Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 189: Me and Mr Jones

Every time I come across a Best Picture winner I haven't seen before I get a little bit more excited. In theory every winner of the Best Picture award should be an outstanding film and in some cases we've seen that. However for every Casablanca there's an Around the World in 80 Days and I'm afraid that Tom Jones may fall into that latter category. The 1964 Best Picture winner was of course an adaptation of Henry Fielding's novel however I'm not sure how much writer John Osbourne stuck to the original source material. The basic story of the film sees a Squire adopt the titular hero after believing he was the result of an affair between two servants. When Tom Jones grows up, and is played by Albert Finney, he turns into a womanising hunter with no respect for the high society into which he was adopted. Tom does find love with Susannah York's Sophie however her suitor tries to keep Tom and Sophie apart. He eventually convinces the Squire that Tom is evil so the Squire sends Tom away to seek a life outside of his house. The second half of the film then sees Tom join the army and almost get murdered by a fellow officer. Sophie meanwhile runs away from home and the two keep missing each other before finally ending up in London. It is in London that Tom falls under the spell of the devious Lady Bellaston who claims she will reunite him with his beloved Sophie. Eventually Tom is falsely arrested for attempted murder and robbery with a race ensuing to save him from the gallows after certain truths are revealed.

The best way to describe Tom Jones would be as a series of set pieces tied together to make one film. I have to say I wasn't a fan of the film as a whole although certain set pieces were fairly enjoyable. I found Tony Richardson's directorial style to be fairly anarchic and he almost employed the philosophy of 'let's throw everything at the wall and see what sticks'. Therefore there are a lot of different styles employed such as a silent-film homage as an opening sequence and later a lot of characters are seen to be breaking the fourth wall. Richardson also has seemed to ask all of his cast members to ham it up as much as possible because that is the style of acting that most are employing here. I have to say Albert Finney was at least an amiable presence in the lead role and his cheekiness was endearing rather than annoying. The better members of the female cast were Joan Greenwood as the sly Lady Bellaston and Joyce Redman as the boisterous Mrs Waters. My personal favourite elements of the film had to be John Addison's lively score and Walter Lassally's sumptuous cinematography. While Tom Jones isn't the worse film to win the Best Picture Award I still found it completely unremarkable and there was never one moment like I felt that this could've been the best film in contention at the 1964 ceremony. However you'll just have to keep reading to find out what I thought deserved to win the award that year.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 188: The Trouble with Texans

The one gripe a lot of us have about the Oscars in 2013 is that there is a lot of lobbying going on and often the least-deserving films get a Best Picture nod. Lobbying isn't a particularly new idea though and in 1961 John Wayne did plenty of it for his pet project The Alamo. Indeed The Alamo ended up getting a Best Picture nomination over more deserving films such as Psycho and Spartacus. Wayne, who acted as director as well as star and producer, obviously thought the tale of The Alamo was one worth telling but after seeing the film I'm not entirely sure why. As you can imagine from the title, the film essentially tells the story of the lead up to the battle of The Alamo. The three men in charge of the mission have different philosophies and this also plays into the film's narrative. Firstly there's William Travis a fairly stoic soul who wants things done the proper way and wants his men to learn to fight rather than drink and be merry. Then there's the alcoholic Jim Bowie who resents Travis' nature and believes himself to be the more experienced official. Finally there's legendary Davy Crockett, played by Wayne, who arrives at The Alamo to bring his men to fight alongside the Texans. The plot sees the three men attempt to bond and formulate a strategy to try and take down the Mexican forces. The final part of the film sees the battle itself and watches the three men in action as the Mexicans attempt to overpower them and take The Alamo.

