1951 Oscar Watch

This is a weird Oscar year.  An American In Paris wins Best Picture over the more Oscar friendly A Place In The Sun and A Streetcar Named Desire.  When I look at the lineup though, nothing really jumps out at me as something I want to vote for so you might as well vote for the happiest movie.  Then you have Decision Before Dawn which got a Best Picture nomination despite only receiving one other nomination (for Best Film-Editing).  You also have Bogart beating Brando and Streetcar sweeping the rest of the acting categories and A Place In The Sun setting a record for most Oscar wins (6) without winning the big prize.
You can see my GABBY winners and nominees HERE

Best Picture

5. Quo Vadis - I generally don't like sword and sandals epics and I especially don't like boring almost 3 hour long sword and sandals epics.  This is about the Romans and their pursuit of Christians.  Robert Taylor plays a Roman who falls in love with a Christian and converts.  Emperor Nero burns the city down.  It's incredibly long and boring for most of it, any scene that doesn't feature Peter Ustinov as Nero is a waste of film.

4. Decision Before Dawn - A lot of the times when I'm watching movies for this blog I find myself getting too focused on the nominated aspects of them.  When I watched Quo Vadis I had to pay special attention to Peter Ustinov and Leo Genn as I knew I had to find something to write about them because they got nominated.  This movie I was able to just enjoy without any of that because it only got nominated for Best Picture and Best Film Editing.  Ironically, the thought I had the most was, "Why didn't this movie get more nominations?".  I really liked this movie about then final days of World War II and German POWs who were used by America to spy on Germany.  Oskar Werner stars in this movie and he is pretty fantastic, I would have much rather seen him get a Best Actor nomination over Fredric March.  It's not a perfect film but it is very good and I'm glad this blog introduced me to it.

3. An American In Paris - If you have a problem with An American In Paris it's probably because it won Best Picture.  It is one of the weaker Best Picture winners but that's only because it is almost intentional fluff.  This is a movie that wants to be a fun, bright and colorful musical and nothing more.  So why can't a movie like that win Best Picture?  Well, my problem with it winning a slew of Oscars this year over more traditional fare is that it's winning is probably the reason Singin' In The Rain got overlooked the year after this.  Taking that out of the equation, this Gene Kelly musical is a pure delight.

2. A Streetcar Named Desire - This is a film adaptation of probably the most famous Tennessee Williams play.  Blanche DuBois is a faded southern belle who comes to live with her sister and her brute of a husband.  There is friction between everyone and she ends up getting sent to a crazy farm.  This is a film that I respect more than I like.  All the performances in this film are exemplary.  You got Brando, Leigh, Malden and Hunter and it's all directed by Elia Kazan.  If you're looking for great acting and Tennessee Williams dialogue, then this is the film for you.  I can't really explain why but I just don't like Tennessee Williams.  Maybe because all the characters like to speak in long monologues.  I don't know why I don't like it, I just don't.  Still, this is one of the better ones.

1. A Place In The Sun - This is a 1950s melodrama, a genre that can not be called my favorite, but it has so much good stuff going for it.  Start with the performances, you have Montgomery Clift as George Eastman, a working class man working in his rich uncle's factory, Elizabeth Taylor as the rich and beautiful socialite Angela Vickers and, best of all, Shelley Winters as the frail and hapless Alice Tripp who unfortunately falls for George.  One night George takes Alice home only to have Angela fall for him days later.  Now he's living two lives and wants to end one of them.  Thoughts of murder lead to an accidental death and then a trial so this romantic melodrama turns into a thriller and then a courtroom drama.

Quo Vadis and Decision Before Dawn don't really belong here so the choice comes down between A Place In The Sun and A Streetcar Named Desire.  An American In Paris is a distant 3rd place.  It's one of those fun nominees but never gonna win sort of things.  Thing is though, it won.  Maybe the two dramas split the vote and the musical benefited.  Whatever the case An American In Paris wins Best Picture and it's not a horrible decision.  If A Place In The Sun wins then you would have a lot of people saying Streetcar should have won.  If Streetcar wins then you would have a lot of people saying A Place In The Sun should have won.  This way nobody's happy.  An American In Paris is a fun movie but it doesn't seem like a Best Picture winner.  Singin' In The Rain seems like a Best Picture winner but didn't get nominated, more than likely because they gave Gene Kelly the big win this year.  I'm voting for A Place In The Sun but this is not one of those moments where I feel that I'm right and the academy was wrong.  I really don't have a strong opinion about any of these films.  Pick whatever the hell you want.

