Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 133-134: A Tribute to Elizabeth Taylor Part 2

And now on with the second part of my Elizabeth Taylor tribute.

The film I previously mentioned which utilised Taylor correctly was Giant an epic with a difference going over the span of many years of the Benedict family as they become parents and later grandparents. The head of the family Jordan 'Bick' Benedict was played by Rock Hudson while Taylor played his wife Leslie. The film concentrates on old versus new as Bick is the latest in the long line of Benedicts to own the Reata Ranch and is assisted by Mercedes McCambridge's Luz and James Dean's Jett Rink. When Luz dies she leaves a patch of land to Jett and later he strikes rich after finding oil and finds a new way to get money from the land which Bick isn't too pleased with. Bick sells some of his land and gets even more rich from the oil meanwhile Bick and Leslie have three children the eldest of which, Jordy played by a  young Dennis Hopper, wants to be a doctor rather than run the ranch while the older daughter Judy wants to follow in her father's footsteps. Jordy later marries an American Indian woman and fights the prejudice that that brings meanwhile Jett buys a hotel and starts dating the younger daughter Luz II but she stops their relationship after realising he's a bitter drunk and the film ends with Bick realising how good his life is and how much he actually loves his wife. Although overlong there's no doubting that Giant is a magnificent film from the outdoor shots to the story itself I felt it flew through most of its two and a half hour run time. I have to say I could've done without some of the scenes including the one in which Leslie journeys home to see her sister get married to her former beau played by Rod Taylor. As well as a best picture nomination George Stevens managed to win Best Director with acting nominations for Dean, Hudson and McCambridge but nothing for Taylor which is a shame as she really anchors the film playing a woman who doesn't understand why she isn't allowed in Bick's inner circle of men who constantly discuss business. Even though she ages throughout the film she still looks really glamorous and so pretty this is one film in which she shines yet not even a nomination.

But she did get a nomination towards the end of the decade at the 1959 ceremony she was nominated in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof an adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play and one of a handful of Williams stories that became Oscar nominated pictures in the 1950s. The story revolves around Paul Newman's Brick Pollit a drunken ex-Football player now commentator who has come back to Mississippi for his father, Big Daddy's birthday with his wife Maggie known as Maggie the cat. The film, like the play, is centred all around the day of Big Daddy's party with Brick drunk and in his room while Maggie spends most of the time fighting with Brick's brother and his horrible wife and children. Brick is upset with Maggie because he believes she was responsible for the death of his friend Skipper. Apparently one of the things Williams hated about this adaptation was that the supposed homosexual feelings that Brick had for Skipper were cut out so his outbursts aimed towards Maggie weren't as barbed as they might have been had those themes remained in the film. This was alledgedly to do with the Hays Code, the censorship body at the time, disallowing references to homosexuality and therefore muddying this adaptation. The film also ends with a reconciliation between Big Daddy and Brick after the latter finds out the former is dying, this was another scene that was lengthened so the audience could go out with a happy ending. Despite receiving a plethora of nominations the film didn't win a single one possibly because the subject matter and Taylor's very provocative performance were a bit too risque for an Oscar Ceremony in which the Best Picture statuette went to Gigi. I have to say though this film was very good, although it was quite confined as it was used to being played on the stage the actors still gave it their all.

So in the 1950s Taylor went from young innocent daughter to full on vamp while playing the medieval heroine, glamorous socialite and many eras of the same woman in between. This voyage through five of her films has given me an insight into the career of a great actress and there's two more films from her in the 1960s section which I am yet to view and I have to say now I'm looking forward to it.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 131-132: A Tribute to Elizabeth Taylor Part 1

Sadly earlier this year we lost a big film legend in Elizabeth Taylor. Even sadder is the fact that I haven't really watched a lot of her films save National Velvet and The Flintstones when I was younger. So I have used the 1950s Oscar Hunt to watch five her films all nominated for Best Picture during this decade to kick off the first three.

Liz Taylor really made her name in the aforementioned National Velvet but then was still considered a child star but she had to wait till 1950 for what many think as her first adult role in the original version of Father of the Bride a nominee at the 1951 ceremony. Obviously I'm very aware of the Steve Martin remake but have never seen the original starring Spencer Tracy as the father and Taylor as his daughter who gets engaged to Don Taylor's Buckley. Obviously the film shares a lot with the remake but what there is much more of an emphasis on is how much the wedding will cost Tracy's Stanley Banks and his wife Ellie played by Joan Bennett. It also doesn't strike me that the relationship with the daughter is as strong as it is in the remake despite this there is a good chemistry between Tracy, Bennett and Taylor as well as the two actors playing their sons. Tracy's comic voiceover is particularly affecting including in one of the opening scenes where he tries to remember which one of Taylor's potential suitors Buckley is. Tracy is also able to show off his slapstick side in a very long scene in which he tries to try on his old suit which is far too tight for him and which he ends up ripping. From the wedding onwards I recognised most of the scenes from Stanley worrying what he has to say in the church to the fact that he never gets to say goodbye to his daughter until she leaves. I feel that the film isn't quite as funny as it thinks it is but it is still very sweet and you believe that the Banks are a real family going through with a real wedding. To be fair Taylor doesn't have a lot to do apart from look very pretty and sulk occasionally when she feels her wedding is being planned by other people. An interesting Oscar nominee in that is predominantly a comedy film but nonetheless a great film.

