Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Days 215-216: A Couple of Major Disasters

Back when I was reviewing films from the 1930s it appeared as if the major studios were competing against each other in making disaster movies. Films such as San Francisco and In Old Chicago explored events like earthquakes and floods, putting major stars at the front of these disasters. However, the definite golden age of the disaster movie was the 1970s in which all-star casts were forced to deal with disasters ranging from fires to floods as well as plenty of mishaps up in the air. These disaster films did particularly well at the Oscars with two of them being nominated for Best Picture.

 The first of these was Airport, which arguably started the whole disaster movie craze. Though not focusing on a particular disaster, Airport was definitely influential due to its all-star cast being put in peril as well as its focus on special effects. The plot of the film is all based around a Chicago airport which is managed by Burt Lancaster's Mel Bakersfield, a man who spends more time at work than he does at home. Mel is besieged by issues such as snow grounding several of his planes, complaints from local residents that planes are flying too low over their houses and the fact that his staff have recently apprehended a stowaway. Mel doesn't take the stowaway case too easily when he discovers that the culprit in his a little old lady in the form of Helen Hayes' Ada Quonsett. Though Mel's loyal assistant/love interest Tanya doesn't share his views and wants Ada watched at all times, though this doesn't happen and the stowaway soon escapes and boards a plane to Rome. The plane to Rome is also where D.O. Guerrero plans to end his life after a string of financial failures and onset depression. Guerrero feels the best way to help his wife his to blow up a plane, with his death meaning that his wife will be able to cash in on his life insurance. Mel and Tanya soon learn of Guerrero's plan and inform Dean Martin's Captain who devices a plan to try and stop Guerrero. From there its a race against time to try to prevent an explosion and get all of the passengers to safety. 

Having some obvious knowledge of the disaster genre I would definitely say that Airport wouldn't classify in the same league as some of them. Despite this, I feel that writer/director George Seaton set up enough peril in the form of Guerrero's bomb to have me on the edge of my seat. I also felt like Seaton had introduced just enough characters for me to know who everybody was and who was in secretly in a relationship with who. Burt Lancaster was the perfect person to play Mel as he was an assured lead who attempted to keep everything at the airport running smoothly while dealing with one problem after another. He was perfectly supported by the much more suave Dean Martin as the captain who was having an affair with one of his stewardesses played by the equally glamorous Jacqueline Bisset. However, the two Oscar-nominated performances came from the supporting actresses who played very different roles. The brilliant Helen Hayes was perfect as comic criminal Mrs Quonsett who was quite matter-of-fact about her stowaway exploits. The fact that Ada later gets to play heroine adds another layer to a character who could've easily been a one-note supporting player without Hayes' performance. Meanwhile Maureen Stapleton adds an air of humanity to the film as Guerrero's wife who attempts to stop his plan before it's too late. Despite its over-the-top nature I still really enjoyed Airport as a film in its own right though I wouldn't particularly class it as a disaster film in the traditional sense of the genre.

The disaster genre itself really began with The Poseidon Adventure, which was nominated for several Oscars but not Best Picture. Two years later we had possibly the ultimate disaster film The Towering Inferno, which had so many stars that they couldn't decide who should receive top billing. Indeed, one of the most infamous stories about the film was that Paul Newman and Steve McQueen both considered themselves to be the leading man so both the poster and the opening credits had their names diagonally placed so as to insinuate that both were taking the lead. In addition, both actors were appeased by having the exact same number of lines of dialogue so the audience would feel satisfied that both were on an equal footing. Personally I would consider Newman the star just because his character, architect Doug Roberts has more of a pivotal role as he discovers that his newly designed building has plenty of electrical faults. It soon transpires that the tower's builder, James Duncan, cut many corners in order to cut costs. These cost-cutting measures included concreting over fire exits and having his son-in-law, electrical engineer Roger Simmons cut as many corners as possible. As a fire breaks out on one of the floors, Roberts attempts to warn Duncan about the incident but he refuses to end his luxury party just because of a small blaze. Predictably the fire is soon out of control and the party-goers are trapped with more and more of their possible exits being trapped. Thankfully McQueen's fire chief O'Hallorhan has several ideas how to rescue the party, with differing results, and at the end of the day some of the more expendable characters have perished. 

