1944 Oscar Watch

The 17th Academy Award ceremony cemented the 5 and only 5 Best Picture nominees which stayed in effect until 2009.  It's interesting to think about what would have been included if they stayed with 10.  Surely Laura and Lifeboat would have made the cut since they both scored Director nominations.  Then I'm sure something like Mr. Skeffington would have gotten in, the Academy loved them some Bette Davis melodramas.  Then I have no idea what would have gotten the last two spots, could The Miracle On Morgan's Creek sneak in?  Probably not, it would most assuredly be something lame like None But The Lonely Heart.

You can see my GABBY winners and nominees HERE

Best Picture

5. Wilson is far from a warts and all biopic of Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States.  We follow Wilson from his time as President of Princeton to his election as Governor and then President.  He is President when the U.S. gets involved in World War I.  I generally dislike biopics but what I really dislike is the biopic from this era where you take a historical figure and make them look like the greatest man who ever lived.  I'm not sure if Wilson had any skeletons in his closet but according to this movie he was a saint.  This was a passion project for producer Darryl F. Zanuck as he was an admirer of Wilson.  The movie bombed horribly though and was a sore subject for Zanuck, he reportedly refused to let anyone bring it up in his presence.  It's an incredibly uninteresting and slow moving film.

4. Since You Went Away is a film about the home front during World War II.  Claudette Colbert stars as a wife and mother whose husband is away at war.  She has two teenage daughters, she has to make efforts to support the war effort, they have to fire their maid and take in a curmudgeonly border to make ends meet.  It's a fine movie but it is way too long and a bit preachy and sentimental.  At times it seems like a commercial for the United States to help drum up support for war bonds.

3. Gaslight is about a man slowly driving his wife insane so he can perform criminal acts.  It stars Charles Boyer as the husband and Ingrid Bergman as the scared woman doubting her sanity.  That's where the movie succeeds, it has a strong cast of people I like to see in a film, Angela Lansbury plays the maid who begins to suspect the plot.  Where the movie fails is as a thriller.  Maybe it's because I knew what the plot was about before I watched it but there was never any tension.  Boyer is playing his character with a touch of cynicism and Bergman is mostly over the top terrified and the movie plays that dynamic throughout.  It's a decent movie but not something that I would vote for Best Picture.

2. Going My Way is one of the weaker Best Picture winners but the movie is so light and enjoyable that it's hard to hate it.  Bing Crosby plays a young, hip and idealistic priest who moves to a new parish where his style clashes with the more conservative style of the current pastor.  Bing is charming, he sings some songs and the movie is like a small little chocolate placed on your pillow that you eat before you go to sleep, enjoy but forget about the next morning.

1. Double Indemnity is one of the best film noir films of all time.  It's directed by my personal favorite director, Billy Wilder.  Fred MacMurray stars as an insurance agent who falls for a femme fatale played by Barbara Stanwyck.  She wants to kill her husband and he comes up with the scheme where they can profit from it by having him sign up for a hefty policy.  Of course, things don't work out the way they planned and they come under the watchful eye of Edward G. Robinson.  All the performances are superb (it's a shame that MacMurray and Robinson weren't nominated) but the real star is the dialogue.  The movie moves along so quickly and sharp because of the stylized way the character's speak.  It's one of the best films ever made.

Obviously I gotta vote for Double Indemnity.  It's a classic film and one of the best.  Every time I watch it I get sucked into the story as if it were the first time I've seen it.  Going My Way is kind of a lame choice but not a terrible one.  The war was winding down and I think people wanted some escapism.  This was the highest grossing film of the year so it was a movie people loved and saw again and again.  It doesn't hold up as well as some other films but at the time this was the movie that people loved and wanted.

Oscar Winner: Going My Way

My Vote: Double Indemnity

GABBY Winner: Double Indemnity

Best Actor

 

5. Barry Fitzgerald holds a distinct place in Oscar history as he is the only person to be nominated twice in the same year for the same film.  He got enough votes to get nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Going My Way.  The Oscars quickly changed the rules so this could never happen again.  Obviously he can't win both so he's 5th in this category but we'll talk about him in a bit.

4. Alexander Knox certainly looks a lot like Woodrow Wilson in the biopic Wilson but that's about all the praise I can heap on him.  He's very wooden in the film, which could have been a historically accurate portrayal of the man.  I felt that his almost robotic performance got in the way of me caring about the story.

