This might be my favorite year in film history. 1939 is usually cited because you have the juggernauts Gone With The Wind and The Wizard Of Oz as well as Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. This year I have a top 5 list that rivals most any other year and the next 10 movies after that would be nominated in most any other year. This is an interesting Oscar year because they got almost every category completely wrong but I can't argue with the outcome. Jimmy Stewart wins an Oscar for the wrong movie (he should have won in 1939) but this isn't a problem because it gave Jimmy Stewart an Oscar. Ginger Rogers wins, not the greatest Best Actress winner, but how can you argue with giving Ginger Rogers an Oscar? Walter Brennan wins his 3rd Oscar but he was the best in the category. Judith Anderson loses Best Supporting Actress but she was beaten by Jane Darwell, can't really complain. Then you have Alfred Hitchcock winning in the Best Picture category but Best Director goes to John Ford. I probably would have reversed those seeing as how John Ford got so many Oscars in his career to Hitchock's none but at the time they were voting for The Grapes Of Wrath. With the amount of great movies this year, 1940 is really a no-lose situation.
You can see my GABBY winners and nominees HERE
Best Picture
You can see my GABBY winners and nominees HERE
Best Picture
10. All This, And Heaven Too - Nothing worse than a 2 1/2 hour costume drama. This is not a bad movie but it drags in a lot of spots. Bette Davis is working as a French teacher but the students hear of a scandal and mock her. She tells them her story in flashback. She was the governess to a wealthy French family. The husband falls in love with her and hates his wife. He kills his wife and the blame is pinned on Davis. She is proven innocent but the scandal follows her. So the whole story she was telling her students was "I got accused of a murder I didn't commit.". Did we need to see a 2 1/2 hour movie for that?
9. Our Town - This is a play that they do a lot in high schools because it has a big cast and a minimal set. The play is about life in this small town and two young lovers who get married. The stage manager talks directly to the audience to tell them backstories and history on the characters. It works well as a play but as a movie it seems a little silly. They don't change a whole lot (except for the ending because movies of this time all needed to be happy). There's one scene where the stage manager asks questions to the audience and then unseen people ask him stuff and he answers. I wonder if there were people seeing this in 1940 who were yelling at the screen.
8. The Letter - This movie opens with Bette Davis shooting a man in the back and then we slowly zoom into her face. It's a really great opening scene that dissolves into typical 1940s melodrama. Bette Davis claims the she killed the man in self defense because he was trying to make love to her but a letter is discovered that was written by Davis asking the man to come to her home. She is arrested and (because she's white) they think she's going to get off. The letter makes things complicated and intrigue is at foot. It's not a bad movie, William Wyler is the director and he is always able to make movies like this visually interesting. If you like Bette Davis melodramas, this is one of the better ones.
7. The Long Voyage Home - This is the John Ford movie from 1940 that isn't The Grapes Of Wrath. It's about a bunch of guys on a boat at the beginning of World War II. The cast includes John Wayne, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond and Thomas Mitchell so it's incredibly watchable. It's one of those movies where I'm glad I watched it, I had a good time during it but a day later I forgot almost everything about it. The cinematography was by Gregg Toland, who shot Citizen Kane, so the movie looks gorgeous.
6. Kitty Foyle - I'm torn on this film. On one hand it's a movie that seems to be empowering to women but on the other hand it's just a simple relationship drama with a woman torn between two men. Ginger Rogers plays Kitty Foyle who is a working woman. She's deciding on whether to marry the doctor she's engaged to or run away with a former lover who is already married. The movie flashbacks to show her initial courtship with the now married man. Well first Kitty has a conversation with her reflection in the mirror which is really well done. I'm always amazed when old movies like this pull of impressive practical effects. So we see her fall in love with this guy, then he gets engaged to another woman, has a kid, she says goodbye and now he wants her back. It's a cute movie but not incredibly memorable, it holds up mostly because of the natural charm of Ginger Rogers.
5. Foreign Correspondent - Alfred Hitchcock had 2 Best Picture nominees this year. Rebecca won but I think this movie is a little more fun. This is an espionage thriller starring Joel McCrea as a newspaper man sent to a foreign country and he uncovers a government conspiracy. It's not an incredible movie but since it's directed by Hitchock it keeps the suspense at a high level throughout the film and includes incredible special effects near the end when all the characters end up in a plane sinking in the ocean. The final scene is a call to America to enter World War II so it turns into propaganda but it's still a fun watch.