While Aiport's body count was extremely minimal, there were plenty of deaths in The Towering Inferno to satisfy those who feel a disaster film should have a life-threatening incident at the centre of it. Unlike Airport though, I didn't feel that I got to know all of the characters before the fire began to take shape. Indeed, aside from Roberts, O'Hallorhan and Duncan the rest of the characters felt a little clichéd. For example, Fred Astaire's conman, who obviously shares a lot of similarities with Helen Hayes' Airport character, isn't given a lot of backstory. While the characters played by Robert Wagner, Jennifer Jones and Robert Vaughn are similarly one-note creations. As Roberts' long-suffering love interest, Faye Dunaway does have a little bit to do but the latter scenes involve her simply worrying about things. Worst of all is Richard Chamberlain's Simmons, who is the smirking British villain of the piece, as I found him to be a very poorly-written antagonist. Despite the wealth of two-dimensional characters, The Towering Inferno was still an enjoyable thanks to the impressively choreographed fire sequences. The peril was steadily built up as the exterior shots of the building saw more and more flames break out, while the more dangerous methods of escape had me on the edge of my seat. The film won well-deserved awards for cinematography and editing while its central theme 'We May Never Love Like This Again' was also rewarded with Best Original Song. While The Towering Inferno may seem cheesy by today's action movie standards, I still felt it provided enough peril to pass the time and, looking at it now, it can be held up as an incredibly influential piece of film-making. 

Next time I'll present a double bill that you won't be able to refuse.  

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Days 212-214: Sounds of the Seventies

Throughout each decade of Oscar-winning films, there have always been a handful of musicals that have done particularly well. The majority of these have been glossy big-budget spectaculars that have had fairly light storylines. But, as we approach the 1970s, the themes of the musicals are getting a lot darker and one in particular contains a handful of songs that are incredibly sinister rather than being particularly uplifting.

We start though with a film musical that feels incredibly old-fashioned and has a comic element which lends itself to the screwball films of the 1930s and 1940s. That film is Hello Dolly!, which was nominated for Best Picture at the 1970 ceremony, and stars Barbara Streisand as widowed matchmaker Dolly Levi. Dolly arrives in Yonkers supposedly to meet up with wealthy store-owner Horace Vandergelder who is to travel to New York in order to meet up with and marry hat-store clerk Irene Malloy. However, instead of matching the pair, Dolly seemingly wants Horace for herself so arranges for his two clerks to hook up with Irene and her assistant Minnie. On arrival in the city the clerks, Cornelius and Barnaby, pretend to be wealthy gentlemen in order to ensnare Irene and Minnie. Meanwhile, Horace's niece Ermengrade has also travelled to New York in order to prove to her uncle that artist Ambrose is a good enough match for her. In New York, Dolly arranges a number of deceptions in order to keep all the parts of her plan a secret until she is able to put the offer of a proposal on the table at one of her favourite restaurants. Obviously the obstinate Horace wants everything to stay the way it was but eventually comes around to everything that Dolly has set up.

I don't think it's insulting to say that Hello Dolly! is definitely an old school musical by late 1960s/early 1970s standards. The whole thing feels very staged with a lot of the action fairly static and confined to a certain set. In fact, a lot of it put me in mind of The Music Man, which was made seven years earlier, as both have that old school feel to them. At the same time, there's no denying that Hello Dolly! is an incredibly enjoyable musical and I have to say that I got fairly swept up in it. Gene Kelly sits behind the director's chair and you can see his stamp all over the well-choreographed set pieces. Indeed, the two scenes that stay in the memory are the extravagantly filmed parade, which is accompanied by the iconic 'When the Parade Passes By' and the culmination of all the plots in the restaurant scene. The restaurant scene is also the place in which we hear the film's title track and the famous duet between Streisand and Louis Armstrong. Talking of Streisand she's perfectly cast as the interfering widow who is full of life but at the same time is struggling to move on from her first husband. Walter Matthau is the ideal foil for her schemes as he perfects his grumpy old man character while Frank Spencer himself - Michael Crawford plays the idiotic Cornelius with great aplomb. In addition to the signing and performances, Hello Dolly! is beautifully designed with some brilliant costumes to boot. While it's never going to win any awards for subtlety, when it comes to an all-singing all-musical visual spectacular they don't come much better than this film.