3. Charles Boyer is an actor I never found very charismatic.  In his defense, he was a native French speaker and a lot of my gripes with his acting style have to do with his stilted way of speaking which could be due to English being his second language.  His accent made him perfect for romances but in dramas he can come off a bit stiff.  In Gaslight he plays a man who is slowly driving his wife insane so he can do evil things behind her back, he is also hiding the fact that he murdered her mother.  My problem with his performance is that he plays the character like a villain for the majority of the film.  There's never a moment where he transitions, he's evil the whole time and then you find out he's evil.

2. Cary Grant is one of my favorite comedic actors but he only earned 2 Oscar nominations in his career.  One was for Penny Serenade, a romantic drama he did with Irene Dunne and the second was for None But The Lonely Heart where he plays a cockney drifter with little ambition forced to care for his ailing mother.  Grant was an incredibly funny actor but was only considered a true actor when he went dramatic apparently.  It's a shame because this same year he gave one of his best performances in Arsenic And Old Lace.  He gets nominated for this though, a movie that's not very good that he's not very good in.  He did use his own voice though, his distinct manner of speaking was a way he used to cover up his cockney accent.  I want to vote for him because he's Cary Grant but I can't vote for him for this.  He only places so high because if they were gonna give Cary Grant an Oscar, even for a bad movie, I couldn't really complain.

1. Bing Crosby doesn't have to stretch that much as an actor in Going My Way.  He plays a young priest with a nice voice who sings some songs and is generally charming.  Sometimes acting is 10% craft and 90% just being likable on screen and that's what Crosby does here.  He wouldn't win in a stronger category but this one is just weak enough that he's the easy winner.

Crosby proved himself a capable dramatic actor in The Country Girl, which he couldn't win for because that was the year of On The Waterfont, so it's not a bad thing that he won for something as light and fluffy as Going My Way.  If he wins here, we don't have to consider him against Brando in the future.  Knowing that this is my last chance to vote for Cary Grant makes me want to cast my vote for him but they nominated him for the wrong film.  It's like 1943 where Ingrid Bergman would be my vote, if they nominated her for Casablanca.  Instead they nominate her for For Whom The Bell Tolls, but I'll get to that in a second.

Oscar Winner: Bing Crosby

My Vote: Bing Crosby

GABBY Winner: Cary Grant for Arsenic And Old Lace

Best Actress

5. Greer Garson stars as a woman who goes from maid to high society in Mrs. Parkington, the 4th pairing between her and Walter Pidgeon who scored big two years ago in Mrs. Miniver.  Garson just won so there's no way she contends for a vote here against this crop of actresses.  The movie is also fairly dull but Garson does get the play the character from age 18 to 80 and is pretty believable in doing so.

4. Bette Davis stars in Mr. Skeffington which is not to be confused with Mrs. Parkington.  This is like when Deep Impact came out the same year as Armageddon and everybody argued over which was the better film.  This movie is about a spoiled and beautiful woman who marries a man she doesn't love because her brother embezzled from him.  She's trying to save her brother and ends up in a loveless marriage.  They have a daughter who she doesn't really care for, she has affairs and eventually ends up old and lonely.  It's a fine performance but she already won twice and I'm not gonna think about giving her a 3rd until we get into old and crazy Bette Davis performances.

3. Claudette Colbert stars as a woman raising her teenage daughters while her husband is away at war in Since You Went Away.  There's not much to the performance, or the movie for that matter.  It's basically another movie about people struggling at home while men are fighting over seas.  She's perfectly capable of handling the role but she's the weak link of the people I would actually vote for.

2. Ingrid Bergman didn't win an Oscar for Casablanca the year before this when she should have.  She wasn't even nominated, she instead got nominated for For Whom The Bell Tolls and lost to Jennifer Jones.  So that was an unfortunate circumstance so they gave her the win this year for Gaslight.  She plays a woman being tortured by her husband and she's very good in the role but this is a part that didn't necessarily need Bergman's skills.  She's a damsel in distress for the whole movie.

1. Barbara Stanwyck is the ultimate femme fatale in Double Indemnity.  She plays a woman that wants to kill her husband and cons an insurance agent to help her.  The great part about the role is that she is a completely unrepentant character but Stanwyck is able to get the audience on her side.  She suckers in Fred MacMurray using only her sensuality and once she has caught her prey she keeps him on the line using the same thing.  There's no redemptive arc for her as she's pure evil in a pretty package.

Ingrid Bergman deserved the Oscar the year before this and Barbara Stanwyck deserved the Oscar in 1941.  She didn't win that year because the Academy needed to give Joan Fontaine the win because they screwed up and didn't give her the win for Rebecca.  So that marks twice that Stanwyck has lost to a woman playing a victim getting a win basically because they lost the year before.  I love me some Ingrid Bergman and so did the Academy, she won twice more after this.  Knowing she's got 2 more Oscars coming to her makes my vote for Stanwyck guilt free.

