And the Winner Is — 1942

 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.

Nominated films that we didn't watch either because we'd seen them recently or couldn't find them were Citizen Kane, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, Hold Back the Dawn, and One Foot in Heaven.

WINNER

A man in his fifties reminisces about his childhood growing up in a Welsh mining village at the turn of the 20th century.

Not my favorite sort of story but well enough told. I really can't believe that it beat The Little Foxes.

 NOMINEES

Edna opens a home for foundlings and orphans and begins to place children in good homes, despite the opposition of “conservative” citizens, who would condemn illegitimate children for being born out of wedlock.

Not as artful, but we liked this a lot better than the winner. Greer Garson is a wonderful actress and the story, though told in a straight forward manner, handled several social issues that were still hot button topics when the film was made. We also appreciated the way the story showed major events without drawing out the tragedies. Living in Dallas I'd heard of the Edna Gladney home and I was interested in the story. It did not disappoint.

A sheltered heiress falls for a charming playboy and elopes with him, but soon begins to suspect that her husband’s affection may conceal a deadly motive—and that she could be his next victim.

This was good up until the very end when it rushed a la "a shot rang out and everyone fell dead." That left it feeling really flat.

A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a beautiful liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.

Not really Oscar quality story-wise but it sure was fun to watch.

After a religious awakening, Alvin York is drafted and despite deep ibjections to fighting becomes one of the most celebrated American heroes of WWI.

Really excellent. As a movie itself I can see why it earned 11 Academy nominations and why Gary Cooper won for best actor. He was convincing in every stage of York's life, hell-raiser, suitor, converted, conscientious objector, soldier, and hero. I'm a fan.

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All the Oscar viewing is here.

And the Winner Is — 1941

  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.

Nominated films that we didn't watch either because we'd seen them recently or frequently were The Letter, Our Town, Philadelphia Story. We couldn't get a captioned copy of All This & Heaven Too so we skipped it because my mother couldn't watch it.

WINNER

A young woman marries a fascinating widower only to find out that she must live in the shadow of his former wife, Rebecca, who died mysteriously several years earlier. The young wife must come to grips with the terrible secret of her handsome, cold husband, Max De Winter. She must also deal with the jealous, obsessed Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper, who will not accept her as the mistress of the house.

1941 Best Picture so it is our first stop in our next series of watching Oscar winners and nominees. It was stunningly well directed, acted, and shot. I myself have never liked the basic story of Rebecca, whether in print or film. But I can see why this won.

 NOMINEES

American crime reporter John Jones is reassigned to Europe as a foreign correspondent to cover the imminent war. When he walks into the middle of an assassination and stumbles on a spy ring, he seeks help from a beautiful politician’s daughter and an urbane English journalist to uncover the truth.

A lively spy thriller from Hitchcock. Very entertaining but the best thing about it was George Sanders in a rare good-guy role.

Dictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel’s regime.

One of the earliest movies to try to motivate US participation in WWII. This movie has its moments but it just didn't age well for us.

A hard-working, white-collar girl falls in love with a young socialite, but meets with his family’s disapproval.

Ho hum. Kitty makes a lot of bad choices in the middle of this film although I am sure that when this was made they were seen as brave, feminist choices. Regardless, it can't hold a candle to that year's winner, Rebecca.

The crew of the merchant ship Glencairn hope to survive a transatlantic crossing during World War II.

This was surprisingly good although you have to wait for the end for everything to pay off. It is a slow build through the movie as we learn the characters, see them struggle with each other and their own problems, and so forth. It was my favorite of the nominees that didn't win.

Tom Joad returns to his home after a jail sentence to find his family kicked out of their farm due to foreclosure. He catches up with them on his Uncle’s farm, and joins them the next day as they head for California and a new life… Hopefully.

How about that John Ford — nominated for two best pictures in one year! An amazing movie if this is the kind of movie you like. It isn't the kind we like.

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All the Oscar viewing is here.

49th Parallel

In the early days of World War II, a German U-boat is sunk in Canada’s Hudson Bay. Hoping to evade capture, a small band of German soldiers led by commanding officer Lieutenant Hirth attempts to cross the border into the United States, which has not yet entered the war and is officially neutral. Along the way, the German soldiers encounter Canadians who tell a truth that contradicts Nazi propaganda.