5. Foreign Correspondent - Alfred Hitchcock had 2 Best Picture nominees this year. Rebecca won but I think this movie is a little more fun. This is an espionage thriller starring Joel McCrea as a newspaper man sent to a foreign country and he uncovers a government conspiracy. It's not an incredible movie but since it's directed by Hitchock it keeps the suspense at a high level throughout the film and includes incredible special effects near the end when all the characters end up in a plane sinking in the ocean. The final scene is a call to America to enter World War II so it turns into propaganda but it's still a fun watch.
4. Rebecca - This is the only Alfred Hitchcock movie to win Best Picture. The dude made Psycho, Rear Window, The Birds, North By Northwest, Notorious, Shadow Of A Doubt, Strangers On A Train and Dial M For Murder and Rebecca is the only one that won and he didn't even win Best Director for it. This is a movie about a woman who marries a wealthy man and is constantly living in the shadows of his deceased ex-wife. She gets to the manor where he lives and is constantly surrounded by pictures of "the first Mrs. DeWinter". The maid is obsessed with the dead wife and tries to talk the new wife into committing suicide. It's a pretty good movie except for the fact that they Hollywood-ized the story. In the original novel it is revealed that the lady's new husband murdered his ex-wife, in the movie he still kills her but they add a whole bunch of mumbo jumbo so not to make him a bad guy. She was dying of cancer and committed suicide by having him murder her. Other than that, if you like Hitchcock then this is a good one.
3. The Great Dictator - Over 70 years later this movie still astounds me. Charlie Chaplin saw Adolph Hitler and decided to make a movie mocking him. This was at a time where people didn't joke about this stuff, World War II was just starting to break out and America wasn't involved yet. And here's Chaplin making a comedy about Hitler. Chaplin himself said that if he knew about the atrocities of the holocaust at the time he wouldn't have made the film but we need movies like this. We need to poke fun at the people in power or else you get people like Hitler. If you just follow orders and obey then you get Nazis. It is sometimes a hard movie to laugh at. I just recently watched Schindler's List and The Pianist and now I'm watching Chaplin dressed as Hitler spinning a globe on his finger.
2. The Grapes Of Wrath - Here's a feel good film about the Great Depression. When I say feel good I mean it's very sad. The Joads are a family moving to California in search of prosperity. Along the way some of them die, some get arrested, it feels like a highlight reel of the book. The Joads survive because that's what they have to do. When they get to California things are not as rosy as they thought and even though the movie is very dark, it leaves you with a sense of hope which is what people needed at the time.
1. The Philadelphia Story - Now on to some lighter fare. This is one of my favorite romantic comedies. Katharine Hepburn is getting married and her ex-husband (Cary Grant) is trying to get a story about the ceremony. He brings in two reporters (Jimmy Stewart and Ruth Hussey) to get a scoop. Hepburn and her family put on airs to disguise anything scandalous, Hepburn ends up falling for Stewart, Grant ends up falling for Hepburn, there's farcical elements, mistaken identities and the movie is just flat out fun. The movie is damn near perfect and relies heavily on the charm of its three leads who just happen to be three of the most charming people ever to appear in movies.
Rebecca holds up as a winner mostly because it is the only Hitchcock film to win. My favorite movie of the year is The Philadelphia Story so that's what I'm voting for but really The Grapes Of Wrath should be the winner. John Ford rightfully won Best Director this year and if Grapes wins this year then they probably wouldn't be so quick to give Best Picture to How Green Was My Valley next year. That would leave Citizen Kane or The Maltese Falcon to win. This was such a great year that really any of my top 5 winning would have been okay with me.
Oscar Winner: Rebecca
My Vote: The Philadelphia Story
GABBY Winner: The Philadelphia Story
Best Actor
5. Raymond Massey - Abe Lincoln In Illinois - Massey definitely embodies Lincoln. Just like when Daniel Day-Lewis played him, we don't know what Abe Lincoln sounded like but I think he probably sounded more like Raymond Massey. It's a fine performance in a run of the mill biopic. My only problem with the performance is Massey plays Lincoln throughout his life and he really can't pull off playing a young man. He gets better as he ages but early in the film he's slightly unbelievable.