Oscar Winner: Ingrid Bergman

My Vote: Barbara Stanwyck

GABBY Winner: Betty Hutton for The Miracle Of Morgan's Creek

Best Supporting Actor

5. Hume Cronyn is probably best known as one of the old guys from Cocoon and as the husband of Jessica Tandy, who he appeared in a lot of movies with, this one included.  It's always cool to see a guy I almost exclusively recognize as an old man in his younger days.  The Seventh Cross is about Spencer Tracy escaping from a concentration camp in Germany.  For a large stretch of the film he hides out at his friend's house, played by Cronyn.  He doesn't actually do a lot in the film, he's just kind of there but it's nice that Hume got at least one nomination in his career.

4. Claude Rains plays the titular character in Mr. Skeffington.  He's a lonely man who marries Bette Davis under false pretenses.  He doesn't know that she is only marrying him because her brother embezzled money from him.  She openly has affairs and doesn't like him while he finds solace in their daughter and the friendship of his secretaries.  He's good in the role, he's Claude Rains, he's always good.  Problem is, much like Barry Fitzgerald, he rides the line between lead and supporting.  Unlike Fitzgerald, he's more lead.  Although in 1944, nobody was going to take billing over Bette Davis.  He should have won last year for Casablanca so that gives him points.

3. Monty Woolley plays the Monty Woolley character in Since You Went Away.  He was always an old curmudgeon who had a big soft heart.  I'm surprised he never played Santa in a film.  In this movie he moves in with a family who needs financial help due to the father being away at war.  He comes in and is instantly at odds with the family because he's stuffy and set in his ways.  Then he softens and becomes a friendly paternal figure.  It's a sweet performance from an actor who could play this part in his sleep.

2. Clifton Webb specialized in playing stuffy high society types, or more likely that's just who he was and how he played his characters.  I refer to him as the David Hyde-Pierce of his day.  He was always a very interesting screen presence.  Laura is a film noir about a murdered woman.  A detective starts investigating and then begins to fall in love with the victim only to find out that she's still alive.  Webb plays the woman's mentor who ends up being a suspect.  This was probably his best chance at winning of 3 nominations but there's a pretty obvious reason I can't vote for him this year.

1. Barry Fitzgerald gets his 2nd nomination this year for playing the old priest in Going My Way.  Bing comes into his parish with his newfangled ideas and attitudes and Barry gets the sense that he is being pushed out.  It's a very sweet and funny performance because he doesn't play the part like an authority figure.  This role could have easily been played like the dean from an 80s college comedy but Fitzgerald plays him just sweet enough that we want him to both succeed and fail.  We want Bing to get his way but we don't want Barry to fall flat on his face either.

You can't nominate a guy two times for the same role and make him leave empty handed.  Barry Fitzgerald is the only person to get nominated twice in the same year for the same movie.  Most times when an actor gets two nods in a year they end up winning one of them, Al Pacino, Jamie Foxx, Holly Hunter.  Sometimes they leave empty handed but the Academy liked Father Fitzgibbon so much that they nominated him twice so you gotta give him something.  Based on performance he gets my vote too.  Based on the actor I would probably vote Claude Rains, just because he's Claude Rains and never got an Oscar.

Oscar Winner: Barry Fitzgerald

My Vote: Barry Fitzgerald

GABBY Winner: William Demarest for The Miracle Of Morgan's Creek

Best Supporting Actress

5. Aline MacMahon plays Ling Tan's Wife in Dragon Seed.  That's not me forgetting her character's name, that's how she's billed.  The character is Chinese and MacMahon was not.  She looks more ethnic than Katharine Hepburn who plays the lead Chinese woman but not by much.  I looked her up to see where she was from.  I was thinking Russia but nope, she was born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania which makes her perfect to play a Chinese peasant.  I'm not blaming her.  Whitewashing was how it was done at the time.  I just can't vote for her.

4. Jennifer Jones just won Best Actress last year so there's no way she should win for playing one of the teenage daughters in Since You Went Away although I did like her performance.  I wish they would have nominated Shirley Temple instead for the same film, she plays the other more precocious daughter.

3. Angela Lansbury made her screen debut at the age of 18 as the maid in Gaslight.  If you only know Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher then you need to see this movie just so you can get a semblance of how beautiful she was when she was younger.  I mean she's still beautiful as an older woman, but you know what I mean.  She is hired by Bergman because Charles Boyer forbids her from leaving the house.  She is very cold to Bergman and we find out that Boyer is paying her to be so, it's all part of the plot to drive Bergman insane.  She's good in the film but the part is rather small.