Viewed for our 1943 series of watching Oscar winner/nominees.

We were surprised at how much we liked this. It was much more propagandistic than winner Mrs. Miniver, but it was still really good. Thus proving, I suppose, that top notch talent can elevate and improve upon a basic message. In a sense it was somewhat like a mystery, watching which of the group of Nazis trying to get back to Germany would be picked off next and by whom.

I especially enjoyed Laurence Olivier as French Canadian trapper Johnnie, Leslie Howard as the overly civilized and somewhat effete Philip Armstrong Scott, and Raymond Massey as the basic Canuck army recruit Andy. In a very real sense, the land of Canada was a character in the movie and we enjoyed that also.

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.

And the Winner is — 1939

  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's movies had another delightfully mixed bag ranging from drama to screwball comedy. There are some treasures in the bunch but some real duds too.

Nominees not viewed: Four Daughters or Test Pilot. They looked good but we just couldn't track them down.

WINNER

Alice, the only relatively normal member of the eccentric Sycamore family, falls in love with Tony Kirby, but his wealthy banker father and snobbish mother strongly disapprove of the match. When the two families meet things turn screwball fast.

Frank Capra's third Oscar in five years. This was vivid and lively in a way that I didn't expect. I thought this would be about the young couple but it was really about the two family patriarchs and how Jimmy Stewart's father changes. My favorite performances were from the father and the night court judge. 

 NOMINEES

Robin Hood fights nobly for justice against the evil Sir Guy of Gisbourne while striving to win the hand of the beautiful Maid Marian.

Never a huge favorite of mine but it seemed just as good a candidate as the winner with an energetic telling of a classic adventure story. But blockbusters rarely win an Oscar.

A group of French soldiers during WWI are transferred to a high-security fortress and must concoct a plan to escape beneath the watchful eye of aristocratic German officer von Rauffenstein.

This was really great and you can see how influential it was. Many times I recognized standard POW camp elements from movies done later on, such as the way they hide the dirt from the tunnel in the garden (Great Escape). This had deeper layers about class, nationalities, the cost of war, and the joy of peace. Really great. I'd pick this over the Oscar winner.

Ho hum. An Irving Berlin songbook accompanying a little bit of story. We couldn't believe this was nominated.

In 1850s Louisiana, the willfulness of a tempestuous Southern belle threatens to destroy all who care for her.

I couldn't take my eyes off Bette Davis whenever she was onscreen. And you can see Wyler's skill growing with every film. We originally watched this during our William Wyler series which was during Covid. This movie has the threat of plague everywhere and the comparisons made fascinating viewing.  

We all know this story. It is the play that eventually was turned into a musical, My Fair Lady. It was a very good movie. We hadn't realized how strongly the musical followed the screenplay, so much so that it echoed in our minds throughout the story. 

This had small things that distinguished it from the musical and recommended it. Higgins tells Pickering that Eliza has parrot-like skill in accents and that she's able to learn how to behave like a duchess with no problem. So even though he never compliments Eliza to her face, he respects her abilities. Mrs. Pearce, the housekeeper, goes to bat for Eliza to be treated more fairly. Freddy is definitely more of an idiot. Higgins is merely intrigued instead of being afraid that Eliza will be exposed at the ball. 

This was an earnest, wholesome biography of Father Flanagan's Boys Town where homeless boys were raised to be successful, well adjusted members of society. I can see why it was a feel-good selection, but it didn't age well, especially compared to the other Oscar contenders.

A young, idealistic, newly qualified Scottish doctor attempts to cure miner's lung but his attempts are thwarted. When a friend shows him how to make a lucrative practice from rich hypochondriacs, it will take a great shock to show him what the truth of being a doctor really is.

A medium pick of all those viewed, this was a melodrama about the meaning of life being greater than acquiring wealth. I did love Robert Donat and Rosalind Russell in the main roles.

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All the Oscar viewing is here.

And the Winner Is — 1938

 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's movies had another delightfully mixed bag ranging from drama to screwball comedy. There are some treasures in the bunch but some real duds too.

Nominees not viewed: One Hundred Men and a Girl wasn't available, Dead End which we'd seen as part of our William Wyler viewing, A Star is Born which story we just don't like after having seen so many other versions.