Oscar Winner: An American In Paris

My Vote: A Place In The Sun

GABBY Winner: Detective Story

Best Actor

5. Frederic March - Death Of A Salesman - March plays Willy Loman, the titular salesman.  I found this movie incredibly uninteresting and March's performance ranged from boring to over the top hammy.  It's hard to put myself in the time where Death Of A Salesman was the new hip Broadway play, it premiered in 1949.  Being a theater major in college I was forced to dissect Death Of A Salesman on numerous occasions and that probably led to my distaste for it.  It seems like it was designed for an older actor to chew into some monologues.

4. Arthur Kennedy - Bright Victory - Speaking of Death Of A Salesman, Arthur Kennedy won a Tony for playing Biff in the original Broadway production but instead of doing the movie he instead starred in this film about a soldier who gets blinded in combat and then learns to adapt.  He initially denies his diagnosis and thinks he will see again but after accepting his fate he learns how to walk and live like a blind man he even learns about himself when he says a racial slur around his new best friend, who he didn't know was black.  It's a really good performance, Kennedy seemed to have done his research as I believed him completely as a blind man.

3. Montgomery Clift - A Place In The Sun - Clift plays George Eastman, a young ne'er-do-well who ends up taking a job at his rich uncle's family.  He's given one rule, no office relationships. which of course he can't obey.  He starts dating the frumpy Alice only to get wooed by the beautiful and wealthy Angela.  Torn between two lovers, thoughts of murder enter his head.  I really like Clift here, it's hard to pull off likable cad.  We really shouldn't like this guy and we're given no reason to but Clift makes him just relatable enough that we can follow a flawed protagonist on his journey.

2. Marlon Brando - A Streetcar Named Desire - Brando plays Stanley Kowalski.  This is one of the most famous film performances.  He's a loud brute who thinks he's smarter than he actually is.  He's at odds with his sister-in-law who is living with him, which ends violently.  This performance has been studied and dissected so much that there's nothing I can add that hasn't been brought up before.  If you haven't seen it, just know that it's iconic for a reason.

1. Humphrey Bogart - The African Queen - I've heard a lot of people say that Humphrey Bogart winning this year is an Oscar travesty.  Yes, Marlon Brando is infinitely better in A Streetcar Named Desire than Bogart is in The African Queen but Humphrey Bogart was the damn man for the last decade of film and never got an Oscar.  Brando eventually won two so everything worked out.  This isn't Bogart's best role, that would be Casablanca or The Maltese Falcon, but it's certainly not his worst.  He plays a drunk old boat captain who delivers the mail up and down a river in a dirty old boat that he loves like a woman.  Katharine Hepburn is a prim and proper spinster who is left all alone.  They join up, hate each other at first but grow to love each other.  The two of them have excellent chemistry and the movie is really fun.

We all love Humphrey Bogart but he didn't win the Oscar this year because he was terrific in The African Queen.  He won the Oscar this year because for some reason he didn't win an Oscar in the 40s when he should have.  But this was one of those moments in Oscar history where everything worked out perfectly.  Bogart gets his Oscar, Brando gets his in 1954 for an equally great performance.  Even weirder, if Brando wins this year then they could have given Bogie the win in 1954 for The Caine Mutiny as they were both nominated again.  I would rather have Bogart win here and Brando win for On The Waterfront just because I like The African Queen more than The Caine Mutiny.  The Oscars are full of people winning for the wrong movie, there's nothing you can do about it and I can't say Bogart didn't deserve an Oscar.  This performance is fun too

Oscar Winner: Humphrey Bogart

My Vote: Humphrey Bogart

GABBY Winner: Marlon Brando 

Best Actress

5. Jane Wyman - The Blue Veil - Jane Wyman already won an Oscar for a better film and I didn't care for this movie so I'm not considering voting for her but let me summarize the film anyway.  Wyman loses her husband and baby and takes a job as a nanny.  She gets a few nanny jobs and leaves them for different reasons.  The final one ends in a legal battle because the mother abandons the child and Wyman adopts the kid and then the mother comes back.  It's not a bad film I think I didn't give it a chance because it was the last film I saw from this year so by the time I watched it I just wanted to get through it.

4. Katharine Hepburn - The African Queen - As cool as it would have been to see a picture of Bogart and Hepburn holding their Oscars together, I can't vote for Katharine Hepburn here.  She's absolute perfection in the film though.  She plays a proper woman paired with a dirty drunk boat captain and she's terrific.  Peering into the future though, she's gonna win 4 Oscars during her career and this shouldn't have been one of them.

3. Eleanor Parker - Detective Story - This is my favorite film of the year.  It takes place in a New York City precinct over a night.  Kirk Douglas stars as an honest cop who believes in prosecuting anyone who breaks the law.  His sights are currently set on a doctor who performs illegal abortions.  He seems to really want to go after this guy and we come to find that his wife can not have children because she went to the doctor before they met.  Parker plays the wife and she has two really great scenes in the film but it's a bit of a stretch to call her lead.  Usually it goes the other way and lead performances sneak into the supporting category but this year we have two because there is also...