4. Laurence Olivier - Rebecca - It might be sacrilegious to say this but I never found Laurence Olivier to be that compelling of an actor. He is either quite bland or very hammy. Here he's just okay. He plays Maximilian DeWinter who marries a woman before he's completely over his first wife's death. He's appropriately stoic and mysterious but nothing about this performance screamed "Winner".
3. James Stewart - The Philadelphia Story - Here's some of the characters Jimmy Stewart played in his career that didn't result in Oscars, Jefferson Smith, George Bailey, Elwood P. Dowd, the list goes on. He won his only Oscar for playing bored writer Macaulay Connor. I'm not saying that his performance is bad by any means (he's great and hilarious in the film) it's just not his greatest and it stinks that this is what he won for over the others. In The Philadelphia Story he plays a writer hired to get a scoop on the wedding of a high society lady. He has nothing but contempt for the family and is only doing it to make money as his writing career has fizzled (only having one book published that didn't do well). For the first half of the movie Stewart looks bored, which fits with his character but it almost seems like Stewart himself is bored. He gets more lively as the movie progresses eventually falling in love with the high society girl himself and getting a really good drunken comedic scene. If I was to pick someone to win this category from The Philadelphia Story it would be Cary Grant just because his part is more fleshed out. Still, I can't argue with giving Jimmy Stewart an Oscar.
2. Charles Chaplin - The Great Dictator - Chaplin plays a dual role, one character is a Jewish barber who bears a striking resemblance to the fascist dictator (also played by Chaplin). Chaplin is basically playing Adolph Hitler here. His first speech is all gibberish delivered to the masses where he demonstrates his hatred of the Jewish people and then we follow both characters. This is also a comedy. It's hard to laugh at sometimes knowing what Hitler did that wasn't known at the time but it's an incredible performance. Watch the first speech where Chaplin is Hitler and then the final speech where Chaplin is the barber pretending to be Hitler and you will see his range.
1. Henry Fonda - The Grapes Of Wrath - Fonda deserved to win this award just based on his last speech. Fonda plays Tom Joad, a recently released felon who makes a cross country trip with his family searching for work in California. Aside from his final speech the character of Tom is really just at the center of the story without being the most pivotal character. For a lot of the movie Fonda just reacts but he also makes Tom a fully rounded human being and doesn't hit a single false note throughout the film.
It's so hard to vote against Jimmy Stewart here, but why should I have to be responsible for correcting the Oscar's mistake? They should have given him the win in 1939 but they didn't, so they give him a make-up win here over 2 better performances (not to mention a better performance from the same film that wasn't nominated in Cary Grant). Bottom line, Jimmy Stewart needs an Oscar and if this is the only way for him to get one, I'm fine with that. But Henry Fonda should have won this year, Jimmy Stewart agreed with that and thought Fonda was more deserving. Looking towards the future, Henry Fonda eventually won (a couple weeks before he died after being criminally overlooked for his whole career) and Chaplin is remembered as one of the greatest comedic film makers of all time so it all kinda worked out. If Fonda wins here, maybe Stewart wins in 1946 for It's A Wonderful Life. But The Best Years Of Our Lives was so strong I could see them still going with Fredric March over him. Maybe he wins in 1950 for Harvey, although they may have still given it to Jose Ferrer. Maybe he gets a legacy win for something like Best Supporting Actor for The Shootist. Then instead of Henry Fonda for On Golden Pond they give it to Burt Lancaster for Atlantic City. All that being said, James Stewart is actually really good in The Philadelphia Story and I can't hate that he won an Oscar for it. It just looks bad on paper that he was up against Henry Fonda and this is a complete and total "we screwed up last year" win.
Oscar Winner: James Stewart
My Vote: Henry Fonda
GABBY Winner: Henry Fonda
Best Actress
5. Bette Davis - The Letter - This movie has one of the best openings. It's a quiet night and gun shots are heard, we pan over to a front door and a man stumbles out followed by Bette Davis with a gun. She keeps shooting the guy in the back, even after he's dead she keeps firing, and then the camera zooms into her face. Bette killed her lover, she says it's in self defense at first but then it is revealed that she did it for other reasons. She is very good in this role but like I've said with almost all of her nominations, she won twice before she was 30. I need a little space before she gets a 3rd win.