A year later Taylor starred opposite Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun again a film nominated for Best Picture and once again Taylor missed out on an acting nomination although Clift and fellow co-star Shelley Winters were both nominated. The film starred Clift as George Eastman a poor relation to a wealthy industrial family. George meets his uncle and cousins and is introduced to Taylor's society girl Angela Vickers instantly falling in love. However he feels he isn't good enough for her and instead starts working in the family factory and beginning a casual relationship with Winters' Al. Al and George go out a couple of times and then George is moved up the social ranks and eventually starts seeing Angela but things are complicated when Al reveals she is pregnant and wants to marry George telling him she'll reveal all to his new friends if he doesn't. Desperate for a happy ending with Angela, George sets out to kill Al while on a boat but instead he can't go through with it but when she accidentally drowns he covers it up and is eventually arrested for her murder in the end he doesn't get A Place in the Sun that he so desperately wanted to share with Taylor. As a romantic melodrama, A Place in the Sun was a great film but I'm not sure if it was Oscar-worthy while Clift and especially Winters both deserved their nominations I feel that Taylor was cruelly snubbed here as every time she breezed onto the screen it lit up. A scene in which she realises she is in love with George happens so smoothly that Taylor is able to show the audience her feelings just using her eyes. It's a bit odd to think that Taylor was only 17 here playing against Clift who was over twelve years her senior but their chemistry does work and you do really understand why George would risk everything for Angela because at the end of the day it is Elizabeth Taylor!

Another year and another Oscar nominee for Liz this time in the swashbuckling adventure Ivanhoe. This was during the time in her career when Taylor wasn't getting the roles she wanted and in terms of this film she wanted the main romantic lead Rowena which went to Joan Fontaine and instead she had to settle playing Rebecca the girl who loved Ivanhoe from afar but could never get him and was forced into a relationship with George Sanders' Norman soldier De-Bois Gilbert who knew that Ivanhoe could never love her. In fact this was Taylor and Fontaine's film both women giving strong performances making the women more than just love interests and a lot more interesting than the lead man. Yes Robert Taylor's pioneering hero who was trying to fight King John's men and reinstate Richard the Lionheart was in fact incredibly bland. 15 years removed from the Errol Flynn era this almost seemed like a back-step for the 1950s cinema. I'm sure that the studio heads wanted to revisit these blockbusters to film them in Technicolor but this did nothing for me and went downhill when Robin Hood had to step in to help Ivanhoe and introduce all his Merry Men. The final scenes in which Taylor is falsely accused of witchcraft were poorly but together and I didn't really care about any of the characters coming away from it. Taylor really wanted bigger films than a supporting role in a mediocre epic thankfully in a few years later she would get that chance.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 130: A Trip to Italy

After two pretty heavy classics I'm ready to have a bit of a break and a bit of light relief so next up are two films both featuring Americans living in Italy and, in the case of the first film Roman Holiday, what happens when a member of the royalty rocks up. That member of royalty is put-upon Princess Ann, played by Audrey Hepburn in her first major role and the only one that would get her the Best Actress Oscar, who while on an official visit to Rome escapes to see the city. Eventually finding herself tired out she is encountered by Gregory Peck's American journalist Joe Bradley who begrudgingly allows her to sleep on his couch. Bradley eventually discovers her identity and smelling a scoop decides to try and trap Anne long enough so he can write a story about it to impress his editor. But during their trip around Rome, accompanied by Joe's photographer friend Irving who is secretly taking pictures of the princess, they inevitably fall for each other and share a kiss before Anne realises that she must return to her duties and leaves Joe in the cold. Joe realises that with his new found feelings for Anne he can no longer publish the story and tells his suspicious editor that he has no idea where the princess is convincing Iriving not to sell the photos they journey to the palace for a press conference where the princess discovers that they are both members of the press. During the press conference Joe and Anne both share their feelings for each other in thinly veiled messages while Irving presents Anne the pictures he took of the three of them together. The final scene sees Joe lingering in the palace eventually leaving.

It is this final scene that stuck with me most of all as I was glad that the film ended with the two going their separate ways rather than having a happy ending. As a whole Roman Holiday was a satisfying film there were parts of it where I found myself getting a little bit bored. I thought Hepburn did very well in her first starring role and opening scenes in which she finds herself tiring of her overly-structured life were particularly endearing. Her chemistry with Peck was also one of the things that made the film work and the way she grows as a character as their relationship develops was another plus point to the film. However I just felt there was just too much dilly dallying and too many establishing shots of Rome it's like William Wyler was trying to drum home the fact that it was shot entirely on location in the Roman capital. Hepburn did indeed deserve her Oscar but I'm surprised that Peck didn't get a nomination as he was just as good as her and the closing scenes really showed a vulnerability to the character that a lesser actor couldn't have mustered. I also don't understand why Eddie Albert, as Irving, was nominated for Supporting Actor when Peck didn't get a look in as Albert had such a minor role in the film that I didn't feel an Oscar nomination was justified. Roman Holiday is certainly a very light film but the romantic comedies of today can't really hold a candle to it.