I wasn't surprised when I learnt that The Alamo didn't recoup the money that was spent on it as to me it was a fairly dreary film. At over two and a half hours I really didn't feel that it was well-paced and there were far too many scenes of men in rooms just talking to each other. I feel that part of the failure of the film is Wayne's direction which isn't particularly exciting which means that The Alamo pales in comparison to some of Wayne's earlier westerns. In fact the only memorable scenes in the entire film are in the final act where we get to see the actual Battle of The Alamo itself. I believe that these would be the scenes that audiences at the time would've come to see though I reckon they would've resented having to sit through two hours of talking in order to get that far. In terms of casting the only one of the three leads that brings anything to the table is Laurence Harvey as the professional Travis. Harvey was recruited by Wayne after Room at the Top and this was his first major vehicle as a star. Wayne meanwhile is miscast as Crockett as it really is hard to buy him as a leader of men especially at this late stage of his career. The only acting nomination the film received was for Chill Wills who plays Beekeeper who is the comic relief of the film. It's plain to see that the only reason The Alamo would get a Best Picture nod is through heavy lobbying and that's obviously what's happened. It's just a shame that some of the other films released in the same year didn't qualify because John Wayne through his weight around and got awarded for it.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 187: Parental Guidance

It's often easy to spot a film based on a successful play by the way it's constructed. If there's plenty of scenes set in one location and parts of the film where one character dominates the dialogue then it's pretty likely that it started life on the stage. That is definitely true of the 1966 nominee A Thousand Clowns which was based on the play by Herb Gardner. The story sees eccentric unemployed TV writer Murray Burns try to care for his nephew Nick while at the same time trying to dodge doing any work. Murray's situation changes when the child welfare board come to meet Nick and inspect Murray's apartment to see if it is suitable for a twelve year old to live in. During their visit, Murray is able to charm child psychologist Sandra and the two strike up a relationship based on her love of Murray's infectious personality. Despite him charming Sandra, the child welfare board deem that Nick must move out of Murray's apartment though he does have the chance to appeal. Sandra tells Murray that he must get a job in order to show that he is attempting to change his ways however Murray really despises being a worker. Murray eventually asks his agent brother Arnold for help getting work but Murray quickly tires of the TV executives that Arnold gets him to meet. At the same time Murray's relationship with Sandra sours when she realises he doesn't live in the same world as everybody else. In the end Murray realises that he must reunite with his old boss Leo, who plays the role of kids' favourite Chuckles the Chipmunk, in order to keep Nick living with him.

Despite A Thousand Clowns being mainly based in Murray's apartment I still really enjoyed this film mainly due to the script and the performances. I found all of the characters incredibly likeable and by the end of the film I was willing there to be some sort of fulfilling conclusion. Writer/director Fred Coe makes sure that A Thousand Clowns is well-paced and in most scenes all of the supporting players get to showcase their abilities. But this was mainly Jason Robards show and he gave a tour de force performance as the conflicted Marty who loved his nephew but at the same time really didn't want to work. I was surprised then that Robards didn't even receive a nomination for his performance. Instead the acting recognition went to Martin Balsam who didn't really make much of an impact on me as Arnold. Of the supporting cast I thought Barbara Harris was a joy as the scatty, unsure Sandra and William Daniels also gave a good accounting of himself as child welfare officer Albert. Overall I found A Thousand Clowns to be a delightful little comedy with plenty of great performances along the way. If you don't find yourself humming 'Yes Sir That's My Baby' after watching this film then you haven't enjoyed it nearly as much as I did.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 186: Northern Charm