4. Martha Scott - Our Town - Scott plays Emily in Our Town, she is one of the young lovers who gets married. The first half of the movie is all about life in the small town and people preparing for her wedding. Then she dies and she sees the town from the afterlife. In the play she actually dies but since this is a 1940s movie she wakes up and it was all a dream. The parts where she is a ghost are very well done but she's in a category with Davis, Hepburn, Fontaine and Rogers. She's the weak link here.
3. Katharine Hepburn - The Philadelphia Story - Hepburn plays wealthy socialite Tracy Lord who is about to get married. Her ex-husband now works for a newspaper that is trying to get a scoop on the nuptials. Days before her wedding her house is now home to her ex and 2 reporters. She puts on a show for them to make them think that they are a normal family, trying to hide the fact that her uncle is a drunk and her father had an affair. There was nobody more beautiful than Katharine Hepburn, she had a confidence about herself that was just stunning and she was equally adept at both comedy and drama. Here she is fantastic and if she hadn't already won an Oscar (and was going to win 3 more) she would be my vote.
2. Joan Fontaine - Rebecca - Fontaine plays the second Mrs. DeWinter. She marries a man and quickly starts to realize that everyone still idolizes the man's first wife. There's not much to the performance other than her being scared and paranoid. She's a typical Hitchcock heroine. Knowing that she's going to win next year for pretty much the same performance makes me want to vote for her here so Barbara Stanwyck can win next year but then Ginger Rogers wouldn't win this year.
1. Ginger Rogers - Kitty Foyle - Kitty Foyle is an independent woman in the workforce who is torn between two men. There's the doctor she's engaged to and the already married man that she's still in love with. I wish the movie focused more on her current dilemma rather than spend most of the time flashing back to why she fell in love with the guy but Rogers is radiant. She was an incredible actress and dancer and I'm glad she won an Oscar. She may not be the best in the category but I think they made the right decision.
More often than not you're voting for the actor rather than the performance and in this field (taking out Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn because they already won) my vote for favorite actress would be Ginger Rogers. Seeing as how Kitty Foyle is her movie and she headlines it and Joan Fontaine's role really could have been played by anyone I definitely gotta vote for Rogers. Now if Fontaine wins here than she wins for a better movie but really when I think about it, I wouldn't be upset if Joan Fontaine never won an Oscar. You have the trivia aspect of her and her feuding sister Olivia De Havilland but that's about it. She was a fine actress but I like Ginger Rogers and Barbara Stanwyck better. This is a situation where everything worked out. Rogers wins this year, Fontaine wins next year, Davis already had 2, Hepburn ended up with 4. Poor Martha Scott is the weak link of this category.
Oscar Winner: Ginger Rogers
My Vote: Ginger Rogers
GABBY Winner: Katharine Hepburn
Best Supporting Actor
5. William Gargan - They Knew What They Wanted - This is the one movie from this year I couldn't track down so I'll have to update this post if I ever get to see it. I just read the plot description and it seems to be a Cyrano De Bergerac type story with Charles Laughton and Carole Lombard and Gargan is the handsome guy. I have no idea if that's accurate at all without seeing the movie.
4. James Stephenson - The Letter - I was around 13 years old when I started compiling my own Oscar awards and at that point I hadn't seen a lot of movies. So if I hadn't seen enough movies to fill out a category I would sometimes pick a movie nominated for Best Picture and pick a name at random. I remember this category specifically I nominated James Craig in Kitty Foyle. I hadn't seen the movie but I assumed he must be decent. I only bring that up because I think that's how James Stephenson got nominated. He doesn't do anything to distract from the movie but he's just kind of there. He plays the lawyer who is defending Bette Davis for murder, he finds the titular letter. He's fine but not sure how this got nominated other than maybe they just picked his name out of a hat.
3. Jack Oakie - The Great Dictator - So Chaplin is playing Hitler and what would Hitler be without his Mussolini? Jack Oakie plays Benzino Napaloni and he plays it like Chico Marx mixed with Curly Joe DeRita. It's a really funny performance, most of the comedy of the film comes from his scenes with Chaplin. I'm kinda surprised that he got nominated, the Oscars usually don't honor comedic performances unless there's an undercurrent of drama but this is almost completely a slapstick role.