I'm not sure if the next film Three Coins in the Fountain, also considered itself a romantic comedy, but one of the problems with it was that it had no definite tone. The Fountain in question is the Trevi Fountain in Rome and the three coins belong to American women working as secretaries in the Italian capital played by Dorothy McGuire, Jean Peters and Maggie MacNamara. Inevitably each find love McNamara plays Maria the newest secretary out in Rome and is told by Peters' Anita that Rome is horrible place for secretaries to fall in love. But soon both find romance Maria with an Italian prince and Anita with local boy and fellow office worker Georgio however the latter's romance is in jeapordy as the boss has a strict rule about the American girls fraternising with the Italians. Finally McGuire's Frances has been in love with her boss the reclusive writer Shadwell, played by Clifton Webb, but her coin in the fountain finally works out as the two fall in love but the hindrance here is the fact that Shadwell finds out he is dying. Three Coins is the first film since I entered the 1950s that is filmed in Technicolor and that it was one of its advantages. The colour cinematography, which one it an Oscar, allows the film to capture some of Rome's landmarks in beautiful sparkling colour and therefore does a better job of selling Italy than perhaps Roman Holiday does. The other thing the film is famous for is the Dean Martin song of the same name which is better remembered than the film and won it its second Oscar. However beautiful it might look and sound there was really not enough going on for me in Three Coins to keep me interested. I feel that if it had been One Coin in the Fountain then I may've been hooked but there wasn't enough time to cover all three romances in depth especially that between Anita and Giorgio which was almost a two-scene love affair. The corniest part of the whole film is the final scene in which each woman is at the fountain and is greeted by her respective love interest. I think if this film had been made today then it wouldn't have been nominated for an Oscar but back in the 1950s a sparkly new colour film made in Italy was probably seen as being revolutionary by the Academy.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 129: Two from the West

We trickle on down the river of the Oscar hunt as we have two westerns for your delectation and delight.

Kicking off with High Noon, a nominee from the 1953 ceremony but a film that did win four awards including Best Actor for Gary Cooper and Best Original Song for the completely annoying Do Not Forsake me My Darling which plays throughout the film. Cooper stars as Will Kane the sheriff of a small New Mexico territory who is to give up his job and leave the town with his new wife Grace Kelly's Amy. However just before he is to go he gets word that Frank Miller, a criminal that he convicted, is to return and has his mind set on revenge. Even though he is advised to leave the town he realises that things will only get worse if he doesn't take care of Miller. He desperately tries to drum up support in his help of taking down Miller and his three gang members but is met with resistance from everyone he asks some on personal reasons, others because they are scared and some because they think that it will make the town look bad if it became associated with a shootout. At noon, Miller gets in and a classic shootout begins in the deserted town between Miller's gang and Kane. I have to say I really like High Noon mainly because of its simplicity. The central theme with Kane going round the town is handled well with everybody finding different reasons not to help him even though most concede that Kane has helped clean up the town they just don't want to help him. The design of the town is also deftly handled each set is laid out well and this helps in the final scenes with the shootout. Cooper gives a good performance and is ably supported by Lloyd Bridges as his deputy who refuses to help out as he is jealous of Kane and thinks he still has designs on his ex-girlfriend now Bridges' girl. This girl is Helen Ramirez played by Katy Jurado who sizzles in the film coming across as a strong Latino woman and a lot more interesting than Grace Kelly's pacifist who has little to do for most of the film apart from hang around at the station although she does come into her own in the final scenes. As I've said I found the song completely annoying and its not perfect but as a classic western High Noon still stands up today.

Going forward one year we have Shane another fairly simplistic western seeing Alan Ladd as the titular stranger who comes to a town which is involved in a war between the homesteaders and the landowners lead by Emile Meyer's Ryker. Shane eventually moves in with Van Heflin's homesteader Joe Starrett and helps strengthen their cause while at the same time becoming a second father to Starrett's son and falling in love with his wife Marian played by Jean Arthur in her final film role. Shane incorporates several showdowns between each gangs as Ryker becomes rattled by Shane and hires ruthless gunslinger Jack Wilson played by Jack Palance. Wilson quickly takes out one of the best loved homesteaders who is able to stick to his ground. After his funeral Starrett tries to rally the homesteaders against Ryker and most agree to help him. Shane realises that the only way to help Starrett is to take down Wilson and Ryker and free the homesteaders of the threat of them losing the land once and for all. After a gun battle, witnessed by Starrett's son and his dog, Shane is wounded and goes off on his horse at the end with the audience wondering whether he is dead or not. As we are now into the 1950s colour is starting to be used more and more and that is evident in Shane which won an Oscar for its cinematography. Taking advantage of its large sweeping landscapes and exterior shots Shane is a gorgeously shot film and also is great in its themes of what it means to be a man with the juxtaposition between the classic hero Shane and the grounded family man Starrett both envy each other for different reasons and that's why each of them want to sort out Ryker. Ladd, Arthur and Hefflin all play their roles very well and Ladd in particular has a difficult job portraying a character with very little dialogue. None of these got an acting nomination instead Palance was nominated as the striking Wilson while Brandon De Wilde as Joey Starrett also got a nod despite being really annoying throughout the film like most child actors in the 1950s. The biggest problem with the film for me is Meyer whose Ryker never comes off as a viable threat appearing more as a pantomime villain but despite this Shane is a competently directed Western which capitalises on the use of Technicolor cinematography and utilises to its full extent.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 128: Faded Stars and Small Pictures

