Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 84: Lost Memories

Getting towards watching my 100th film on the list, its started me reflecting on why I started this journey in the first place. I think it was mainly to watch some films that I'd never got round to but it has become discovering others that I'd never been aware of but I really enjoyed after watching. The 1943 nominee Random Harvest falls into this latter category it deals with Ronald Colman's character a man who loses his memory several times throughout the film. Colman is initially in a mental institution when the film begins as he has lost his memory after becoming shell-shocked in the trenches. He escapes from the institution after he sneaks past the guards who are celebrating the end of World War I. He is helped out by a showgirl named Paula who helps conceal his identity and eventually the two begin and romance and then marry. As Colman went by the name John Smith, Paula starts to call him Smithy and he discovers he has a talent for writing and journeys to Liverpool to see about getting a job as a writer leaving a pregnant Paula behind. While in Liverpool he is hit by a cab, although he is physically fine he loses his memory of his time with Paula and reverts back to his original identity of Charles Rainer heir to a large business dynasty. Rainer returns to his family home of Random House the day after his father's death and it turns out that he is to inherit the house. Charles hopes to return to college but ends up taking over the family business and making it successful leading to a newspaper article calling himself the 'industrial prince of England'. Charles then gets a new secretary Margaret, Paula who is now using her real name, Margaret wants to reveal all to Charles but her friend tells her that it would just startle him so she has him declared legally dead and their marriage annulled. Charles then starts to romance Kitty, the step-daughter of one of his brothers, who has been smitten with him since she was fifteen. Charles and Kitty plan to get married however while planning the wedding Charles' memory is stirred by one of the hymns that Kitty has chosen which reminds him of his time with Paula. He then realises he is in love with someone else that he can't remember and calls off the engagement to Kitty. Later Charles stands for Parliament and succeeds thanks to Margaret's support, realising that he needs a wife he proposes to her as more of a business arrangement and she accepts. However she becomes unhappy that Charles will never remember her and decides to go on an extended holiday to South America. At the same time Charles has to go to the place he and Margaret once lived in order to deal with some unrest at a factory he owns there. While there his memory finally starts to come back to him and he returns to their old house where he finds Margaret, who is visiting the place before taking off on the cruise liner, she calls out to him as Smithy and he embraces her finally remembering their connection.

Although I'm not usually one for romantic films I thought the way that all of Random Harvest was laid out was superb. From the opening shots of the imposing gates of the Mental Institution to the grandiose splendour of Random House to the small house that 'Paula' and 'Smithy' shared every set is given the same amount of care. The two leads also make you care immensely about their characters. Although Ronald Colman has always impressed me this seems to be his best role thus far in the list, his character changes from amnesiac patient to carefree writer to prince of industry and then to a government lord and Colman is able to show all these transitions with ease. As the film's female lead Greer Garson is also able to portray a woman who has lost the two things that are most important to her, Smithy and her child who died in infancy. There is also a fine performance by Susan Peters as the spirited and ultimately heartbroken Kitty who also grows as a character as the film progresses. The film was nominated for seven Oscars but was completely unsuccessful with Garson not even nominated for this film, however she was nominated for another performance that year, Colman and Peters did receive nods but failed to win. Overall this was a thoroughly well-made and well-acted film that engaged me from beginning to end.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 83: Have I Got Jews For You

We're back to the winner's enclosure again with the social commentary film that got the Best Picture award at the 1948 ceremony. The film deals with the theme of anti-Semitism something that 20th Century Fox boss Daryl F Zanuck felt strongly about at the time after being refused entry to the L.A. Country Club on account of his religion. Zanuck was approached by other studio heads, most of them being fellow Jews, to ask him not to go ahead with the project as they feared it would stir up trouble for them as well. The role of journalist Philip Green was originally offered to Cary Grant but he turned it down and Gregory Peck took the part against the advice of his agent. However in the end the film triumphed against this initial adversity and went onto win three Oscars - Picture, Director and Supporting Actress for Celeste Holm.