In the last post I looked at three Peter O'Toole films which obviously all demonstrated one side of British cinema of the period. The lavish costume drama was all the rage and the likes of O'Toole's historical epics stole a lot of nominations during the 1960s. However British Realism was also well-represented during this period as we've already seen with Alfie and also my latest entry Room at the Top. The film stars then unknown Lawrence Harvey as Joe Lampton a small town boy who travels to the Metropolitan Yorkshire town of Warley to secure a fairly well-paid job. Joe immediately falls for the charming Susan however he is stopped in his quest by Susan's father who is one of the area's wealthiest gents. Susan also has a fairly domineering boyfriend who talks down to the more common Joe and undermines him wherever possible. To be close to Susan, Joe joins the local amateur dramatics society where he also attracts the attention of the older foreign beauty Alice. When Susan's father realises how close his daughter is getting to the unsuitable Joe, he sends her away which in turn sees Joe seek solace in the arms of Alice. Joe and Alice enjoy a happy relationship however the fact that they are both fiery characters means that they also have many fights. It is during one of these fights that Susan returns to Warley and when she reunites with Joe he is finally able to seduce her. Though Joe returns to Alice after his dalliance with Susan it later transpires that he has got Susan pregnant and may well be forced into a marriage with the mother of his child. However Alice won't let her new man go that easy and Joe is torn between duty and love.

Room at the Top is a very interesting film that looks at class and status while also exploring an age-gap romance. The character of Joe is an intriguing one as he always feels slightly inadequate due to his humble beginnings and therefore is fairly defensive. I believe this is why he finds solace in the arms of Alice who is also afraid of growing old. Room at the Top is a very believable film and I can really feel that I'm in a thriving Yorkshire community of the 1950s. In fact while watching the film I was surprised that The Academy actually gave as many nominations to Room at the Top as it did. I think one of the major factors of its awards success was its only star name - leading lady Simone Signoret. In fact Signoret actually won the Best Actress award at the 1960 ceremony for her tender portrayal of this aging beauty. Personally I still think Signoret was incredibly attractive at the time and it was easy to see why Joe fell in love with her. Lawerence Harvey, who was also Oscar-nominated, gave a star-making performance as the flawed Joe who you could easily describe as the anti-hero of the film. The lack of any sort of happy ending was a refreshing change from a lot of the Oscar-films of today and added to the realistic feel of the film. Overall I thought Room at the Top was a decent example of British Realism cinema and one that utterly deserved its Best Picture nomination.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Days 183-185: The O'Toole Box

Poor old Peter O'Toole holds one of the more dubious records when it comes to the Oscars. At present O'Toole has received a total of eight acting nominations but is yet to win an award. His first Oscar nomination came for what is arguably his most famous role as the title character in Lawrence of Arabia. The 1960s also saw him get two nominations for playing Henry II in both Becket and The Lion in Winter. Of the films he received acting nominations for only those three films have also been nominated for Best Picture so this post will look at each of those pictures in turn.

O'Toole was much more famous as a stage actor before Lawrence and had only appeared in three films up to that point. Other names such as Albert Finney and Marlon Brando had been tossed around before O'Toole was finally given the role. For those unaware of the story, O'Toole stars as TE Lawrence who starts the film as an odd lieutenant who is sent to assess Arab Prince Faisal's attack on the Turks. Though Lawrence is told to agree with his colonel he later suggests to Faisal that they try to attack Aqba and create a passage for the Brits. During the trip across the desert, Lawrence manages to ingratiate himself with the Arab group after he goes back for one of their party who falls off his camel. It is at this point that Lawrence's army clothes are burnt and he becomes and Arab. When he returns to the British officer's quarters they are shocked to see that Lawrence has changed significantly and now thinks of himself as an Arab. The second half of the film then looks at Lawrence the conqueror as he listens less and less to his British superiors. Meanwhile American war correspondent Jackson Bentley starts to document Lawrence's story and is fascinated by the man himself. However Lawrence almost gets too big for his own boots and so both the Arabs and Brits plot to bring him down for different reasons.