2. Shelley Winters - A Place In The Sun - Spoiler alert, Shelley Winters dies halfway through A Place In The Sun so it's slightly hard to call her the lead of the film.  She's so good though that for the first hour of the film it feels like Shelley's movie.  She plays a frumpy low level office worker who gets seduced by the nephew of her boss.  When he starts to show signs of leaving she tells him she's pregnant and insists on marriage.  Winters is so good here because she rides the fine line between sympathetic and overbearing.  Deep down you know she's a sweet woman with her heart in the right place but she's just annoying enough that you understand why Montgomery Clift thinks about murdering her.

1. Vivien Leigh - A Streetcar Named Desire - Leigh plays Blanche DuBois.  She's an older southern belle who thinks she belongs to a better class than her sister and her husband.  She's forced to ask them for help but refuses to let that humble her.  She puts on airs and pretends that she's better than everyone else.  This is another performance that is iconic for a reason.  Leigh is absolutely hypnotic in her portrayal.  It's impossible to take your eyes off of her.  I've seen numerous productions of Streetcar, some better than others, but never have I seen a Blanche DuBois that can compare to Vivien Leigh.

My rankings don't really matter this category because I'm voting for Vivien Leigh.  She's the best in the category and her biggest competition doesn't really belong in this category.

Oscar Winner: Vivien Leigh

My Vote: Vivien Leigh

GABBY Winner: Vivien Leigh 

Best Supporting Actor

5. Leo Genn - Quo Vadis - This is mostly a boring movie and Leo Genn is one of the more boring parts of it.  I have no idea how he got nominated.  Peter Ustinov steals this film and most of Genn's scenes are with Ustinov.  There's rarely a moment where you notice Genn compared to Ustinov.

4. Peter Ustinov - Quo Vadis - This is an incredibly dull film but Ustinov is the only reason to watch.  He plays Emperor Nero like a complete mad man and grown up child.  Everyone else in this movie is very bland and then Ustinov shows up and gives the movie much needed energy.  Still, I can't vote for him.  The best part of a bad film is still a vote for a bad film.

3. Gig Young - Come Fill The Cup - As a recovering alcoholic I am a sucker for a movie about a drunk trying to get sober.  In this movie James Cagney plays a lush who hits rock bottom and loses his job and his girl.  4 years later a now sober Cagney seems to have it all together when he's asked to help the guy who married his ex-girlfriend.  She has a type it seems as the guy she met right after Cagney is also in love with the bottle.  Gig Young plays the guy Cagney helps sober up and he's rip roaring drunk through most of the film.  Young was a natural playing drunks as he himself was a notorious lush, which sadly led to his death.

2. Kevin McCarthy - Death Of A Salesman - I grew up with Kevin McCarthy in UHF and Twilight Zone - The Movie.  Then I get into Oscar history and find that the evil guy who tried to shut down 'Weird Al' Yankovic was once a handsome young Oscar nominee.  He plays Biff Loman, the son of the titular salesman.  He's just returning from college and trying to figure out what he's going to do with his life.  McCarthy is good in the role but this movie was so un-cinematic that I really don't want to vote for it in any category.  Plus, if I was gonna vote for one actor this year in a Broadway adaptation it would be...

1. Karl Malden - A Streetcar Named Desire - Malden plays Mitch, one of Stanley Kowalksi's poker buddies.  He's a working class guy who immediately takes a liking to Blanche.  He sees in her something he's only read about.  When he finds out that she has been pretending to be something she's not he crumbles because he thought she could lift him up to a higher.  I love Karl Malden and he's really great here.  He's so sweet and innocent when he's falling in love and then scared and angry when he discovers the truth. 

So I'm gonna vote for Karl Malden but just for fun let's play process of elimination.  Genn and Ustinov are out because I hate the movie, Gig Young is missing that one scene that pushes him to an Oscar winner and he would win for a better role in 1969, Kevin McCarthy's movie is too much of a filmed play.  That leaves Malden as the only person to vote for and he deserved it.  If you were building a supporting actor in a laboratory it would probably come out looking like Karl Malden.  He was so good so often that it's great that he got an Oscar in this category. 

Oscar Winner: Karl Malden

My Vote: Karl Malden

GABBY Winner: Robert Walker for Strangers On A Train 

Best Supporting Actress

5. Joan Blondell - The Blue Veil - This movie is about Jane Wyman moving from nanny job to nanny job.  One of the mothers she works for is played by Joan Blondell.  She's an actress who is focused more on her career than her child.  Wyman feels like the child likes her more than her mother so she leaves.  Blondell is fine in the film but not in it enough to consider voting for her.