By the 1950s film-makers and screenwriters were playing around with new ways to drive the action and one way this was done was by focusing on Hollywood itself and 1951 nominee Sunset Boulevard does just that. Narrated by its lead character, William Holden's struggling screenwriter Joe Gillis, it tells the story of how he came to be living with former star of silent pictures Norma Desmond. Gillis while trying to escape from people who owes money to has a flat tyre and drives into the garage of what he believes to be a deserted mansion. It is only when he is confronted by the only member of staff, Erich Von Stroheim's Max, that he finds out that the house actually belongs to Desmond. Gillis, who owes money all over town, agrees to help Desmond edit her screenplay about Salome and bit by bit he finds himself living in the house and eventually in the room in which all of Desmond's former husbands have lived in. Although a satire the film almost becomes a horror picture with Joe feeling trapped in the house, which in itself becomes a character, and by Desmond who buys Joe expensive clothes and accessories to make him stick around. Meanwhile Joe is secretly sneaking out to Paramount Studios to work on one of his own screenplays alongside the beautiful Betty Schaefer who just happens to be engaged to one of his best friends. These nightly rendevouzes quickly turn into something more and when Desmond discovers what he's been up to she goes into a fit of hysterics. She also discovers that she is no longer wanted by any director, Cecile B De Mille pops up at one point as himself as one of Desmond's former friends and has to do something drastic for the cameras to focus on her.

Sunset Boulevard was partly successful at the 1951 Ceremony winning three awards including a very deserved prize for Best Screenplay and Story. One thing that drives Sunset forward is its narrative provided by Gillis now looking back on all the mistakes he had made throughout the course of the film. The Art Direction of the daunting house and Franz Waxman's haunting score also picked up wins. I believe though had the film not come up against the juggernaut that was All About Eve it would've triumphed even more. It is one of only a handful of films to have someone nominated in all four acting categories and I was especially surprised to see that Swanson lost to Judy Holliday rather than one of Eve's two principal actresses. Swanson is definitely the best thing about the film her Norma Desmond sticks in the mind long after you've finished watching from her manic eyes to her raspy commanding voice everything about her strikes fear in the viewer. Holden is brilliant as the down-on-his-luck everyman who thinks he spots an opportunity to exploit Desmond before seeing that it is the other way around. Von Stroheim, also nominated, adds something more to the film as Max's true identity is revealed later in the film we find out why he is devoted to Norma in the way he is. Finally the beautiful Nancy Olson as Betty was also nominated for bringing a strong presence to a character who could've just become the token love interest. I'm so glad I re-watched this film as I'd forgotten just how good it was and just how brilliant the writing is. I've not got a problem with the fact that it lost but as long as people still remember the film and still watch it then I'll be happy with that. And I think I agree with Desmond one aspect the pictures now have gotten smaller than they were when Sunset was released.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 127: My Day in Court

So finally a new decade in the Oscar challenge and we move from the tumultuous 1940s to the glorious 1950s in which the big screen came alive as Technicolor became more and more frequent and the cinemas were dominated by large, colourful epics luckily Oscar still had place in its nomination slots to honour smaller films that were well written but may've only had two or three sets to their name. And we're starting off with two such films both based in a courtroom setting.

The first of these two films is 1958 nominee Witness for the Prosecution the adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel starring Charles Laughton as the belligerent Sir Wilfred a brilliant barrister who has just returned to his chambers having suffered from health problems. It is not long before Wilfred is visited by a solicitor friend who has a new client - Leonard Vole who is accused of murdering the wealthy spinster Emily French with strong circumstantial evidence pointing towards him as the killer. The only person who can vouch for his whereabouts and act as his alibi is his German wife Christine, here played by the sultry Marlene Dietrich, but Wilfred warns that a testimony from a loving wife doesn't hold up to much. The best scenes of the film happen in the Old Bailey mainly because the set is so impressive, it had been recreated by Alexandre Trauner, and is also where the trial begins The prosecution calls several witnesses before their key witness is revealed as Christine acting as the titular Witness for the Prosecution. Anything I say from there would spoil the film and I was told specifically at the end of the film by a stern voice-over not to tell my friends anything about the film's conclusion. I will say however that I very much enjoyed Witness for the Prosecution and most of that is down to Laughton's performance a mix of drama and comedy he captures what I believe the character needed and ultimately is able to do the right thing. It is odd to see Laughton act this way after portraying a bunch of villains in the 1930s, in films such as Les Miserables and Mutiny on the Bounty, however he did display comic flare in Ruggles of Red Gap and he uses that here getting a Best Actor Nomination but ultimately losing to Alec Guinness. The other Oscar nominee here is Elsa Lanchester who plays Sir Wilfred's fussing personal nurse Miss Plimsoll with whom Wilfred clashes but by the end they have a grudging respect for what the other does while I did enjoy this performance I'm surprised Dietrich didn't get a nomination for playing her feme fatale role to great effect. Sometimes the tone doesn't feel just right, occasionally the comedy feels misjudged especially since this is a film about an old woman who has been murdered but the great ending which I didn't see coming makes up for any shifts in tone.