Two years later, the next musical film arrived with Fiddler on the Roof - which documents the lives of one Jewish family living in Tsarist Russia in the early 20th century. Our narrator throughout the film is Tevye, played by Chaim Topol, a simple man who often bemoans the fact that God has given him five daughters. One of the film's unique narrative devices is the fact that Tevye regularly breaks the fourth wall and addresses the audience directly. Tevye tells us about the small Jewish community that lives constantly in fear of the larger Christian community that neighbours the village. The Jews and the Christians live in peace but we get the impression that our characters are constantly under threat from attack. The bulk of the film's story sees Tevye's three eldest daughters all find love and marry someone they love, rather than someone who has been chosen for them by the town's matchmaker. Eldest daughter Tzeitel wishes to marry her poor childhood sweetheart Motel while second daughter Anatevka later accepts a proposal from idealistic Ukrainian scholar Perhick. Though Teyve's wife Golde disapproves, he manages to talk her around while at the same time the younger generation prepare to change the way things are done. However, the second half of the film gets bleaker as Teyve's community is moved from their homes by the Christians, while he also disowns third daughter Chava after she secretly marries one of the Christian boys. Though ultimately the entire community is moved from their homes there is a sense that things will only get better.

Of the three musical films I'm writing about, I would say that Fiddler on the Roof is definitely the least memorable. Indeed, probably the strongest element of the entire film is Topol's lead performances as he really makes a connection with the audience right from the beginning of the picture. His warmth and passion for the character really makes you believe in Tevye's motivations and you feel for his plight throughout his story. There are only a few songs that are truly memorable with 'If I were a Rich Man' and 'Matchmaker' being the two prime examples. In addition, there are a number of interesting set pieces most notably the scene at Tzeitel and Motel's wedding where Perhick encourages the men and women to dance together. However, at almost three hours in length, the film really started to drag and I felt the bleak aspect of the final third of the movie really added to this fatigue. While Fiddler on the Roof isn't a bad film by any stretch of the imagination, it wasn't one that I truly connected with in the way that I did with the final musical on the list.

That musical, released a year after Fiddler on the Roof, is Cabaret a film that is loosely based on the Broadway production of the same name. I say loosely as director Bob Fosse discarded many of the songs from that film and got lyricists Kander and Ebb to write new songs. In addition to the song changes, Fosse scrapped many characters and brought in some new ones to freshen up the tale. He also changed the lead character of Sally Bowles to an aspiring English movie star who couldn't really sing to an aspiring American movie star with an amazing voice. In the film, Sally meets young Englishman Brian Roberts who has come to Berlin to teach English. Sally, who is a lead attraction at the seedy Kit Kat Club, builds an attraction to Brian as both rent rooms in the same rundown apartment block. Though the pair begin a relationship, Sally's head is soon turned by rich baron Maximilian who can offer her the finer things in life. Eventually all three spend a weekend at the baron's family home where both end up having sexual encounters with the rich German. The film's backdrop is the rise of the Nazi movement in Berlin in the early 1930s as the Jews are attacked and a subplot involving a friend of Brian's explores religion and love. Meanwhile, Sally discovers she's pregnant and wonders whether or not to keep the baby.

As opposed to the other two musical films on the list, all of the songs in Cabaret are performed rather than used as an alternative to dialogue. The vast majority of these songs are performed in The Kit Kat Club by either Sally or the shadowy Emcee, the film's narrator and host at the club. The character of Emcee is an interesting one as he doesn't interact with any of the characters apart from Sally and that's only through the method of song. Though Emcee's songs do reflect the plot of the film, we see that they are all being performed to a club full of punters. Instead of being particularly uplifting, these songs are often sinister in nature talking about money-grabbing, sharing sexual partners and being unlucky in love. The tone of the film is perfectly exemplified in one scene in which Emcee and his backing group perform a dance routine that mocks the Nazi regime. To me, the film is one of the best examples of the screen musical as every song adds to the plot rather than detracting from it. From the opening bars of Willkommen to Sally Bowes' glorious love song 'Maybe This Time' to the final bursts of its title track, Cabaret's musical score is extraordinary. The film was incredibly successful at the 1973 Oscar ceremony, winning eight awards and earning the distinction of being the most-rewarded movie at the Oscars not to win Best Picture. Among the award-winners were Liza Minnelli who was absolutely captivating as the lovelorn and eccentric Sally Bowes. Meanwhile Joel Grey also picked up a supporting actor statuette for his role as the sinister yet entertaining Emcee. Bob Fosse's outstanding direction was also honoured as were the film's stunning cinematography, score, sound, art direction and editing. As you can tell I really enjoyed Cabaret and, in any normal year, it would've won Best Picture but it did come up against one hell of a contender.