4. Mildred Dunnock - Death Of A Salesman - She plays Willy Loman's wife.  She understands that Willy is contemplating suicide early on and then gives a sad eulogy at his funeral at the end.  Dunnock originated the part on Broadway so I would only imagine that she performs admirably.  She's fine, I just didn't care for the film.

3. Lee Grant - Detective Story - There's a lot of stories going on in the precinct in Detective Story and just outside of all of them is Lee Grant.  At the beginning of the film she is arrested for shoplifting and is sitting in the station awaiting arraignment.  As other characters discuss their issues, Grant is in the background listening and every now and then throwing in her two cents.  It's a fun part, she's kind of the audience's way in to the film, but she doesn't do a whole lot in the film.  You could probably cut her out of the film completely and nothing would change.

2. Thelma Ritter - The Mating Season - This is a screwball comedy about a guy who marries the girl of his dreams at the same time his mother needs a job.  His mom comes to the house and his new bride mistakes her for the new housekeeper.  Not wanting to cause a fuss, she goes along with the mistake and takes a job as the maid.  Then the girl's mother shows up and there's more mistaken identities and lies.  Thelma Ritter plays the mom/housekeeper and she's kind of the lead of the movie.  The film starts and ends with her character.  There's many moments where she disappears so the young lovers can make kissy faces at each other, but it's her story.  I love Thelma Ritter, she speaks in this very natural Brooklyn style where it doesn't seem like she knows she's in a movie.  She was a terrific character actress and got 6 Oscar nominations in her career but never won.

1. Kim Hunter - A Streetcar Named Desire - Hunter plays Stella, Blanche's sister and Stanley's wife.  She's the ultimate "stand by your man" character.  She knows that her sister is full of it and she knows that her husband is uncouth but she lives in a bit of a fantasy world herself.  Hunter is terrific in this film and quite possibly my favorite performance in the film.  She's tough but frail at the same time and the true definition of support.  Brando and Leigh are chewing scenery but Hunter is so grounded.  She's the only one who sees the good in everybody.

Kim Hunter is really the only one worth voting for her so my picks line up with the Oscars 4 for 4 in the acting categories this year.  The only other actress I would consider voting for is Thelma Ritter just because it would be great if she won once during her career but this is probably the weakest of her nominated roles.

Oscar Winner: Kim Hunter

My Vote: Kim Hunter

GABBY Winner: Kim Hunter

Best Director
George Stevens wins for A Place In The Sun which would have been my choice too.  The category is pretty stacked this year.  Elia Kazan is behind 4 terrific performances in A Streetcar Named Desire, John Huston gives The African Queen so much authenticity by shooting on location, William Wyler orchestrates all the madness of a New York City precinct in Detective Story and then there's Vincente Minnelli who helms the lavish and large An American In Paris.

Best Screenplay/Story And Screenplay/Story
I really don't understand the differences in these categories.  For what it's worth, A Place In The Sun wins Best Screenplay while An American In Paris wins Best Story And Screenplay.  The Best Story of the year went to Seven Days To Noon.  I'm thinking that "Best Screenplay" means Best Adapted Screenplay as all the nominees are based on previously published material, that means "Best Story And Screenplay" means Best Original Screenplay.  I don't know what the hell "Best Story" means.

Best Score Drama Or Comedy/Score Of A Musical/Song
The music in A Place In The Sun is incredible and deserved the Oscar.  I really don't remember the score of Death Of A Salesman.  I don't remember it having music at all.  An American In Paris wins the scoring of a musical category over more forgettable musicals Show Boat, On The Riviera and The Great Caruso.  The song In The Cool, Cool, Cool Of The Evening from Here Comes The Groom wins Best Song, a worthy decision.

Best Sound Recording
Didn't I tell you musicals always win this category?  The Great Caruso takes the Oscar home, a movie starring opera star Mario Lanza as a famous opera star.

Best Art Direction - Black And White/Color
Not sure how A Place In The Sun missed out on a nomination here.  In its absence A Streetcar Named Desire takes the win while An American In Paris deservedly wins in the color category.

Best Cinematography - Black And White/Color
A Place In The Sun wins in the black and white category and An American In Paris wins in the color category, both of which were the best decisions in their categories.

Best Costume Design - Black And White/Color
A Place In The Sun and An American In Paris split this category too and again they are both the best in their categories.

Best Film Editing
I kinda wish Decision Before Dawn had won so it would have won 1 out of its 2 nominations but they made the right decision by going with A Place In The Sun.  I really liked how the trial scene was put together and the scene where Montgomery Clift takes Shelley Winters out on the boat.

Best Special Effects
The science fiction film When Worlds Collide wins a special award for its visual effects.

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2013