Also nominated at the 1958 ceremony was a film which is still my favourite of all time that being the late Sidney Lumet's classic 12 Angry Men. If you haven't seen the film then you need to as, in the words of one of my friends, it's good for you but I will indulge you with a small plot summary nonetheless. Almost all of the film takes place in a jury room in which the twelve men who make up the jury are discussing whether the boy on trial killed his father or not and if they find him guilty he will go to the chair. The boy has been raised in a slum and two witnesses attest to seeing the boy stab his father or that they heard him shout that he was going to kill him. Initially only Henry Fonda's Juror Number 8 stands up for the boy voting Not Guilty in the first round of votes so that there can be a discussion about the trial and whether all the evidence was completely accurate. Some people bring their own prejudices to the table for example one juror has a problem with people from slum backgrounds while another lets his personal issues cloud his judgment. The best thing about the film, in my opinion, is the way in which the plot unravels and the characters are given more depth as the time goes on. We only learn two of the juror's names and that only happens in the very final scene instead they are referred to simply by their juror numbers. Despite the cramped setting, filmic techniques are still employed throughout 12 Angry Men including using different shots to focus on either the whole set or one character in particular for example a close-up on Juror Number 4 who in his own words never sweats but is in fact seen perspiring during one key moment. I honestly can't find fault with this film and have seen it so many times and I'm still horrified that it didn't win Best Picture or at least Best Screenplay. The only actor nominated for his role in the film was Fonda which I think is a mistake there are plenty of strong performances most notably from Lee J Cobb as the last angry man Juror No. 3. Overall a masterpiece and that's my final word on the matter.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge: Reviewing the Ceremonies 12-21 (1940-1949)

As you know the way I have been doing this Oscar ceremony business is by watching the films by when the awards ceremonies were held rather than when the films were released so in fact the final ceremony celebrates films released in 1948 and the films released in 1949 will be reviewed as part of the 1950s selection. Anyway in this blog I will look back at all the films I have watched and give my verdict on whether or not the right film won.

Ceremony 12: 1940
Winner: Gone with the Wind
Nominees: Dark Victory, Goodbye Mr Chips, Love Affair, Mr Smith Goes to Washington,Ninotchka, Of Mice and Men, Stagecoach The Wizard of Oz, Wuthering Heights
Did the Right Film Win: Yes
Although I do think Gone with the Wind waffles on a bit it's still an epic and rightly viewed as a classic plus the only real competition comes from The Wizard of Oz and possibly Stagecoach and Mr Smith but in terms of story and more importantly filmic qualities Gone with the Wind wins hands down.

Ceremony 13: 1941
Winner: Rebecca
Nominees : All This and Heaven Too, Foreign Correspondent, The Grapes of Wrath, The Great Dictator, Kitty Foyle, The Letter, The Long Voyage Home, Our Town, The Philadelphia Story
Did the Right Film Win: Yes
This was a tough one as I really enjoyed The Great Dictator and felt that it was really ahead of its time in terms of satire and pastiche but I do love a bit of Hitchcock and as Rebecca is the only Hitch film that ever won an Oscar I feel that its win is justified and it is a brilliant film anyway.

Ceremony 14: 1942
Winner: How Green Was My Valley
Nominees: Blossoms in the Dust, Citizen Kane, Here Comes Mr Jordan, Hold Back the Dawn, The Little Foxes, The Maltese Falcon, One Foot in Heaven, Sergeant York, Suspicion
Did the Right Film Win: No
I know in the early days of the Academy there was a lot of love for John Ford but I think they'd be forced to admit that the Welsh mining drama wasn't his finest hour. I think the award rightfully should've gone to a little movie called Citizen Kane which has had much more of a lasting effect than the winner that year.

Ceremony 15: 1943
Winner: Mrs Miniver
Nominees: 49th Parallel, King's Row, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Pied Piper, Pride of the Yankees, Random Harvest, The Talk of the Town, Wake Island, Yankee Doodle Dandy
Did the Right Film Win: Maybe
This is another case of a film winning in a year where there isn't a clear film better than the victor however there are a lot that would match Mrs Miniver personally I enjoyed Random Harvest more as a Greer Garson vehicle and as Welles lost the year before maybe The Ambersons should've taken it this year however there isn't one film that jumps out as an alternative winner so I'll let Miniver have it this time around.

Ceremony 16: 1944
Winner: Casablanca
Nominees: For Whom the Bell Tolls, Heaven Can Wait, The Human Comedy, In Which We Serve, Madame Curie, The More the Merrier, The Ox-Bow Incident, The Song of Bernadette, Watch on the Rhine
Did the Right Film Win: Yes
Nothing much to say here while there are some strong contenders Casablanca still stands up today as a brilliant film.

Ceremony 17: 1945
Winner: Going my Way
Nominees: Double Indemnity, Gaslight, Since You Went Away, Wilson
Did the Right Film Win: No
This ceremony saw the field slimmed down to five nominees which would stay that way until 2010 and while I'm aware that in the final year of the war it was nice to have a Bing Crosby film to cheer everyone up however Going my Way is such a cheesy film that just looks a bit dated as compared to the classic that is the gripping Double Indemnity or the ensemble wartime drama Since You Went Away both of which would've made ideal replacements for Crosby's singing priest.

Ceremony 18: 1946
Winner: The Lost Weekend
Nominees: Anchors Aweigh, The Bells of St. Mary, Mildred Pierce, Spellbound
Did the Right Film Win: Maybe
I do feel that The Lost Weekend had a lot going for it in terms of style and message however, from a cinematic point-of-view Hitchcock's Spellbound was better while Mildred Pierce had a more interesting story. But as Billy Wilder lost the year before I think he deserved a win and The Lost Weekend is by no means an average film it just doesn't have that quality about it that I feel a Best Picture winner should.