2. Agnes Moorehead is an actress I love but Mrs. Parkington is a film I don't.  She doesn't do much in the film either, this seems like a nomination for the person rather than the performance.  The movie is a rags to riches story for Greer Garson.  Moorehead plays a French baroness who helps her with her outfits and how to be a high society woman.  She has also been in love with Garson's husband for years so she initially dislikes her.  Moorehead has a nice accent in the film but the part isn't substantial enough to vote for.  If I was voting specifically for who I wanted to win an Oscar most, she would probably get my vote.

1. Ethel Barrymore plays an old woman who dies in None But The Lonely Heart.  Barrymore was the Judi Dench of her day.  She was a respected stage actress who came to film and just played a bunch of old ladies and got an Oscar nomination for most of them.  This is the one she won for and you could do a lot worse for Barrymore performances.  There are a couple of questionable ones where she literally lays in bed for the whole film and then dies.  If they needed to give her an Oscar, this was as good a year as any to do it.

This is a pretty weak category as none of the nominees leap out as a winner.  First off my list is Aline McMahon because I can't vote for someone in yellowface.  Then Jennifer Jones is off because she just won last year.  That leaves Barrymore, Moorehead and Lansbury.  Angela Lansbury is in her first film so I have to enact my Jennifer Hudson rule where I will always pick someone with more pedigree over a debut performance.  Moorehead should have won for The Magnificent Ambersons in 1942 and Barrymore is part of an acting dynasty and a respected star herself.  I don't want to vote for either of them because I didn't like either of the films, but I gotta vote for someone.  The tie goes to Barrymore because she is more substantial to her film's plot.  You could probably cut Moorehead out of Mrs. Parkington and nothing would change.  Also, I know this doesn't really matter but I voted for Moorehead in 1942 and 1964 and Lansbury in 1962.  That means absolutely nothing.  In a weak category you might as well go with the oldest nominee.

Oscar Winner: Ethel Barrymore

My Vote: Ethel Barrymore

GABBY Winner: Josephine Hull for Arsenic And Old Lace

Best Director
So Henry King for Wilson would have been the worst choice.  The Academy's winner Leo McCarey for Going My Way is not that much better.  It's not a poorly directed film by any means but he was up against Billy Wilder for Double Indemnity, Otto Preminger for Laura and Alfred Hitchcock for Lifeboat.  All of which would be better winners.

Best Original Screenplay/Screenplay/Original Motion Picture Story
Nothing says "Original Screenplay" like a 2 1/2 hour biopic that feels like a high school history text book.  Wilson wins over two films by Preston Sturges.  Going My Way wins two writing awards as it wins Best Screenplay and Best Motion Picture Story.  They couldn't have given one of those to Double Indemnity?

Best Scoring Of A Dramatic Or Comedy Picture
20 nominees in this category.  If you think I'm gonna listen to the scores for movies like Up In Mabel's Room and The Bridge Of San Luis Rey, you are mistaken.  They gave it to Since You Went Away which, for some reason, has an overture.

Best Scoring Of A Musical Picture
Only 13 nominees in this category.  The only one I've seen is Meet Me In St. Louis.  The winner is Cover Girl.  Also nominated was something called Minstrel Man which sounds fascinatingly racist.

Best Original Song

The music branch wanted to invite all their friends in the Academy as this category has 12 nominees.  Swinging On A Star from Going My Way wins.  This is the best choice in the category but it unfortunately gave us that scene in Hudson Hawk where Bruce Willis and Danny Aiello sing it during a break-in.

Best Sound Recording
Ah, the sounds in Wilson.  I can barely go a day without thinking of the quality sound design that went into scenes like Woodrow Wilson watches a football game or a crowd cheering for Woodrow Wilson.  All the times Woodrow Wilson opens and closes a door.  Fantastic sound effects.

Best Art Direction - Black And White/Art Direction - Color
Gaslight wins in the black and white category and Wilson wins in the color category.  No complaints here.

Best Cinematography - Black And White/Cinematography - Color
Laura wins the black and white category over worthy nominees Gaslight, Lifeboat and Double Indemnity.  Wilson wins the color category and while the color of the film is slightly impressive, the camera barely moves through the whole movie.  None of the other nominees are that impressive either.

Best Film Editing
I would call Wilson winning this category a huge error in judgement until you look at the nominees, Going My Way, None But The Lonely Heart, Since You Went Away and Janie.  No Double Indemnity, Laura or Lifeboat?  This might just be the worst Oscar category ever.

Best Special Effects
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo wins.  It's a standard winner for the time period.  You want to take a guess as to what else got nominated?  Wilson.  You might be wondering why but there is a little known fact about this film.  The entire cast was actually dressed up cats.

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