2. Albert Bassermann - Foreign Correspondent - Basserman plays a Dutch diplomat that Joel McCrea (the titular correspondent) is trying to interview. McCrea catches up with him and talks to him for a bit and then in the next scene Basserman doesn't remember meeting him at all and is shot dead. The movie got me because I was thinking, "that's all this guy does? He has one scene and then gets murdered?". I should have known seeing as how the movie is about conspiracies that he would return but honestly while watching some nominated performances I've seen people get nods for less than that. Anyway, the guy who was shot was a decoy and the real diplomat is drugged out of his mind being held somewhere. Basserman doesn't do a whole lot in the movie but he does have some real nice moments, mostly when he's speaking gibberish while he's been drugged and captured.
1. Walter Brennan - The Westerner - Brennan plays Judge Roy Bean the self appointed law of the west. It's odd to see Brennan as a villain after seeing him play so many sweet or befuddled old men. Here commands respect and his performance is sometimes chilling, sometimes comical but always the best thing about the movie. It's not hard to steal a movie from Gary Cooper, who is exceptionally wooden here, and this is the best of Brennan's Oscar winning roles. Even as he's playing the villain he's completely relatable. He's never mustache twirling evil he's laying down the rules as he sees fit. He's also given a sweet moment at the end when he finally meets his idol just before his death.
I usually don't condone giving someone 2 Oscars much less 3 but there is nobody in this category worth voting for other than Walter Brennan. His performance was the best and he was the best actor of the bunch. You want to give an Oscar to Jack Oakie? I wish he hadn't have won for Kentucky that way this win seems more based on performance and not just that he was a favorite of Hollywood's extras. There is speculation that he won so many Oscars because he started out as an extra and the bit players in the academy just wanted to vote for one of their own. They reestablished who votes on the Oscars shortly after Brennan won his 3rd Oscar.
Oscar Winner: Walter Brennan
My Vote: Walter Brennan
GABBY Winner: Walter Brennan
Best Supporting Actress
4. Marjorie Rambeau - Primrose Path - Marjorie Rambeau plays an old whore in Primrose Path. Ginger Rogers stars as the prettiest tomboy you've ever seen and she falls in love with Joel McCrea, complications arise when he finds out that her family is a bunch of degenerates and whores. Of course this is the 1940s and there was the Hays Code so there's no real talk about prostitution so the movie doesn't make a lot of sense. As it stands now Joel McCrea is upset because his love's mother...likes to go out to bars late at night? It's a fairly forgettable film but Rambeau is the best thing about it. She is lively and has a very nice moment when her "profession" is found out.
3. Ruth Hussey - The Philadelphia Story - This nomination seems like it's more for the movie and less about the performance. Hussey plays a reporter who is secretly in love with Jimmy Stewart. She's as good as you can be with a part that isn't showy at all. She's just not the most interesting character and isn't given a lot to do. This seems like they wanted to give The Philadelphia Story another acting nomination and Hussey drew the longest straw.
2. Jane Darwell - The Grapes Of Wrath - Darwell plays Ma and she is so real and authentic that it doesn't seem like she's acting at all. I've seen her in other things (unfortunately her career never got any bigger than this and she played mostly bit parts for the rest of her life) so I know she's not a real dust bowl era mother but her performance could have fooled me.
1. Judith Anderson - Rebecca - Now this is a performance that wins Best Supporting Actress. She shows up, steals the movie and is really the reason the movie is well regarded. If it hadn't been for her I doubt that the movie would be remembered. Anderson plays Ms. Danvers who is the maid of the De Winter house. She has an unhealthy obsession with the late Mrs. DeWinter (in the novel there was a lesbian angle that was cut for the movie) and when the master remarries she has nothing but disdain for the new wife. So much so that she tries to talk her into jumping out a window.
The decision here is between Anderson and Darwell, the rest of the category is filler. Both are terrific and I have no problem with the academy picking Darwell. I'm voting for Anderson because she single handedly turns her movie from good to great. Darwell is terrific at reacting but doesn't do as much as Anderson does in the way of creating a memorable character. Many actresses could have played Ma but not too many could pull of Ms. Danvers.
Oscar Winner: Jane Darwell
Best Director
Everybody in this category is great. George Cukor perfectly directs the comic action in The Philadelphia Story, Alfred Hitchcock puts his signature stamp on Rebecca, Sam Wood does some very interesting things with Kitty Foyle (he also directed Our Town), William Wyler makes The Letter more entertaining than it has any right to be. The academy chose John Ford for The Grapes Of Wrath and I agree with them. Knowing that he was going to win 2 more (1 coming next year) means he didn't need a win here so in hindsight I wish they went with Cukor or Hitchcock but you can't argue that John Ford directed the hell out of his film.