Ceremony 19: 1947
Winner: The Best Years of Our Lives
Nominees: Henry V, It's a Wonderful Life, The Razor's Edge, The Yearling
Did the Right Film Win: Yes
There are probably a lot of people that are startled here that I didn't pick It's a Wonderful Life as this year's worthy winner however I feel The Best Years of Our Lives is a film that a lot of people forget about which is a shame as it is full of stunning performances and a good overall feel to it, it has that big film quality to it that a Best Picture Winner deserves.

Ceremony 20: 1948
Winner: Gentleman's Agreement
Nominees: The Bishop's Wife, Crossfire, Great Expectations, Miracle on 34th Street
Did the Right Film Win: No
Again this is a year in which the winner just doesn't cut it for me and as a replacement surely David Lean's adaptation of Great Expectations is worthy full of elegance and cinematic brilliance this is one Lean that didn't get the love that Lawrence of Arabia or Bridge on the River Kwai did but deserves it just as much.

Ceremony 21: 1949
Winner: Hamlet
Nominees: Johnny Belinda, The Red Shoes, The Snake Pit, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Did the Right Film Win: No
A year in which there are two films which better deserved the award. I would call out The Red Shoes as it is one of the first films to use the Techincolor concept to its advantage, as one of these films however the best film from this year has to be The Treasure of the Sierra Madre which uses a very slight story to build up into a tense psychological drama and all three leads are terrific.

So there you go the 1940s did give us some classic winners such as Casablanca, Rebecca and Gone with the Wind but we also got How Green was My Valley and Going My Way anyway now onto the less demanding 1950s a time where film-making was getting better more colour, more depth and unfortunately a lot more singing and dancing.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 126: The Bette Quartet Part Four

So we've finally made it, it's the last film in the 1940s section of the Big Oscar Challenge and it ties in nicely with the end of the Bette Davis quartet however in Watch on the Rhine she is less of the star and more part of an ensemble including an Oscar winning turn from Paul Lukas as her German husband. The film, based on a successful Broadway play, sees Lukas and Davis' Kurt and Sara journey from Germany to Washington to stay with Sara's mother and brother. Kurt is a staunch anti-Nazi and had been involved in resistance work in both Germany and Spain and he, Sara and their three children had hoped to lie low but because of Sara's mother Fanny's other houseguests that wasn't the case. Also staying with Fanny were the Romanian count Tec and his young wife Marthe who is secretly in love with David. Tec consorts with Nazi Officers and plays poker with them and threatens to reveal Kurt's whereabouts and his desire to return to Germany unless he is given money. Instead of paying off Tec, David shoots him and then flees to Germany after not hearing from his for five months, Sara's eldest Son Joshua reveals his plans to return to their homeland and find his father and asks his mother to prepare his younger brother for the time where he may be called to do the same thing.

As always seems to be the case Bette Davis was at war with most of the people involved in the film from the very beginning. She didn't like the fact that Herman Shumlin, who had originally directed the play, had never directed a film before and also fell out with Lucile Watson who played her mother as they shared different political views. I was shocked that Davis agreed to take the role as it is so small, other actresses such as Irene Dunne had turned it down as they saw it as a supporting role, but she agreed so much with the politics and the staunch anti-fascist message that she was prepared to take the role. She also didn't agree with the fact that she was promoted as the star of the film as the role was so small and indeed I feel that we didn't see the best of Davis in this film even though she did bring her larger than life acting style to an understated role. But it is Lukas who really stood out here and did deliver a worthy Oscar nominated performance however whether it is better than Humphrey Bogart's in Casablanca is questionable. As a film itself I found it very much a piece of two halves, the first half introduces the characters and is mainly involved with getting Sara and her family to Fanny's house there is a lot of small talk about dresses, opening other people's post and polishing silverware. However when the film really gets going is when Tec gets manipulative and especially in the final scenes involving the blackmail and the shooting, which again was another contentious point for the critics as they thought Kurt should've been killed by the Nazis as revenge to get his comeuppance but eventually agreed that Tec deserved. Not so much a Bette Davis film as a Paul Lukas one this film, involving the Nazi movement, the war and how it affects the family, is a very strong one throughout the 1940s ouevre and is a perfect way to end the Davis selection and indeed the 1940s portion of the Big Oscar Challenge.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 125: Over My Dead Body

A few weeks ago I wrote my review of Heaven Can Wait in it I stated that the 1978 film starring Warren Beatty was a remake of a different Oscar nominated film - Here Comes Mr Jordan which I am next to watch. In the film Robert Montgomery plays the prize fighter Joe Pendleton who crashes his plane on his way to his championship fight as he was too busy playing with his lucky saxophone. He is transported to heaven by one of the many messengers whose job it is to transport bodies from this life to the next however when the messenger tells his boss Mr Jordan about Pendleton's arrival it seems that he is fifty years too early. Jordan, Pendleton and the Messenger then have to find a new body for him as his remains have been cremated by his manager Max. Finally Pendleton's spirit is repackaged in the body of millionaire Farnsworth who has just been murdered by his wife and his business secretary who are conducting an affair. As Farnsworth, Joe falls for the beautiful Miss Logan and helps get her father out of jail before convincing Max that he is still Joe and helping him train 'Farnsworth' up for a prize fight. Before he can carry on his fight Jordan warns him that his time as Farnsworth is up as he gets shot again and this time killed by his wife. Eventually Joe is able to inhabit the body of his rival Murdoch who has been shot by gamblers during his title match. After winning the title Joe as Murdoch is able to tell Max about the murder and Farnsworth's wife is murdered. Jordan than eliminates any memories of Joe from Murdoch's mind but he still hires Max as his manager and goes off with Miss Logan at the end of the film.