The plot itself looks at Peck's Green a widowed reporter who moves to New York with his son and mother to write for a new magazine. His boss tells him to write about anti-Semitism and he eventually decides to go undercover as a Jew to see how he is treated by various members of the community. Throughout the film Phil deals with several incidents including being treated differently by a doctor who is dealing with his mother's heart condition and also sees his son being bullied at school for having a Jewish father. Phil also romance's his bosses niece Kathy who is aware of his article but advices him against it. After a brief courtship they are to be married however Phil gets annoyed at Kathy when she tells members of her family about her new fiancée not being Jewish at all. Phil is again met with adversity when he tries to book a honeymoon at a posh hotel but is told that they are all booked up when they discover that he is Jewish. Phil's old friend Dave, who is Jewish, comes to stay with him while he looks for a house for him and his family however the Jewish Dave is met with adversity when he finds a lot of landlords won't rent to Jews. Kathy then reveals to Phil that there is a Gentleman's Agreement among landlords about not renting to Jews something that astonishes him. The character of Kathy is the film's most interesting as she admits to being against anti-Semitism but at the same time doesn't do anything to stop it and indeed admits to Dave that she didn't say anything when someone made an anti-Semitic joke at a dinner she had. As well as Dave the film's only other Jewish character is Elaine, Phil's new secretary, who reveals that she has hidden her religion in order to get the job and later is stunned when Phil reveals that he isn't actually Jewish. Elaine's role in the film is to show that sometimes even Jews are made to feel ashamed of themselves and want to escape the stigma attatched to be Jewish. After Phil's article comes out he is praised but at the same time wants to leave New York after breaking up with Kathy over her feelings about his article. Phil is comforted by the magazine's fashion editor Anne, a woman whom he had built up a friendship with throughout the film, who tells him that Kathy is nothing more than a hypocrite and Kathy realises why Phil was angry with her after a meeting with Dave. The film ends with Phil arriving at Kathy's apartment presumably to reconcile with her.

While not being entirely perfect Gentleman's Agreement was still a fairly enjoyable film with a direct message but one that was never hammered home. I felt that the message about anti-Semtisim wasn't as blatant as it could've been and that the cast played their roles well. Gregory Peck made Phil seem like a real human being although one who may've been a bit too worthy for his own good, he was willing to do good for all around him while at the same time encountering adversity. For me though the supporting characters were much more interesting, I'm not sure why Celeste Holm won the Oscar but her character is a breath of fresh air, she is a woman in a man's world and floats through the room dishing out insults and at the same time becomes a shoulder to lean on for Phil. Also worth a mention are John Garfield and Anne Revere who were both compelling as Dave and Phil's mother respectively. However my favourite performance came from Dorothy McGuire as the mixed up Kathy, her journey is the film's most interesting and Mcguire gives a layered performance that earned her an Oscar nomination. Overall a well-written and well-acted message film that I'm glad won the Best Picture award because it proved it initial critics wrong if nothing else.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 82: An Inconvenient Marriage

An interesting romance film that was nominated at the 1942 ceremony is up next. The majority of the film is narrated by Charles Boyer's character Georges Iscovescu who is pitching the film's story to a Paramount director. As we are told at the opening of the film this meeting between Georges and the director is how the making of the film came about however later it is incorporated as part of the story. Georges has come to America from his native Romania to try and escape the conflict of World War II however when he arrives U.S. immigration inform him that the numbers of Romanian immigrants have already been filled and he will have to stay in Mexico until there is room for him. Georges spends his time in a rundown Mexican hotel just by the border filled with other Europeans also waiting for their chance to become U.S. citizens, the hotel is also visited from time to time by immigration inspector Hammock who checks on the status of the immigrants. Later Georges meets his old dancing partner and lover Anita who has told him that she has married an older American man and that will fast track her over the border. Anita hatches a plan with Georges that he will marry an American woman and when they are both safely in America will both divorce their partners and be together. Georges then comes across naive teacher Emmy whose school bus has broken down trapping her and several pupils on the wrong side of the border. Georges steals a part of the bus thus forcing Emmy to stay in his hotel and for him to charm and later propose to her. Emmy and Georges are soon married however Hammock returns to the hotel and Georges realises that he will start asking her questions so he takes her off on an impromptu honeymoon. Inevitably Georges then starts to fall in love with her as they journey around the coast and stop in at a church to be blessed. They arrive back at the hotel where Anita realises that Georges won't go through with the plan so she reveals all to Emmy however when she is questioned by Hammock she lies and says she and Georges are in love. Georges stays in Mexico to get his papers in order but then he learns that Emmy was in an accident and crosses the border before it is legal for him to do so. He enters the hospital to see her but is soon tracked down by Hammock's men and runs to the studio to talk to the director who he had previously encountered in Mexico. The final part of the story is told by the director, after Hammock arrested Georges he took him back to Mexico, Georges learns that Anita has met another wealthy man who she plans to exploit. Finally, Hammock softens and tells Georges that he has fast-tracked his citizenship because he failed to report the earlier incident of Georges' escape and realises that Georges and Emmy's relationship is genuine.