Best Original Story/Original Screenplay/Screenplay
Comedies ruled the writing categories this year as Arise, My Love a romantic war comedy starring Ray Milland and Claudette Colbert wins Best Original Story over The Westerner, My Favorite Wife, Comrade X and Edison, The Man. Hey, if you're looking for an original story check out the Thomas Edison biopic Edison, The Man. Everything is made up but I don't think that's why they nominated it. Preston Sturges's first film as writer/director The Great McGinty wins Original Screenplay over Foreign Correspondent, The Great Dictator, Angels Over Broadway and Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet. Finally, The Philadelphia Story wins Best Screenplay which I'm assuming means Best Adapted Screenplay because everything here is based on other material. It beat out Rebecca, The Grapes Of Wrath, The Long Voyage Home and Kitty Foyle. I like all 3 of these decisions.
Best Original Score
We're still in the era where studios were guaranteed a nomination in this category as long as they submitted something. So there are 17 nominated films and the winner is Pinocchio which was the best decision in the category.
Best Scoring
I have no idea what the difference is between this category and the Best Score category nor have I seen the winner Tin Pan Alley.
Best Song
9 nominees here and I've only seen 3 of the nominated films. Rhythm On The River is a pretty fun Bing Crosby musical that features the song 'Only Forever' and Strike Up The Band has a bunch of songs and 'Our Love Affair' got nominated but the academy made the right choice in picking When You Wish Upon A Star from Pinocchio.
Best Sound Recording
The sound category almost always goes to musicals when applicable and this year they picked Strike Up The Band a pretty entertaining Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland musical.
Best Art Direction (Black And White)/Art Direction (Color)
There were 13 nominated films in the black and white category and you really only needed to include Rebecca, The Sea Hawk and the winner Pride And Prejudice. There were only 4 nominees in the color category and the win went to The Thief Of Bagdad which a movie where the production design, cinematography and visual effects seems way ahead of its time.
Best Cinematography (Black And White)/Cinematography (Color)
Man, they are really padding out these categories. 10 nominees in the black and white category and you really only needed to include The Letter, Foreign Correspondent, The Long Voyage Home and the winner Rebecca. In the color category The Thief Of Bagdad wins which was richly deserved.
Best Film Editing
Not sure why they gave this win to North West Mounted Police in a category that included 4 Best Picture nominees Rebecca, The Letter, The Grapes Of Wrath and The Long Voyage Home.
Best Special Effects
Again, too many nominees. 14 films competed and they gave the win to The Thief Of Bagdad which is really the only film that deserved to be nominated. Actually the visual effects in Dr. Cyclops, One Million B.C. and The Blue Bird are pretty solid.
Up Next
2004
5. Barbara O'Neill - All This, And Heaven Too - I was not a fan of this film but what I did like was Barbara O'Neill. She is in an unhappy marriage to Charles Boyer. They hire Bette Davis as their governess and he falls in love with her. He ends up murdering O'Neill and the blame falls to Davis. It's a good performance in a not so great film.
4. Marjorie Rambeau - Primrose Path - Marjorie Rambeau plays an old whore in Primrose Path. Ginger Rogers stars as the prettiest tomboy you've ever seen and she falls in love with Joel McCrea, complications arise when he finds out that her family is a bunch of degenerates and whores. Of course this is the 1940s and there was the Hays Code so there's no real talk about prostitution so the movie doesn't make a lot of sense. As it stands now Joel McCrea is upset because his love's mother...likes to go out to bars late at night? It's a fairly forgettable film but Rambeau is the best thing about it. She is lively and has a very nice moment when her "profession" is found out.
3. Ruth Hussey - The Philadelphia Story - This nomination seems like it's more for the movie and less about the performance. Hussey plays a reporter who is secretly in love with Jimmy Stewart. She's as good as you can be with a part that isn't showy at all. She's just not the most interesting character and isn't given a lot to do. This seems like they wanted to give The Philadelphia Story another acting nomination and Hussey drew the longest straw.
2. Jane Darwell - The Grapes Of Wrath - Darwell plays Ma and she is so real and authentic that it doesn't seem like she's acting at all. I've seen her in other things (unfortunately her career never got any bigger than this and she played mostly bit parts for the rest of her life) so I know she's not a real dust bowl era mother but her performance could have fooled me.