Next time we'll look at the rise of the epic disaster movie with two Oscar nominated examples of the genre.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Days 210-211: A Pair of Gene's

So here we are in the 1970s, a decade that really pushed the bar in terms of film-making and used the art form to tell some incredibly interesting stories. We begin with a double bill featuring an actor who really came into his own at the beginning of the decade - Gene Hackman.

Though Hackman had been around for a while he only really came to prominence in his late thirties after his appearance in Bonnie and Clyde, which earned him his first Oscar nomination. Four years later he was propelled to stardom thanks to his central role as Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle in The French Connection. The French Connection picked up Best Picture at the 1972 ceremony and also gave its lead actor his first Academy Award. The film, which was the first R-Rated movie to win the Best Picture Award, takes place in the streets of New York and follows Doyle and his partner Buddy 'Cloudy' Russo as they attempt a drug bust. I found the story of the film fairly unique in that we followed the French drug smugglers at the same time as the New York cops. The film's main antagonist is Alain Charnier, who plans to smuggle millions of dollars' worth of heroin into the country by using the car of a TV personality. As we learn throughout the film, Doyle and Russo aren't exactly the most trustworthy of individuals but they are incredibly good at their jobs so most of their colleagues are forced to trust them. As Doyle and Russo identify Charnier and his men, the chase is on to track down the drugs and arrest those involved in the plot. But not everything goes to plan and when Doyle's plot backfires, he and Russo are taken off the case. However, that doesn't dissuade Doyle and he's soon in hot pursuit of the man whose been sent to assassinate him, hoping that this will result in him finding the drugs.

After watching The French Connection, I feel like I've entered the 1970s with a bang. The film is fast-paced without losing sight of its plot and incredibly stylised throughout. Director William Friedkin looked to French cinema to create a lot of the style in the French Connection and that is definitely evident. At the same time, The French Connection has a profound sense of location and I was completely transported into New York right from the earliest scenes. For me the style extends to the character's costumes most notably the hat and coat worn by Doyle. The most iconic scene in the whole film is the legendary car chase in which Doyle, in a car, is racing a commuter train which is above him. Owen Roizman's cinematography takes you right into Doyle's car while Friedkin makes sure that we don't miss a thing. I was completely sucked in by this chase and think it's one that's been imitate many times but has never been bettered. Hackman is absolutely tremendous in the lead role as Doyle combining the stereotypical 'bad cop' with someone who has a genuine passion for the job. Hackman understands every intricate detail of his character down to the little wave that Doyle gives to Charnier in one of the final scenes. Meanwhile, Hackman is well-supported by the reliable Roy Scheider as the more level-headed Russo. While earlier crime always saw the criminals brought to justice, we learn at the end of The French Connection that a lot of the crooks in the film either served small sentences or never went to jail again. Overall, The French Connection is definitely one of the best Best Picture winners I've seen so far.

Three year later, Hackman starred in another Best Picture nominee, even though he missed out on a Best Actor nomination this time around. Arguably, The Conversation was a better overall film than The French Connection while I definitely preferred Hackman as Harry Caul. Caul is one of America's most renowned surveillance experts and has often been praised for being able to pick up any speech necessary. Caul lives a fairly solitary existence, living alone with only his jazz saxophone for company, though he does have a regular relationship with a woman who knows nothing about him. But Caul's work has sometimes caused him emotional strain and, as we learn later in the film, one of his most recent jobs resulted in a triple murder. Caul is very wary when he is tasked with recording a couple as they walk through Union Square in San Francisco especially when he hears the phrase 'he'd kill us if he got the chance.' Caul is soon tasked with giving his tapes to  a man known simply as The Director, but when one of The Director's underlings takes the tapes a nervous Harry takes them back. As he becomes obsessed by the tapes, Harry realises he has to act on what he's heard and uses the information he has to act as a vigilante hero. But, the film's message ultimately seems to be that, even if you can hear everything, it doesn't necessarily mean that you listen to everything that's being said.