I have to say one of the things I enjoyed most about Hold Back the Dawn is its narrative structure. By having the story being a narration by Georges we are intrigued to see how his and Emmy's story will end and how it will fit with this meeting at the studio. Although it is a bit soppy at times the romance between Georges and Emmy starts as a hoax but ends up being fairly genuine. As far as the acting goes Olivia De Havilland's performance as Emmy earned her an Oscar nomination and it was just about deserved as Emmy grows as a character throughout the film becoming tougher as she realises the extent of Georges' plans. Paulette Goddard is also enthralling as Anita the manipulative other woman and to some extent the film's villain. But it is Charles Boyer who anchors the whole film with a mix of charm and real emotion he makes Georges one of those characters who does horrible things but still seems likeable however he failed to even get a nomination for his performance. The film also had something to say about the lengths some immigrants will go to to get into America and the setting of the Mexican hotel feels cramped and somewhat unwelcoming. Overall this was a fairly engaging if overly sentimental romantic drama with undertones of social commentary.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 81: A Presidential Epic

Following one biopic with another this time about the 28th President of the U.S.A Woodrow Wilson. Ask someone from the UK to name all the presidents of America that they know and they would probably give you Lincoln, Washington, Nixon, Bush, Clinton and Obama and possibly a couple more. But only the more knowledgeable would be able to tell you about Wilson even though he served through two terms and was the President of America during World War 1 and helped forge the League of Nations. The film itself was the project of 20th Century Fox's head honcho Darryl F Zanuck who was a big fan of Wilson's however despite winning five Oscars it was a monumental flop and Zanuck was so disappointed the film was never to be mentioned in his presence again. One of the reasons that the film may not have done so well is that it is incredibly long. I think Zanuck didn't want to leave anything out about Wilson's life but that means that the film does drag from time to time. We see him originally as a Princeton professor who has written many works about politics he is encouraged to run for governor and then eventually for President. Despite not doing much campaigning he is able to get in due to earnest nature. Initially Wilson refuses that America enter the war claiming that he didn't want to be responsible for any American men losing their lives but eventually he decides to help out and even contributes to the war effort. After the war he is one of the leaders involved in the League of Nations who try to ensure that something like a World War doesn't happen again. Some of the leaders disagree but Wilson delivers a speech and eventually they all agree. That seems to be a recurring theme of the film, Wilson's long and worthy speeches which convince people of his ideas. Meanwhile Wilson's personal life is also detailed with the death of his first wife and his very quick romance and marriage to his second wife. This is one of the moments in the film that I found a bit creepy, I thought that Wilson didn't leave it too long before moving on but the film blesses Wilson's new wife because she is the favourite of Wilson's daughters.

The film's best point and possibly reason for its failure is the no-name Alexander Knox as Wilson himself. Knox doesn't look like an actor and doesn't particularly act and that's why the film works I'd go as far to say as his performance is one of the best I've ever seen by a Lead Actor of all time. Showing little emotion from the beginning to the end but still being passionate about his family and his causes, Knox's Wilson is a compelling presence without being overtly loud and over-the-top. There is a large collection of supporting characters the most famous of whom are Charles Coburn and oddly Vincent Price as one of Wilson's political aides. Supposedly the film glossed over some of Wilson's flaws his very belligerent nature as well as his inherent racism aren't mentioned at all. The film also is very pro-America propaganda, as the film was released while the war was still on and it is very support our troops and boo the Germans. Despite though this is a fairly enjoyable if overlong biopic with a stunning central performance.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 80: Take Me Up to the Ball Park

Those who know me know that I know very little about sports and of that little knowledge hardly any of it is given up to the sport of baseball. However I am familiar with the name Babe Ruth who actually features as himself in the next film about another New York Yankee player Lou Gerhig. Gerhig died tragically aged only 37 and this film was made and released the year after his death. Gary Cooper was cast in the role of Gerhig which is an odd choice seeing as Lou is in his 20s for the majority of the film and Cooper was in his 40s by this stage of his career. Despite this Cooper is still a decent actor and does his best to show Gerhig from being scouted by The Yankees to becoming the most reliable player on the team. The film also concentrates on three of the most important relationships in his life. Firstly that between Gerhig and his parents, his understanding and down-to-Earth father and his interfering mother. The relationship with his mother is one of the film's most interesting as she argues with everyone that Lou should be an engineer and not a baseball player even though he has an obvious talent for him. The second relationship is between Lou and the sportswriter Sam Blake played by Walter Brennan. Blake is the man who sees potential in Gerhig and persuades the Yankees to give him a try out, Blake later becomes Gerhig's confident and always stands up for him. And finally there is Gerhig's romance with Eleanor Twtichell who he first meets when she watches one of his games. Their relationship is basically without turmoil apart from some interfering from his mother. They get married and although she does get a little tired of being a baseball star's wife she doesn't stop loving Lou. Although tragically the final third of the film looks at Lou becoming ill and gets a fatal motor neuron disease which would later go on to become known as Lou Gerhig's disease. Lou keeps on playing as long as he can but one day he realises that he has to be pulled from the team and makes a last minute decision not to play. The film ends with Gerhig's goodbye speech to the fans which must've been a fairly poignant moment to the original film audience as Gerhig had just died.