Lawrence of Arabia won the Best Picture at the 1963 ceremony and you can definitely see why. As we've seen in the past the academy loves an epic and David Lean's film gave them quite the epic. The sweeping cinematography of F.A. Young is quite iconic especially in the scenes in which Lawrence and his company traverse across the desert. Maurice Jarre's iconic score has also lasted the test of the time and to me perfectly captures the essence of Lawrence's journey. O'Toole himself excels in his breakthrough role as he is able to portray Lawrence's change in attitude with ease. Though comment was passed about how much more attractive O'Toole was than the actual Lawrence I don't think this hampered his performance at all. Of the other cast members Omar Sharif was absolutely captivating as the sheriff who warms to Lawrence throughout the film. The realism of the piece is also enhanced via the costumes and sets which are all incredibly well-designed while the Jordanian and Moroccan scenery perfectly doubled for Cairo. I know it may be a little sacrilegious but I felt the film dragged a little bit certainly in its first third. I personally believe that the scenes before Lawrence got to the desert could have been a little less baggy which would've improved the pace. Thankfully the second half of the film was great as Lawrence almost gets a little bit too big for his boots and you can see his downfall coming a mile off. The film itself won seven awards including one for Lean and one for Young's cinematography. Meanwhile O'Toole shot to stardom however he failed to win the Best Actor Award an accolade that would evade him throughout his career.

Two years later and O'Toole was nominated for Best Actor once again for playing Henry II in Becket. The film explores the relationship between Henry II and Thomas Beckett who here was played by Richard Burton. At the start of the film Beckett is presented as Henry II's dogsbody who often sets up extra-marital one night stands for his king. A lot of Henry's noblemen distrust the Saxon Becket's intentions towards their Norman king. However Henry almost falls in love with Becket and feels that he is his most trusted confident so for that reason he appoints him as Archbishop of Canterbury. Henry feels that he can easily manipulate Becket however this turns out not to be the case. Instead Becket begins to take his job awfully seriously and decides to favour God over his King. Henry becomes increasingly jealous of Becket's relationship with God and decides to frame him for embezzlement. The rest of the film sees Becket's attempt to flee Henry's attempts to arrest him and Henry's continued obsession with Becket.

Throughout Becket it is easy to spot O'Toole's diversity as an actor because here he plays quite a petulant and immature character. His King Henry is easily the most interesting thing about Becket as he captures a man who has never really had to grow up. As we learn Henry as locked his wife up in the dungeon, more on that later, and relies now on meaningless hook-ups. In fact his most fulfilling relationship is the one he shares with Becket and therefore his betrayal hurts Henry even more. Richard Burton is the perfect straight man to O'Toole's immature cad and the two bounce off each other perfectly. It is the Burton/O'Toole chemistry that really drives Becket and both of them really made me believe in Henry's motivation for causing Becket's downfall. Both Burton and O'Toole lost the Best Actor award this year but Becket did win one Oscar for its tightly-written script. While Burton would later feature in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, O'Toole would return to the role of Henry II four years later.

This time his Henry II was a lot more forceful as he had to decide which one of his sons was most deserving of being his successor. The film was The Lion in Winter which is set around the succession conflict in which Henry couldn't decide between his aggressive eldest son Richard or his much dumber son John. The film also explores Henry's relationship with Eleanor of Aquitaine who he releases from the dungeon for the Christmas celebrations. Henry champions John as his son, seeing him as easy to manipulate, therefore Eleanor wants Richard to be Henry's successor mainly to get one over on his husband. It appears as if Richard doesn't get on with either of his parents so attempts to form an alliance with his uncle King Philip II. John meanwhile is manipulated by his brother Geoffrey who himself wonders why he hasn't been chosen as successor. Over the course of the Christmas period more devious plotting is afoot as Henry suggests that his mistress Alais marries Richard. However this wedding doesn't go through mainly because of arguments breaking out in the family. The film ends with Eleanor's return to the dungeons and Britain still finding itself without a future king.