1. Judith Anderson - Rebecca - Now this is a performance that wins Best Supporting Actress. She shows up, steals the movie and is really the reason the movie is well regarded. If it hadn't been for her I doubt that the movie would be remembered. Anderson plays Ms. Danvers who is the maid of the De Winter house. She has an unhealthy obsession with the late Mrs. DeWinter (in the novel there was a lesbian angle that was cut for the movie) and when the master remarries she has nothing but disdain for the new wife. So much so that she tries to talk her into jumping out a window.
The decision here is between Anderson and Darwell, the rest of the category is filler. Both are terrific and I have no problem with the academy picking Darwell. I'm voting for Anderson because she single handedly turns her movie from good to great. Darwell is terrific at reacting but doesn't do as much as Anderson does in the way of creating a memorable character. Many actresses could have played Ma but not too many could pull of Ms. Danvers.
Oscar Winner: Jane Darwell
My Vote: Judith Anderson
GABBY Winner: Judith Anderson
Best Director
Everybody in this category is great. George Cukor perfectly directs the comic action in The Philadelphia Story, Alfred Hitchcock puts his signature stamp on Rebecca, Sam Wood does some very interesting things with Kitty Foyle (he also directed Our Town), William Wyler makes The Letter more entertaining than it has any right to be. The academy chose John Ford for The Grapes Of Wrath and I agree with them. Knowing that he was going to win 2 more (1 coming next year) means he didn't need a win here so in hindsight I wish they went with Cukor or Hitchcock but you can't argue that John Ford directed the hell out of his film.
Best Original Story/Original Screenplay/Screenplay
Comedies ruled the writing categories this year as Arise, My Love a romantic war comedy starring Ray Milland and Claudette Colbert wins Best Original Story over The Westerner, My Favorite Wife, Comrade X and Edison, The Man. Hey, if you're looking for an original story check out the Thomas Edison biopic Edison, The Man. Everything is made up but I don't think that's why they nominated it. Preston Sturges's first film as writer/director The Great McGinty wins Original Screenplay over Foreign Correspondent, The Great Dictator, Angels Over Broadway and Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet. Finally, The Philadelphia Story wins Best Screenplay which I'm assuming means Best Adapted Screenplay because everything here is based on other material. It beat out Rebecca, The Grapes Of Wrath, The Long Voyage Home and Kitty Foyle. I like all 3 of these decisions.
Best Original Score
We're still in the era where studios were guaranteed a nomination in this category as long as they submitted something. So there are 17 nominated films and the winner is Pinocchio which was the best decision in the category.
Best Scoring
I have no idea what the difference is between this category and the Best Score category nor have I seen the winner Tin Pan Alley.
Best Song
9 nominees here and I've only seen 3 of the nominated films. Rhythm On The River is a pretty fun Bing Crosby musical that features the song 'Only Forever' and Strike Up The Band has a bunch of songs and 'Our Love Affair' got nominated but the academy made the right choice in picking When You Wish Upon A Star from Pinocchio.
Best Sound Recording
The sound category almost always goes to musicals when applicable and this year they picked Strike Up The Band a pretty entertaining Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland musical.
Best Art Direction (Black And White)/Art Direction (Color)
There were 13 nominated films in the black and white category and you really only needed to include Rebecca, The Sea Hawk and the winner Pride And Prejudice. There were only 4 nominees in the color category and the win went to The Thief Of Bagdad which a movie where the production design, cinematography and visual effects seems way ahead of its time.
Best Cinematography (Black And White)/Cinematography (Color)
Man, they are really padding out these categories. 10 nominees in the black and white category and you really only needed to include The Letter, Foreign Correspondent, The Long Voyage Home and the winner Rebecca. In the color category The Thief Of Bagdad wins which was richly deserved.
Best Film Editing
Not sure why they gave this win to North West Mounted Police in a category that included 4 Best Picture nominees Rebecca, The Letter, The Grapes Of Wrath and The Long Voyage Home.
Best Special Effects
Again, too many nominees. 14 films competed and they gave the win to The Thief Of Bagdad which is really the only film that deserved to be nominated. Actually the visual effects in Dr. Cyclops, One Million B.C. and The Blue Bird are pretty solid.
Up Next
2004
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