The film itself is only okay, it is a very traditional biopic however most of Gerhig's life is really without incident. A lot of the scenes depict life on the road with the baseball team, most of them playing themselves, Babe Ruth in particular sends himself up as a big-headed moron who the rest of the team play pranks on. The acting isn't too bad either, Walter Brennan is possibly the cast's MVP as Sam Blake he just plays an ordinary decent bloke. Despite being too old for the part Cooper still gives it his all and manages to give a sympathetic performance and both he and Teresa Wright, as his wife, were nominated for Oscars. But by today's standards the film is incredibly cheesy, there is an extended segment in which Gerhig promises to hit a home run for a kid in hospital which he obviously does and later in the film the kid who has now grown up comes to see Lou say his farewell. The film was nominated for a total of eleven statues but only managed to win one award, which was bizarrely for editing but it lost out to Mrs Miniver in the Best Picture category. I think this one would probably work if I understood and cared about baseball a bit more but sadly that's never gonna happen.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 79: Putting on My Dancing Shoes

Going back to the other end of the decade once again with a nominee from the 1949 ceremony, Powell and Pressburger's The Red Shoes. The film is one of only a few colour films to feature in this decade's list and all of those films so far (Gone with The Wind, The Wizard of Oz) have been able to utilise the colour to its full potential and give it relevance to the story and The Red Shoes is no different focusing specifically on the titular footwear. The plot itself centres around three characters - aspiring ballet star Vicky Page, ruthless ballet owner Boris Lemantov and naive composer and orchestra coach Julian. The first is almost divided equally into two halves, the first half focuses on Vicky and Julian separately as they try to get to the top of their professions and are occasionally looked down on. Lemantov is able to see potential in Vicky following her performance in Swan Lake and at the same time develops feelings for her. When he loses his prima ballerina he invites Vicky on the road and casts her as the lead in the new Red Shoes ballet, the music for which is being written by Julian. When Julian and Vicky's paths cross for the first time they begin to quarrel but then they fall in love. What I would consider the second half of the film follows the performance of the Red Shoes Ballet where Lemantov discovers the relationship and gets rid of Julian from the company in a way to have Vicky all to himself but Vicky decides to go London with Julian and marry him but Lemantov owns the rights to The Red Shoes and will not let her perform it again. Later on Lemantov and Vicky meet again and he convinces her to take part in his revival of The Red Shoes, Julian abandons the opening night of his new opera to be with her but Lemantov makes him realise that her one true love is dancing. Just as she is about to go on she impulsively runs away to the train station where Julian is and jumps from a bridge into the path of a train. Vicky has Julian remove The Red Shoes from her while Lemantov announces Vicky's death to the audience waiting for her but the show goes on with a spotlight in her place.

What I love about The Red Shoes is the attention to detail that the theatrical sets are given, from the very first scene in which students burst in to see the latest production to the red shoes ballet itself the set and costume designers are able to play around with the colour schemes beautifully, down to the haunting red of Vicky's shoes. The Red Shoes Ballet itself takes up about 15 minutes of the overall runtime and works beautifully as we are shown why Vicky loves dancing so much. For a film that looks and sounds amazing there's no surprise that it won the Oscars for Best Score and Best Set Design. The acting itself isn't at all bad Norma Shearer puts in a spirited turn as Vicky while Anton Wallbrook also shines as the morally ambiguous Lemontov. But this isn't an acting film per se, this is a spectacularly produced film that still dazzles over sixty years after its was made.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 78: Frank and Jimmy Take on Congress

After watching seven of his films its time to say goodbye to Frank Capra, for his final film on the list its time to go back to the 1940 ceremony and Mr Smith Goes to Washington. The story sees Jimmy Stewart's Boy Scout Leader Jefferson Smith as the surprise choice to take over from the previous senator in his state. Originally the film had been intended as a follow up to Capra's Mr Deeds Goes to Town with Gary Cooper reviving the Deeds role and entering the senate. However when it was revealed Cooper wasn't available Capra decided it would be a perfect vehicle for him to work again with Stewart and Jean Arthur (who had been a couple in You Can't Take It With You). When Smith gets to Washington he is awe-inspired by the architecture and the history that the place has but is ridiculed by the press for being a simpleton. Smith is taken under the wing of Senator Paine, his father's oldest and best friend as well as charming over Arthur's Saunders, Paine's Chief-of-Staff. Smith proposes a new legislation to approve a government loan to allow for some land to be purchased in his state for a national Boy's Camp, and the loan will be paid back by donations from the scouts. Paine is leaned on by the manipulative political adviser Jim Taylor to quash Smith because the land is already part of a dam-building scheme constructed by Taylor. Paine decides to make out that Smith owns the land and is defrauding the scouts but by this stage Saunders is on Smith's side and uncovers Taylor's corruption. The film's most famous scene is where Smith decides to embark on a filibuster, holding the floor and speaking for as long as possible without sitting down, when all the senators leave the room. Taylor and Paine try and break his spirit by rigging the press in Taylor's state and making out that no-one is supporting him but he finds solace in a smile from the senate's president. At the end of the film Smith collapses from exhaustion and Paine tries to commit suicide when he is stopped he confesses everything and Smith's reputation is redeemed.