I have to say I really enjoyed The Lion in Winter thanks in part to Anthony Harvey's assured direction and the performances provided by the ensemble cast. Peter O'Toole was on fine form here as the swaggering Henry who really enjoyed throwing his weight around. The Henry of The Lion in Winter was much more mature and worldly-wise than the one O'Toole portrayed in Becket. As Eleanor, Katharine Hepburn is utterly brilliant as she manipulates her sons and plots to make Henry's life as miserable as possible. To me the best scenes of The Lion in Winter were those in which Hepburn and O'Toole were on screen together as their interplay was absolutely electric. The Lion in Winter also saw the film debuts of both Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton who played Richard and Philip respectively. Hopkins made a good impression here as the war-hungry yet frustrated Richard who felt that he would make a much better king than John. Meanwhile Dalton, John Castle, Nigel Terry and Jane Merrow all made their characters distinctive and intriguing whenever they were on screen. The French exterior shots were also fabulously captured by Douglas Slocombe whose camera-work was outstanding throughout. John Barry's score was equally iconic and went on to win one of The Lion in Winter's three Oscars alongside the very intelligent script. The third award went to Katharine Hepburn's amazing turn as Eleanor however here she had to share the prize with Barbara Streisand's performance in Funny Girl. Peter O'Toole meanwhile had to cope with a third Best Actor loss however at the time I'm guessing he thought he'd win one eventually.

Having watched these Peter O'Toole films back-to-back I discovered that he was a versatile actor even during his first years as a film actor. His tour de force performance as Lawrence alone should've shown people that he would go on to be one of the nation's best actors. I was also surprised at how convincing he was at playing the older Henry II in The Lion Winter only four years after playing a much younger version of the king. Despite Lawrence of Arabia winning Best Picture, my personal favourite of these three films had to be The Lion in Winter mainly due to the verbal sparring between O'Toole and Hepburn. Seeing as O'Toole is still around there's still may be a hope of him winning that elusive Best Actor Award however it does seem as likely as it did back in 1963.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 182: Cold War Comedy

A few days ago I talked about Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove and how it mocked America's attitude to the nuclear missile crisis. Two years later Norman Jewison made The Russians Are Coming, The Russians are Coming which looked at America's attitude towards The Cold War. The film sees a group of Russian soldiers take a detour and end up on the New England coast. They then decide that they must find a motorboat to safely return them to their submarine and decide to pose as Norwegian tourists. They happen on the holiday home of Carl Reiner's frustrated writer Walt Whittaker who has come to the town in the hope of finishing his novel. He is surprised when the two Russian officers turn up at his house and soon hold his family at gunpoint until he gives them the keys to his car. Whittaker eventually overpowers the young officer who is tasked with guarding them and goes into town to try and find out what the Russians are actually up to. Meanwhile news of the Russians' presence in the town has been circulating and has led to mass hysteria breaking out. The town's level-head police chief attempts to get to the bottom of the case however some of the more vocal locals try to get their case heard. Meanwhile Whittaker starts to warm to Russian Lieutenant Rozanov, played by Alan Arkin in his first film role, and realises that he's not such a bad guy after all. The film builds up to a massive climax in which the townsfolk descend on the Russians while they in turn threatent to blow up the town. However a potential tragedy then breaks out which seemingly brings them all closer together.

The Russians are Coming is much more of a standard comedy than the much more subtle Dr Strangelove. The laughs essentially stem from the fact that the Russians are on the whole quite cool and calm while the Americans are a lot more hysterical. The whole thing has a farcical element about it but this is stopped from getting out of hand by the Russian characters who you could believe would actually kill. Personally I couldn't believe that this was Alan Arkin's first film role as he was great as the incredibly calm Rozanov who got increasingly more baffled by events in the town. Carl Reiner was also the perfect choice to play the American writer as he can get laughs based on his facial expressions alone. The supporting cast where also brilliant as a paranoid bunch who felt the Russians were there to attack them rather than simply to get back to their submarine. William Rose's screenplay is packed full of obvious yet funny jokes as well as few very well-choreographed set pieces. One element that didn't really work for me was the romance between the young Russian officer and the Whittaker's babysitter however that was mainly due to the actors rather than anything else. Overall The Russians are Coming is a lightweight comedy which doesn't have any of the political message that Dr Strangelove does. But at the same time I can't say it wasn't entertaining though I'm still not sure whether it deserved a Best Picture nomination.