Here Comes Mr Jordan is an enjoyable and lightweight comedy whose main strength is its cast. Although his performance is slightly grating at times, Montgomery is fine as the man who keeps jumping from body to body trying to find his identity. However it is Claude Rains' performance as Mr Jordan which really did it for me being both sensitive and charming as well as witty Raines is able to explore his range. Jordan never shouts but is always present when Joe needs some advice this is a good plot device which is used very well. The one thing I had a problem with is there is not enough information about Farnsworth the motivations that his wife wants to kill him apart from his money or the romance with Miss Logan to find myself caring about either of these relationships. However the film mainly is about the bromance between Joe and Max and I found myself really routing for these two to come good and in the end Max got to manage the champion in Joe as Murdoch. While it doesn't really feel like a worthy Oscar contender Here Comes Mr Jordan is an easy watch but at the same it is a little frustrating and wraps everything up very quickly but not as neatly as it wants to but at least its less offensive than the 2001 Chris Rock remake Down to Earth, whether Beatty's remake is better will have to be seen when we get to the 1970s.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 124: It Happened One Night

At the 1948 Oscar ceremony the winner was Gentleman's Agreement a film all about prejudice against Jews and the next film in the list and fellow nominee Crossfire also deals with similar themes. Crossfire begins with a fight between two men we don't see their faces but one is a soldier and the other man, Samuels, gets beaten to death and it's up to Robert Young's police Captain Finlay to find out who did it. The original suspect is Mitchell who was drinking with Samuels and came back to his apartment but when Mitchell's superior Keeley comes back he gets a different story from him. Mitchell tells him that he ended up at a bar where he met a young woman, Ginny, and ended up letting himself into her apartment after she gave him the key. When he woke up he found a man there, later revealed to be her ex-husband, and left only to find the police waiting for him and retreating to a local movie theatre. After conducting interviews Finlay realises that the only motive for Samuels murder is one of hate and because he is a Jew. Finlay finds out Mitchell didn't know of Samuels' Jewish background but fellow soldier Montgomery was also on the scene and mentioned it a few times. After Montgomery kills the other soldier who knows about the murder, Finlay tracks him down and shoots him as he tries to escape.

At first I found Crossfire a bit irritating it introduced new characters far too quickly for my liking and it was also hard to tell them apart as they were all in army uniform. However I did come to appreciate the little touches such as the use of shadow and the non-linear narrative. We are given two versions of events firstly Montgomery's account of what happened which he gives to Finlay and the second is Mitchell's testimony to Keeley which is shot in the movie theatre the only light present in this scene coming from the screen. Unlike Gentleman's Agreement, Crossfire is never particularly preachy about prejudice apart from in one scene when Finlay tells one of the soldiers about how is grandfather was killed just because he was from an Irish background. In terms of the acting Robert Ryan is particularly convincing as the evil Montgomery and Paul Kelly is also particularly sinister as Ginny's ex-husband and Roberts Young and Mitchum hold the whole thing together. But the best performance, and the only Oscar nominated one, in the cast comes from Gloria Grahame as Ginny the girl who has been chatted up by more men than she cares to explain and just wants out of that life. Overall a very enjoyable crime story that has a strong narrative and some memorable characters.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 123: Cary on Talking

Taking a step away from Bette Davis for one minute we find 1943 nominee The Talk of the Town which I presumed from the stars, Cary Grant and Frank Capra favourite Jean Arthur, was a knockabout screwball comedy. But then I started to watch it and within the first few minutes Grant's Leopold had been arrested for arson and had escaped from prison. However after that things to take a turn for the 'comedy of errors' as Leopold arrives at the house of his old friend Nora who agrees to hide him but at the same time is welcoming Professor Lightcap who is renting her property over the summer. To protect Leopold's identity Nora agrees to become Lightcap's temporary secretary and when the Professor discovers Leopold she lies and tells him it is the gardener. Soon the three form a small family but when Lightcap discovers Leopold's true identity he rings the police but again the fugitive goes on the run. Lightcap gets to the bottom of the arson case and finds out that it was an insurance job and he and Leopold gather the evidence together. Leopold is acquitted and Lightcap is accepted to the Supreme Court and proposes to Nora however instead she decides she would rather be with Leopold and the two go off at the end of the film.

The Talk of the Town was definitely an easy film to watch and it did have it moments. All three leads were superb especially Ronald Colman playing the uptight professor who softens when he falls for Nora and Arthur is perfect as the sweet and innocent girl who may not be all she seems. I was surprised that Grant played such an aggressive role in this but again he softens when the three of them become a small family and there are definitely moments of homoeroticism between Lightcap and Leopold. The opening scene is almost done as a silent movie with scenes of the fire and newspaper headlines replacing characters explaining the plot, the mob mentality and the lack of justice in Leopold's case are also interesting themes in the film. However I just found the film a little bit too all over the place as it just really didn't seem to make its mind up what it wanted to be - crime thriller, screwball farce or romantic comedy - there were elements of all but really no genre won out which made me a little uneasy. Saying that though it was a good little film but director George Stevens would go on to produce much better work in the next decade with four of his five films from the 1950s being nominated for Best Picture. 