Just like with Stewart and Capra's most famous colaboration, It's a Wonderful Life, Mr Smith Goes to Washington is remembered for its final scenes. However before that there is a lot that no-one ever thinks about including the scene where Smith tries to punch a lot of journalists after they diss him and Smith's romance with Paine's daughter which is used as a distraction for Smith's plans. However there is a lot to like here, Capra's themes of the underdog triumphing is possibly at its most blatant here with the innocent and ultimately good Smith gets one over on the cowardly Paine and the tyrannical Taylor. Jean Arthur again proves that she is the most consistent of Capra's female leads, with Saunders she portrays a woman trying to survive in a masculine world and has almost lost all her femininity to do so. In fact there is no romantic end to her relationship with Smith however her greatest moment is when someone calls her Clarissa, her first name, which makes her feel somewhat human. Stewart himself is able to play a real, likeable if innocent character with ease. While there are some fine supporting performances from Claude Rains as the multi-layered Paine and Edward Arnold as the just plain evil Taylor. Rains, Stewart and Harry Carey (as the president of the senate) were all nominated for Oscars although none were successful. Indeed only the story won an Oscar but it did come up against Gone With The Wind, I reckon if it had been released a year before or after it may have done better. Although this is more than a fitting end to my Frank Capra education.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 77: Christmas Comes Early

They say that Christmas comes but once a year, but Christmas films can come any time you see fit. As Miracle on 34th Street was nominated at the 1948 ceremony I'd decided I would watch It's a Wonderful Life which I had to watch online, at the same time.

First up then is Miracle on 34th Street, a film I'm very familiar with but mainly due to the 1994 remake. For those who have no idea of the story it's about a department store manager, Doris Walker, who hires a new store Santa after she finds her current Santa drunk. The new Santa, Kris Kringle, believes himself to be Santa and after an altercation ends up in a mental asylum. Kringle then has to prove he is not insane and Fred Gailey, Doris' suitor, decides to defend him thanks to a batch of children's letters to Santa. Meanwhile Doris' daughter Susan is a very grown-up girl and doesn't believe in Santa but Kringle tries to change her mind. I do love this story it's all about belief and love and the true meaning of Christmas. Kringle starts to tell parents where they can get presents cheaper even if it is not in Macy's, the store where he works. The incident that leaves Kringle in a mental institution is after he is goaded by Sawyer, Macy's psychologist who believes Kringle is insane. Sawyer picks on a young Macy's employee who Kringle has befriended and once this happens Kringle strikes Sawyer with his cane and Sawyer exaggerates the injury. I felt this incident was a bit contrived and preferred the old Santa trying to get revenge which happened in the remake. Apart from that though this film is full of old-school warmth and has some great performances. As Doris, Maureen O'Hara is able to show a woman who finds it hard to trust but melts after her encounters with Kris and Fred. Edmund Gwenn won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as Kris and it is a lovely natural performance while Natalie Wood shows that not all child actors have to be annoying. This is a Christmas classic whether you watch this version or the '94 remake.

The other film in this double bill is It's a Wonderful Life a film that is always associated with Christmas however only the film's last half hour is set at Christmas time. For the three people who have never seen the film it concerns James Stewart's George Bailey who has basically helped out every member of the community in Bedford Falls but after a lot of money goes missing from his Savings and Loans business he tries to commit suicide. A kindly but dithering angel named Clarence is entrusted with helping Bailey out and showing him what he meant to everyone. However this comes at the end of the film and most of it is depicting George's life from a young boy to the present day. This is shown by Clarence's superiors in order to educate him about George. We see a man who helped his brother from drowning, his boyhood boss from poisoning most of the town and from taking over his father's business rather than going to college. It also shows him marry the love of his life Mary and have four children together and his many clashes with the greedy Mr Potter. After Potter convinces Bailey that he isn't worth anything, George goes off and that's when Clarence shows him how much he helped people. This is all done on Christmas Eve accompanied by snow and renditions of various carols. And I think this is why this film has got so much of an association with Christmas and to be fair it is feel good entertainment up to a point. This is Frank Capra's last film to be nominated for an Oscar and his third collaboration with James Stewart after You Can't Take It With You and Mr Smith Goes to Washington, the latter of those will be the next entry in this blog. By this point in his career Stewart showed that he was a more than competent leading man and gives a great turn as the extremely likeable and hard-working George ably supported by Donna Reed as the loving Mary. Stewart got the only acting nomination which is a shame as there are two other brilliant performances. The first is from Lionel Barrymore, who up to this point had mainly been seen playing kindly old men, playing the villainous and callous Potter. The second is from Henry Travers as Clarence who isn't on screen very long but steals the film most of the time he is. Stewart and the movie both lost out to The Best Years of Our Lives, but out of the five films nominated this year this has stood the test of time which can only be a good thing.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 76: Bad Bad Bette