WINNER

A fictionalized account of famous French writer Emile Zola and his involvement in the Dreyfus Affair.

What a dud. Boring, staid, and clearly an "important cause" movie. Almost every other nomination should have beat this. This has become code in our household for a boring movie — "It's no Life of Emile Zola." 

 NOMINEES

Unfounded suspicions lead a married couple to begin divorce proceedings, whereupon they start undermining each other’s attempts to find new romance.

The movie that got Cary Grant noticed. It was funny with a clever screenplay but the chemistry between Irene Dunne and Grant was the real bit that made it sparkle.

The ups and downs in the lives and careers of a group of ambitious young actresses and show girls from disparate backgrounds brought together in a theatrical hostel.

In some ways it was like a light-hearted version of All About Eve. I liked the boarding house environment, seeing so many people who would go on to be stars, and the dialogue. I LOVED Andrea Leeds as Kay. It was well acted and entertaining.

British diplomat Robert Conway and a small group of civilians crash land in the Himalayas, and are rescued by the people of the mysterious, Eden-like valley of Shangri-la.

Who knew Shangri-La could be so boring? The beginning and end were great but the middle dragged it down to the bottom with The Life of Emile Zola.

The O’Leary brothers – honest Jack and roguish Dion – become powerful figures, and eventually rivals, in Chicago on the eve of its Great Fire.

Not bad, but not as good as the previous year's nominee San Francisco, which it was clearly patterned on. It's a real Cain and Abel story set in a fictional story of the O'Leary family (yes, Mrs. O'Leary and the cow that start the Chicago fire). 

China, during the rule of the Qing Dynasty. The arranged marriage between Wang Lung, a humble farmer, and O-Lan, a domestic slave, will endure the many hardships of life over the years; but the temptations of a fragile prosperity will endanger their love and the survival of their entire family.

This should have won. We left it for last because this sort of movie doesn't usually appeal to me - long dramatic sagas of families struggling to survive, especially since I'd read the book long ago and hadn't liked it much. How wrong we were. By the end we were loving it. (My full review is here.)

The arrogant, spoiled son of an indulgent absentee-father, falls overboard from a transatlantic steamship and is rescued by a fishing vessel on the Grand Banks. The ship is at sea for several months and can't return to port. His experiences as part of the crew and especially under Manuel's tutelege, turns him into a mature, considerate young man.

As with every other movie this year, this was head and shoulders above the actual winner.

I found it engaging in a way that few coming-of-age movies do for me.  I also really loved the view into the fishing community — the good-natured rivalries, the shipboard culture, the way the fishermen come back together with their families after months at sea. Definitely recommended.

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All the Oscar viewing is here.

And the Winner Is — 1937

 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 was a delightfully mixed bag ranging from drama to screwball comedy. All of them were entertaining enough to make a good evening's viewing. 

WINNER

The story of a legendary musical producer whose unerring eye for the heart of a performance allows a variety of well-known entertainers to flourish. Unfortunately, he also had a perfectionist side which sent the bills sky high and an eye for beautiful women which caused problems for his marriage.

We were surprised at how good this was — light, funny dialogue and William Powell's charisma carry the day. I could also see how it would have appealed to a 1936 audience who were probably sorely in need of fantasy — the shows were extravagent visual fantasies that would have been a wonderful break from Depression life.

 NOMINEES

Longfellow Deeds lives in a small town, leading a small town kind of life. When a relative dies and leaves Deeds a fortune, Longfellow moves to the big city where he becomes an instant target for everyone. Deeds outwits them all until Babe Bennett comes along. When small-town boy meets big-city girl anything can, and does, happen.

Frank Capra with essentially an early version of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. It's okay but just watch Mr. Smith instead.

A beautiful singer and a battling priest try to reform a Barbary Coast saloon owner in the days before the great earthquake and subsequent fires in 1906.

This has over-the-top drama, lots and lots of songs, too much opera, and a spectacular earthquake and subsequent fire. It also has a moral battle between Spencer Tracy as the priest and Clark Gable as the bad boy. It was entertaining the whole way.

When a major newspaper accuses wealthy socialite Connie Allenbury of being a home-wrecker, and she files a multi-million-dollar libel lawsuit, the publication’s frazzled head editor, Warren Haggerty, must find a way to turn the tables on her. 

