappy Ball of Fire.

And none of them -no matter how wonderful they are- can hold a candle to the colossus that is Citizen Kane – not only for its breadth of technical achievement, but for the wise and resonating human story that is as poignant and perceptive today as it was 70 years ago.

Citizen Kane. Nuff said!

[Mighty Jack]

1942
Casablanca (Director: Michael Curtiz)
Nominees: Magnificent Ambersons, The Major and the Minor, To Be or Not to Be, This Gun For Hire, Cat People, Talk of the Town, Bambi

Oscars pick: Mrs. Miniver
Nominees: 49th Parallel, Kings Row, Magnificent Ambersons, The Pied Piper, The Pride of the Yankees, Random Harvest, Talk of the Town, Wake Island, Yankee Doodle Dandy

Okay, here’s where it gets weird. As mentioned The Oscars go by Hollywood rules, a best picture nominee has to play in Los Angeles for a week to be eligible. The Felix's go by international rules: If you had a substantial run somewhere in the world, you’re eligible. Because of this there will be a few oddballs. And here’s a biggie...

Casablanca had showings (primarily) in NY in Nov 1942 and ran for 10 weeks, but didn't get to L.A. until it was reissued later in 1943. That’s why you'll see Casablanca on critic's top 10 lists for 1942, though it was not acknowledged by the Academy until 43. I'm sticking with its official release date of 1942.

So here we go. Even in acknowledging it's plot holes, Casablanca was so clearly the best movie of the year, as well as one of the best of any year - though believe it or not, its win was seen as a bit of an Oscar upset over the dry Watch on the Rhine in 1943. Regardless, whether you put it in 1942 or 1943, no movie from either year offered the sublime craftsmanship of Casablanca

Among my nominees: Magnificent Ambersons. Orson Welles’ follow up to Citizen Kane lost back-story and richer characterizations due to a studio mandated butchering, done while Welles was overseas. They even filmed and added that extra happier scene at the end while his back was turned. Despite this ass-hattery, Ambersons still manages to be magnificent.

There were two comedies from two comedy masters: Billy Wilder's directorial debut, The Major and the Minor, with Ginger Rogers hilarious turn as a gal pretending to be 11 years old (it’s a hoot because she not really very good at the ruse, yet people believe it) and Ernst Lubitsch's controversial political comedy To Be or Not to Be. Which is about a troop of actors who foil a Nazi plot. It’s an odd mix of the serious and the silly and it really comes to life whenever Jack Benny and Carol Lombard are on screen.

Aside from them I also nominated the moody Cat People, as well as Ladd and Lake's first pairing in the noir hit This Gun For Hire, Disney's Bambi and Talk of the Town, which starred Cary Grant.

The Academy's best picture winner, Mrs. Miniver is a good, though dated propaganda film. I wonder how she would have fared against Casablanca during the awards?

[Mighty Jack]

1943
The Ox-Bow Incident (Director: William A. Wellman)
Nominees: Day of Wrath, Shadow of a Doubt, Ossesione, The More the Merrier

Oscars pick: Casablanca
Nominees: For Whom the Bell Tolls, Heaven Can Wait, The Human Comedy, In Which We Serve, Madame Curie, The More the Merrier, The Ox-Bow Incident, The Song of Bernadette, Watch on the Rhine

Denied Casablanca, I struggled to find a suitable replacement. I considered Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt. Featuring Joseph Cotton in a chilling, Oscar worthy performance. Cotton himself was enough to get it a nomination... but other elements didn't work as well, even when allowing for the "Our Town" vibe of it. The romance with the cop --- heck, the cop in general didn't jibe: A minor quibble but enough to relegate the film to runner-up status. George Steven's war time comedy/romance The More the Merrier, is another good one. But again, I just can’t see it as my Best Picture.

The top candidates I weighed in with were Luchino Visconti’s Ossesione – a rather Neo-realistic adaptation of the "Postman Always Rings Twice". And Carl Theodor Dreyer's stunning Day of Wrath.



Wrath is a piece that explores forbidden love, repression and paranoia, all wrapped around the matter of faith. I have to believe when Ingmar Bergman made the Seventh Seal, he had to have been inspired in some way by Dreyer. The camera work and deep, shadowy black and white cinematography brings to mind Bergman's work in the 50s. The story is a slow brewing one, and its psychological and sociological explorations left an indelible impression. I went back and forth between it and the Ox-Bow Incident, watched both again, and I feel they are each are worthy of the top prize. In the end I elected to go with the Wellman film.

Ox-Bow Incident is one of the saddest westerns I've ever seen. The movie has its humor, especially the opening scene where things are light hearted and funny, but as it steamrolls towards its tragic end, it gets darker and more terrible. This stinging indictment against mob rule features an all-star cast, including Henry Fonda, Harry Morgan and Anthony Quinn. MSTies might be interested in seeing of Mary Beth Hughes (I Accuse My Parents, Last of the Wild Horses) in a small part.