Returning to the 1942 ceremony here with the third and final collaboration between Bette Davis and director William Wyler. Wyler and Davis worked on Jezebel and The Letter, which I will watch eventually but The Little Foxes would see their relationship crumble. The film itself concerns the Hubbard family brothers Oscar and Ben and sister Regina, played by Davis. Regina has married the wealthy Horace because, as a woman, she isn't considered equal to her brothers. Meanwhile Oscar has married the dippy Birdie who is extremely kind but Oscar has broken her spirit and she drinks regularly. Oscar married Birdie for her family's land and he and Ben now plan to build a cotton mill on that land. However they are short and come to Regina for the rest of the money, she says she will get it from Horace but she wants a larger share than her brothers if she does. Horace refuses to give his wife the money so the brothers concoct a plan to steal Horace's bonds from the bank enlisting Oscar's simpleton son who works there. When Horace finds out he doesn't tell the police instead letting the brothers take the bonds which enrages Regina who wants to use the theft to bribe her brothers. Just then the sickly Horace has a heart attack and Regina leaves him instead of getting his pills. He dies and she manages to bribe her brothers and get her larger share in the business but in the process loses her daughter Alexandra who is upset about her father's death and absconds with her suitor David.

I would say The Little Foxes is a film you could definitely define as a 'women's film'. The male characters are either greedy (Oscar and Ben), thick (Leo) or kind but sick (Horace). In fact the character of David had to be created to add another sympathetic male to the story but even David isn't perfect and can't hold his tongue over his hatred of the Hubbard family. The three female leads all received Oscar nods again Davis plays a monstrous woman who is battling for equal rights for women but going about it the entirely wrong way. Teresa Wright's Alexandra is the film's moral compass, as Alexandra she is grown out of a childlike admiration for her mother and realises that her family isn't as perfect as she once though. While Patricia Collinge as Birdie gives a multi-layered performance of a very sweet women who is on the verge of a nervous breakdown thanks to her husband Oscar's constant berating of her. In her final scene she has a mini-breakdown and it is one of the film's best and most hear-tbreaking scenes. The sets are brilliant with Regina and Horace's house particularly lavish however this is where Davis and Wyler fell out as she didn't think that a family who had money problems would afford a place like this. Davis did eventually quit the picture but when Wyler threatened to sue her for the cost of the film she came back and finished but didn't do a slapdash job at all. The film got eight nominations but won none of them and this was another film that lost out to the inferior How Green Was My Valley. A very good melodrama it's a shame that Wyler and Davis never worked together again because this film is expertly made and brilliantly played.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 75: Post War Blues

Even though all these films are over sixty years old some of them still resonate and are relevant in today's environment. That's especially true of the winner at the 1947 ceremony, The Best Years of Our Lives, which does in fact share some similarities with the final scenes of this year's winner The Hurt Locker. The film follows the post-war lives of three men who meet on a plane flying back to the small town in which they all live. They are Sergeant Al Stephenson played by Frederic March, Captain Fred Derry portrayed by Dana Andrews and navy man Homer who lost both arms during the war and now has hooks as replacements. Fred returns to find that Mary the girl he married just before the war has moved into an apartment of her own and is now working in a nightclub. Fred struggles to find work eventually returning to the drugstore where he was once employed he earns a pittance and finds himself working under the man who was his assistant before the war. The only joy he finds is in meeting Al's daughter Peggy who helps him when he has nightmares, he falls for her but thinks he has a duty to Marie. After getting fired from the drugstore and finding out about Marie's other man he moves away and ends up helping at a building scheme to turn old scrapped airplanes into new buildings. Meanwhile Al has developed a bit of a drinking problem but is helped through it by his long suffering wife Milly, played by Myrna Loy, as well as his two children. Al is promoted at the bank where he works because of his military service but later gives a loan to a former soldier who has no collateral and is criticised by his boss. Homer's story is possibly the most interesting although he has lost both of his hands he still wants to be as independent as possible. His family and his 'girl' Wilma both try and act like they're find with what has happened but are both secretly upset. One of the film's most heart-breaking scenes is where Homer shows Wilma how helpless he is without his hands and that he always needs someone to help him before he goes to bed. This is meant to warn Wilma off but she decides to stick with Homer and the final scene is their wedding where Al and Millie are guests and Fred is the best man. The final shot is of Peggy and Fred's eyes meeting across the room and finally embracing as the film ends.

The film's title The Best Years of Our Lives refers to a line in the film spoken by Marie in which she tells Fred that she gave up the best years of her life for him. But I think generally it refers to the time that three men spent in the war, that was the best years of their lives and now they are struggling to get their lives back on track. I mentioned The Hurt Locker because it resonated with the final scenes in which the Jeremy Renner character decided that he couldn't live his mundane life and decided to return to action. And indeed the men here find their lives mundane and things have changed a lot. The performances are faultless with two of the three leads winning Oscars for their roles. Frederic March won the Lead Actor Oscar however I would argue that Dana Andrews possibly deserved it more because Fred's journey is a lot bigger than Al's and Andrews gives a stunning portrayal of a man who just isn't coping. Harold Russell, as Homer, won Best Supporting Actor and also a Special Award for bringing hope and comfort for veterans who had been injured in the war. In fact Russell wasn't a professional actor and was spotted in a documentary about wounded serviceman by director William Wyler. Having found that out after watching the movie I'm surprised as Russell's performance was absolutely captivating, and he is only one of two non-actors to win an acting Oscar, the other being Haing S Ngor for The Killing Fields.

