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.