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 122: The Bette Quartet Part 3

As I said when I reviewed Dark Victory I feel that I may've misjudge Bette Davis on the three films I have watched her in up to that point. In The Letter and especially in Jezebel and The Little Foxes she played a manipulative woman who would use what she had to get what she wanted and she didn't care who she hurt along the way. But in Dark Victory and the next film on our list All This and Heaven Too she plays the innocent in this case an English woman teaching French in an American Girls School who is victim of gossip from her students after they found out she was in a French prison. To dispel any gossip or rumours, Davis' Henrietta - better known throughout the film as Mademoiselle, tells them the story of her becoming the governess to a Duke and Duchess played by Charles Boyer and Barbara O'Neil who are known throughout the film as Monsieur and Madame. From Mademoiselle's appointment the couple are arguing and the children are reacting to the friction in their parents' marriage luckily she is able to calm them down and quickly she becomes a friend to them. With Monsieur spending a lot of time with his children he quickly strikes up a friendship with Mademoiselle to which Madame reads too much into and becomes extremely jealous when the two attend a concert together along with one of the girls and their appearance gets them into the newspapers. Eventually Madame throws Mademoiselle out of the house and she goes to stay with a friend while she waits for her former employer to write her a letter of recommendation. However the letter never comes and when the Duke confronts his wife she tells him she will never write it and in a fit of rage he kills her. Mademoiselle and Monsieur are both arrested on suspicion of committing the murder together however he poisons himself and without enough evidence to link her to the crime she is let out of prison and thanks to a friendship with the American consulate lands herself the job at the girls school. The film ends with the girls hugging their new teacher probably because they've got out of a two hour French lesson.

In my opinion All This and Heaven Too would've been better if Davis had played the Madame, jealous of her husband's relationship with the new young nanny and then she could've used her influence over the servants and the members of the town to drive the new housekeeper out. However Davis instead chose to take the more personable role of Henrietta and she does excel eventually standing up to the Madame and receiving her marching orders however it is not as commanding a performance as some of her others and it did not get her an Oscar nomination. The only Oscar nomination went o O'Neil who was absolutely superb as the paranoid and uptight Duchess who throws wild accusations all over the place and eventually receives her comeuppance. Boyer again plays one of those characters who you're not quite sure about and in the end he reveals his true colours by killing his wife and then making it look like a robbery. What I probably liked best about the film was its campy nature from the way it tried to convince us that we were really watching 19th Century France to the creepy performances from some of the suspicious servants in the house to the design of the Duke and Duchess' mansion itself. But what spoilt it for me was the performance of all the child actors who had pretty hefty roles and none were really good in them either coming off as precocious, annoying or both. My other criticism would be that it took far too long getting to the point where Boyer and Davis realised their feelings for one another and then the murder scenes and their fallout were rather rushed. Still a good film, All this and Heaven Too would've been much better if it had been slimmed down and if Davis was allowed to play the villainess.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 121: The Bette Quartet Part Two

I do think maybe I have the wrong impression of Bette Davis films in that maybe she doesn't always play the same character. So far the three films I've seen on the challenge - Jezebel, The Letter and The Little Foxes have all been directed by William Wyler and have seen Davis play manipulative or sly to at least some extent. In the second of the four film Bette Davis marathon we have Dark Victory a film which sees Davis play New York socialite Judith who likes to party and also likes to ride and train horses. After she falls from a horse Judith is taken to see Dr Steele who conducts tests and finds out she has a brain tumour which will eventually kill her. Steele operates on her to give her as much of her life as he can and at the same time they begin a romance which ends when Judith finds out that her condition will still kill her and she finds solace in the arms of horse trainer Michael. Eventually Judith comes to her senses and moves with Dr Steele to Vermont where they are married but when Judith finds her symptoms are coming back she lies to her new husband packing him off to a conference in New York where he is to give a speech about her condition then she bids farewell to her friend, her housekeeper and her dogs and goes to bed, the last scene we see is off the screen fading to grey.

Dark Victory is an odd beast and it is very hard indeed to categorise it maybe a romantic tragedy would be the best way. From about 30 minutes in we the audience know that Judith is going to die and eventually she finds this out as well and decides to marry her doctor. All the revelations and discoveries happen very quickly and arguments are resolved within about five minutes of them starting. I kept waiting for Judith to change in character and become at least a little bit evil like most of Davis' characters do, perhaps after the operation was over. I am surprised at the performance Davis gives here for the most part it is restrained, it is sympathetic and more than that for the first time her character seems human. George Brent as Dr Steele was starring alongside Davis for an eighth time and it shows as their chemistry is winning while Geraldine Fitzgerald as Judith's best friend Ann is also fairly interesting. However most surprising was the appearance of Humphrey Bogart as Michael the Horse Trainer, such a small role for an actor who would go on to great things but here has quite a minor role as the man who will always hold a flame for Judith but will never be good enough for her. While Dark Victory is completely melodramatic and over the top it is a nice change of pace for a Bette Davis film to have such a humanistic edge to it and I for one welcome the difference in characteristics between Judith and the other turns I have seen from Davis up to this point.