After the last two Oscar winning films I watched turning out to be fairly ordinary or overly theatrical its nice to watch a film that truly deserved all of the accolades that were given to it. A truly amazing piece of work that I would recommend to anyone.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 74: It's All a bit Mental

Although many people consider Alfred Hitchcock to be the greatest director of all time most of his most famous works, such as Psycho, Rear Window, North by Northwest and Vertigo, were never nominated for Oscars. Instead only four of his pictures made betweeen 1940 and 1946 were nominated for Oscars. This was the period in which Hitch was working for David O Selznick something that he hated doing and eventually left to set up his own production company. The first of the four films was his only winner - Rebecca and the last of the four is the focus of this entry, that film being Spellbound. Spellbound focuses on Green Manners Mental Instution and specifically on Dr Constance Peterson, played by Ingrid Bergman. Green Manners is having a change of direction as the head of the institution Dr Murchinson is being replaced by a younger model in Gregory Peck's Dr Edwards. However it soon emerges that Peck isn't who says he is and is a man with amnesia moonlighting as Edwards. Peterson decides to help Peck's character escape and try and find out what he's hiding and who he really is. She does this with the help of her old mentor Dr Brulov, played by an Oscar-nominated Michael Chekhov, who specialises in analysing dreams and piece by piece the puzzle comes together. To say anymore would be to ruin the film for those who haven't seen it however I would like to highlight two scenes. One is a dream that Peck has which Brulov and Peterson then analyse. The whole dream sequence is a master class in surrealism and responsibility for the scene was handed from Hitchcock over to surrealist Salvador Dali who brilliantly depicted someone's psyche although one of the scenes featuring Bergman as a statue didn't make the final cut. The other scene sees one of the characters pointing a gun at someone else, the shot is focused on the gun and as the character who the gun is focused on leaves the room we follow the gun as it is rotated around and pointed at the head of the person who is holding it. When the shot is fired the screen then goes red, the film's only splash of colour, which gives the death about significance.

Another thing that should be highlighted is Miklos Rosza's Oscar winning score, which is able to capture both the romantic and dramatic elements of the film and almost dominated the entire film at some points. Neither Bergman or Peck were nominated, although Bergman was nominated for another film, I think Peck overall didn't demonstrate his full potential as an actor while Bergman's performance was decent enough given Constance a cold edge which was easily thawed with the appearance of Peck. One of my main criticisms is that I didn't really buy their romance which was one of the points that the film's narrative focused on and overall this film wasn't one of Hitchcock's best. But I'm glad I watch Spellbound as its one of the only Hitchcock films I've never seen and even though it's not one of Hitch's best it's still a very well made and well conceived picture.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 73: Love is in the Air

Back to the 1940 ceremony again where there were still ten films in the running for Best Picture which meant there was still a lot of filler. Although 1940's list of films did have a lot of worthy contenders the next film on my list, Love Affair, just seems to be making up the numbers. The film is directed by Leo McCarey who previously won a Best Director Oscar for The Awful Truth and here is reunited with its female star Irene Dunne. Dunne stars as singer Terry McCay who meets French painter Michelle Marnet while on a liner across the Atlantic Ocean. Both are engaged to be married but after some screwball-comedy like banter they fall for each other and their relationship is blessed by Marnet's grandmother when they visit her while the liner is docked. They agree to meet at The Empire State Building but on the way there Terry is hit by a car and may be crippled. Terry is then tended to by Ken, the man she was engaged to, who knows she is still in love with Manet even though Ken is also love with her. Terry then starts to work at an orphanage teaching the little ones how to sing and helping them out at a Christmas concert. It is around that time that she and Ken got to the theatre and by chance Manet is also there. Manet thinks that Ken and Terry are together so blanks her but later on Christmas Day he goes to see her and in the film's final scene they reunite.