William Powell and Myrna Loy made 14 films together and this is a sterling example of their versatility, talent and charisma. The film itself was a good screwball comedy but not enough to make it better than the 1937 Best Picture rightly went to The Great Zeigfeld, which also starred ... Powell and Loy.

The exciting story of Dr. Manette, who escapes the horrors of the infamous Bastille prison in Paris. The action switches between London and Paris on the eve of the revolution where we witness ‘the best of times and the worst of times’ - love, hope, the uncaring French Aristocrats and the terror of a revolutionary citizen’s army intent on exacting revenge.

Here's the one that should have won the Oscar. Until we watched it we agreed with The Ziegfeld Follies as Best Picture. This blew our socks off. It was practically perfect in every way and made me a Ronald Colman fan for life. (My full review here.)

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All the Oscar viewing is here.

And the Winner Is — 1936

 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.

None of the movies really grabbed us this year but all were good enough! We weren't able to get our hands on at least half of the nominated movies and had already seen Top Hat numerous times

WINNER

First mate Fletcher Christian leads a revolt against his sadistic commander, Captain Bligh, in this classic seafaring adventure, based on the real-life 1789 mutiny.

I can see why this won. It was a big movie with big stars based on the true story told in the trilogy written by Nordhoff and Hall. I read the story several times in college and afterwards and this seemed a good retelling of the first book with the essence of other two books nicely conveyed. It wasn't really my cup of tea but was a good start to our 1936 viewing.

 NOMINEES

When British valet Ruggles is won in a poker game by a couple from the American West he imagines a world full of Indian attacks and stagecoaches. What he finds is a country where he is valued for himself by all but a few snobs. 

It is light but sweet. I've never seen Charles Laughton in a role like this and he had a deft comedic style and a real sincerity at the end after he was allowed to drop the stiff valet mannerisms. I also loved Zasu Pitts whose name is famous but who I never have seen before. I can see why it lost to Mutiny on the Bounty which, funnily enough, also starred Charles Laughton albeit in a very different role. However, I can also see why this was nominated.

Dr. Peter Blood, unjustly convicted of treason and exiled from England, becomes a notorious pirate.

This was surprisingly faithful to the book, eliminating only one subplot in order to keep the story swashbuckling along in fine style. I never realized just how pretty Olivia de Haviland was in her young days. Certainly, it made me understand why director Michael Curtiz and composer Erich Korngold both almost won their Oscar categories by strength of write-ins (not nominations). My favorite of the movies we watched.

Charles Dickens’ timeless tale of an ordinary young man who lives an extraordinary life, filled with people who help and hinder him.

I don't love the novel and didn't love the movie but they did a good enough job of covering the book in a year where none of the movies really grabbed us.

Showman Jerry Travers  demonstrates his new dance steps late one night in a hotel room, much to the annoyance of sleeping Dale Tremont below. She goes upstairs to complain and the two are immediately attracted to each other. Complications arise when Dale mistakes Jerry for a married man.

This is light, frothy fun as one would expect from Astaire and Rogers. I liked thinking about how much Depression era audiences would have enjoyed escaping into this movie. And it was still funny even today almost a hundred years later.

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All the Oscar viewing is here.

And the Winner Is — 1935

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.

For the 1935 Oscars we were able to see a lot of movies and were struck again by the variety of nominees, with a lot of light hearted films included.

WINNER

A rogue reporter trailing a runaway heiress for a big story joins her on a bus heading from Florida to New York and they end up stuck with each other when the bus leaves them behind at one of the stops along the way.

I love the fact that the stars' names were bigger than the movie name on the poster. Directed by Frank Capra during his most prolific period, this is a movie that is practically perfect in every way ... it's hard to believe this movie is 85 years old! It holds up so well! It was the first screwball comedy and has a lot to say about class distinctions, albeit in such an entertaining fashion that you don't realize it until later. 

I've seen this many times and it never disappoints. I suspect this will be my favorite Oscar winner for some years to come as we proceed.

I will add that Imitation of Life gave this a run for its money as a household favorite. Do try it.

 NOMINEES

A husband and wife detective team takes on the search for a missing inventor and almost get killed for their efforts.

