And the Winner Is — 1940

 Our family is working our way through Oscar winners and whichever nominees take our fancy. Also as they are available, since these early films continued to be hard to find.

This year was exceptional and we had seen many of the nominees fairly recently so we didn't rewatch Ninotchka, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Wizard of Oz, or Wuthering Heights, excellent though they all are.

WINNER

The spoiled daughter of a Georgia plantation owner conducts a tumultuous romance with a cynical profiteer during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era.

We watched this 1940 Oscar winner to kick off our next series of viewing all the Best Picture nominees. The right movie won. This remains a masterpiece. It's so true to the book, even while having to trim details to fit it all in. The performances and costuming made a feast for the mind and eyes.

 NOMINEES

A group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo, and learn something about each other in the process.

It was perfectly fine but no match for most of the other nominees or winner in this stellar movie year

Judith Traherne is at the height of young society when Dr. Frederick Steele diagnoses a brain tumor. After surgery, she falls in love with Steele.

Can't hold a candle to most of the other nominees. It seems to exist only to try to make us cry.

A French playboy and an American former nightclub singer fall in love aboard a ship. They arrange to reunite six months later, if neither has changed their mind.

This is another film that seemingly exists only to make us cry If you've seen An Affair to Remember or Sleepless in Seattle, then you know the plot.

A bookish classics professor makes an inauspicious debut at the hallowed halls of Brookfield School for Boys but eventually finds his feet, ultimately becoming something of an institution at the school.

We were surprised at the subtlety of the storytelling. Not many movies extoll the virtues of the shy person who just needs a little encouragement. A complete surprise and we loved it. My review is here.

An intellectually disabled giant and his level headed guardian find work at a sadistic cowboy’s ranch in depression era America.

The final film we watched for the 1940 Oscar nominees. A very well done version of the famous John Stenbeck novella. Like every other Steinbeck story except East of Eden this one is traumatic and I hate it.

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All the Oscar viewing is here.