Love Affair is a very odd film, in the first twenty minutes or so it seems like McCarey, who also directed Ruggles of Red Gap, was going for another knockabout romantic comedy but then when Terry is hit by a car the mood dramatically changes. I always associated the meeting at the top of The Empire State Building with An Affair to Remember and later with Sleepless in Seattle, maybe this film isn't mentioned in conjunction with that landmark because the lovers never get there. I thought Dunne and Charles Boyer both did a good job and the McCarey's Oscar nominated original story flowed along fairly nicely but that was about it There was also too much singing for a romantic melodrama this was especially true when Terry starts teaching the annoying orphanage kids to sing. Overall then a fairly average romantic piece which really hasn't stood the test of time.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 72: Great Danes

After two Shakespearian adaptations failing to win the Oscars in the 1930s, the final winner at a 1940's Oscar Ceremony was indeed based on one of Will's best loved works. And it was by one of the men who would become famous for his Shakespearian leads that being Laurence Olivier who also won as Best Lead Actor and produced and directed the piece. Unlike a lot of the other films I'm not providing a plot synopsis here because most of you should know the story of Hamlet i.e. Danish prince tries to avenge the death of his father by his uncle, who then married his mother, by trying to get him to admit to the crime and then killing him himself. Obviously this being a tragedy the lion's share of the characters die one way or another, Hamlet's love Ophelia goes a bit potty and drowns herself, Hamlet's mum is poisoned and my favourite is Polonius who is stabbed while behind a curtain giving us the message that Peeping Toms never prosper. But adaptations of Shakespeare's plays should always be analysed by how they look visually. To some extent Olivier has done a good job the scene in which Hamlet writes a play basically about his uncle killing his father is done very well, with the space used for the play being particularly apt. The way this whole scene is lit is brilliant and some colour almost creeps into the scene also. The way that Hamlet's father's ghost is portrayed is also done very well with a suit of armour with a blacked out face surrounded by smoke creating a sense of fear. The filmic techniques also allow for some of the dialogue to be changed with Hamlet delivering some of his soliloquies in voice-over. On the whole though I did find the film was overly stagey and Olivier didn't quite utilise all that was available to him in terms of filmic space. As there was so much opportunity to do something special I feel it was squandered and most of the scenes felt like they were simply being acted on the stage. I know it's an adaptation but Olivier failed to make edits and almost 2 and a half hours it feels too long.

Another problem I had was in Olivier's lead performance, although there's no denying he's one of the greatest actors of all time, I just feel that he was maybe a little too old for Hamlet and he failed to portray some of his vulnerability instead going for all out thespian-mode. The other nominated member of the cast, Jean Simmons as Ophelia, also didn't do a lot for me and I was rather glad when she drowned herself. There were some good supporting performances mainly from Basil Sydney as Claudius, Eileen Herlie as Gertrude and Felix Alymer as Polonius. At the end of the day I think the academy wanted to seem a little cultured that year and that's maybe why Olivier's Hamlet won the big one. I'm not saying it's a bad film but for me Olivier failed to make a film instead this felt more like a filmed version of a Hamlet performance.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 71: Mine All Mine

If I asked which of these films are the least well known - Hitchcock's Suspicion, The Maltese Falcon, Citizen Kane or John Ford's Welsh mining drama How Green Was My Valley. I think most people would say the final film in that list but however that was the film that won at the 1942 ceremony beating those other four films. I would've given it the benefit of the doubt but after watching it I don't think it really deserved the credit it got in terms of its five Oscars. The film deals with the Morgan family as narrated by the youngest son Huw who is recalling his childhood and the various entanglements that his siblings got into. The main theme is old vs. new as the stuck-in-ways old school miner father Gwilym refuses to go on strike his sons, who are fed up of being paid pittance, so the majority of them move out. We are also told the story of Huw's sister who falls for the local preacher who shows kidness to her younger brother, but as he is a man of God and because of the scandal it would cause she marries and older man. However the rumours of a relationship between the two, started by her new husband's housekeeper, sees the sister disgraced and the preacher move away. As Huw grows up he briefly loses the use of his legs after rescuing his mother from drowning but soon recovers and goes away to a school for upper-class boys. Due to his humble origins he is bullied by both the other pupils and the teachers and is taught to stand up for himself by members of his town. The film ends with a large mining disaster in which all members of the family band together to rescue the father from the mine. Although they do pull him out of the mine he dies soon after and Huw recounts his funeral before the adult Huw leaves his family home once and for all.

To give the film its dues, How Green Was My Valley is directed well by Ford who won the Oscar that year and it does have a coherent narrative. There are some impressive set pieces with the mother's drowning and the final mining accident well-crafted and the scenes of family life around the dinner table are also well done. There are also some decent performances Donald Crisp won Best Supporting Actor for his role as the family's patriarch and, as the preacher Mr Gruffyd, Walter Pidgeon was also mightliy impressive as was Supporting Actress nominee Sara Allgood as Huw's sister Beth. However the film just didn't wow me and I found it incredibly ordinary, Roddy MacDowall's Huw got the lion's share of the screen time and wasn't that interesting and the camera work was also fairly mundane. There was nothing very memorable about the film and almost seventy years on from its release it isn't heralded as a classic and isn't even considered one of Ford's best. Also a lot of members of the cast do struggle to get the Welsh accents down with some of them just using Irish instead. I think if nothing else that spoils the film because if you can't do Welsh why be cast as a Welshman in the first place?