We've seen this enough times that we didn't want to repeat it. Overall funny and enjoyable. Worthy of nomination but not as good as It Happened One Night.

Seeking a divorce from her absentee husband, Mimi Glossop travels to an English seaside resort. There she falls in love with dancer Guy Holden, whom she later mistakes for the corespondent her lawyer hired.

It was a real pleasure to watch Astaire and Rogers shine in this gorgeous piece of comic fluff. Their chemistry is undeniable and they are supported by talented comedic actors who enjoy their own minor scenes now and then. The ordering of tea, the silhouettes fooling the corespondent who I loved so much, the whistling with the bellboy - these all add richness to the movie.

The queen of Egypt barges the Nile and flirts with Mark Antony and Julius Caesar.

Here's Claudette Colbert again! (I think she made 6 movies that year.) This was a much grander spectacle than I expected and it could hold up today on that basis alone. However, I also liked Colbert's performance which is what I was really curious about since I've only seen her in It Happened One Night. Very enjoyable as an addition to our Oscar nominees viewing.

A struggling widow and her daughter take in a black housekeeper and her fair-skinned daughter. The two women start a successful business but face familial, identity, and racial issues along the way.

We were all surprised at how much we liked this tale of two mothers — one black, one white — who become good friends as they struggle together against the world in raising their daughters and earning a living. It tackled surprising issues when you consider everyday life for black Americans in 1934.

I really love the 1935 winner - It Happened One Night - but we thought Imitation of Life was robbed by not winning. I was especially interested to see Claudette Colbert in her third movie nominated for a 1935 Oscar. She was red hot that year and her performance here was good.

However, it was Louise Beavers who really stood out. We'd seen her previously in She Done Him Wrong, the Mae West film that was nominated for the 1934 Oscars. In that film Beavers played a stereotypical, giggling, joking maid. Here she was allowed a role that was very unusual for any black actor of the time. Most definitely she was robbed by having no Oscar nomination for her performance, most probably because she was black as newspapers at the time pointed out.

I especially liked the portrayal of the friendship between the two women after reading that the book from which the story was adapted was inspired by a road trip to Canada the author took with her friend, the African-American short-story writer and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston.

This is one worth watching for a lot of reasons.

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All the Oscar viewing is here.

And the Winner Is — 1934

 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.

Also the Academy was still sorting out what years the movies had to be made in order to qualify. So there are some from 1932-33 in here.

WINNER

A cavalcade of English life from New Year’s Eve 1899 until 1933 is seen through the eyes of well-to-do Londoners Jane and Robert Marryot. Amongst events touching their family are the Boer War, the death of Queen Victoria, the sinking of the Titanic, and the Great War.

Our least favorite of the Best Picture winners so far. (Oh wait, now we've seen The Life of Emile Zola from 1938. Turns out Cavalcade isn't as bad as we thought at the time.) It isn't terrible but it also isn't great. It just kept going and going. I did enjoy Diana Wynyard and Clive Brook's performances a lot.

 NOMINEES

A World War I veteran’s dreams of becoming a master architect evaporate in the cold light of economic realities. Things get even worse when he’s falsely convicted of a crime and sent to work on a chain gang.

How do you not get excited about a movie with this title? And it paid off. Paul Muni was really effective in the role and, amazingly, the over-the-top story was very close to the autobiography that inspired it.

The book and film were both influences in publicizing the horrors of what life was like on the chain gangs and getting them abolished. So it was both a gripping story and social change maker. We're glad we watched it.

This was our favorite of the three movies we could find for viewing, beating She Done Him Wrong and Cavalcade in our personal awards.

New York singer and nightclub owner Lady Lou has more men friends than you can imagine. One of them is a vicious criminal who’s escaped and is on the way to see “his” girl, not realising she hasn’t exactly been faithful in his absence. Help is at hand in the form of young Captain Cummings, a local temperance league leader.

This is part of our cultural history almost 100 years later as evidenced by the fact that "Come up and see me sometime" is still a known line. Also, of course Mae West's image lives on in the cliches that she herself exploited to great effect.

We liked it well enough as an iconic film and for the funny double entendres as the plot zipped along with a seemingly endless stream of men entering and leaving West's bedroom.

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All the Oscar viewing is here.