The Conversation is the first time that I've come across a Francis Ford Coppola film while writing this project and you can see why, at his peak, the director was hailed as one of the greats. The Conversation is a tense thriller which builds up the audience's expectations before completely changing the game in the last ten minutes. For me, I think that The Conversation features some of the greatest uses of sound in cinema history. The way we see the conversation being broken down by Harry throughout the film is simply superb and you never tire of hearing the same speech over and over again. Hackman's performance as Harry is also one of the film's greatest strengths as he portrays the surveillance expert as someone whose always been on the borders of society. Though Harry is seemingly attractive to the opposite sex, his intricate nature and paranoia make it impossible for him to form meaningful relationships. For the most part, Hackman plays Harry as someone who only speaks when he really needs to and I feel he communicates more by his actions than by his words. Hackman is supported by John Cazale as Harry's colleague Stan who is a bit wilder than his friend and often uses his job to ogle women. The film also features a great little performance from Harrison Ford as The Director's aide Martin Stett, which provided evidence of how great the actor would go on to be. My only frustration is that The Conversation didn't do better at that year's Oscars, but I don't think Coppola was too bothered seeing as it was another of his films that scooped the majority of the major prizes.

Next time I'll look at the three big screen musicals that were nominated for Best Picture during the 1970s.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge: Reviewing the Ceremonies 32-41 (1960-1969)

It's that time once again as I end another decade of Oscar nominated films. Having looked at all of the 1960s films, it's clear to me that the decade was definitely one of change. By the end of the 1960s, the majority of the films produced were in colour while a lot were employing new visual techniques not seen before. Like with decades past, some of the Oscar-nominated films were pretty dubious and not all the winners were just. So that's why I've decided to sum up all of my thoughts in this handy post as we once again explore if Oscar always chose the right film. There are also some films that didn't even make the nominations list these included Psycho, Cool Hand Luke, 2001: A Space Odyssey, La Dolce Vita and 8 1/2. Though the academy did honour the majority of these movies by nominating their directors rather than the film themselves, which I always feel is a little bit of a slap in the face.

Ceremony 32 (1960) 

Winner: Ben-Hur 

Nominees: Anatomy of a Murder, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Nun's Story, Room at the Top 

Did the Right Film Win?: Yes 

Even though I really enjoyed Anatomy of a Murder, I have to concede that Ben-Hur was the right film to win Best Picture. It's probably the film whose iconic scenes still hold up today, most notably the chariot race which is still a thrilling watch in 2013. 

Ceremony 33 (1961) 

Winner: The Apartment 

Nominees: The Alamo, Elmer Gantry, The Sundowners, Sons and Lovers

Did the Right Film Win?: Yes 

I don't think there's much to say here as The Apartment stands head and shoulders above its rivals in this category. The film is still a charming and witty romantic comedy while the only major competition is Elmer Gantry but that's mainly due to Burt Lancaster's tremendous central performance 

Ceremony 34 (1962) 

Winner: West Side Story 

Nominees: Fanny, Guns of Navarone, The Hustler, Judgment at Nuremberg 

Did the Right Film Win?: Yes 

I feel that this was a tossup between West Side Story and The Hustler, but I've given it to the former just because it's the strongest of the four musical winners of the decade. The Hustler also has a dodgy middle section while West Side Story is a joy to watch throughout 

Ceremony 35 (1963) 

Winner: Lawrence of Arabia 

Nominees: The Longest Day, The Music Man, Mutiny on the Bounty, To Kill a Mockingbird 

Did the Right Film Win?: Yes 

Possibly the strongest of David Lean's films, Lawrence of Arabia does suffer from being over long but is still visually spectacular and contains a great central performance from Peter O'Toole. The list of fellow nominees only includes one possible contender, in To Kill a Mockingbird, but I feel that Lawrence is definitely the stronger of the two films. 

Ceremony 36 (1964) 

Winner: Tom Jones 

Nominees: America America, Cleopatra, How the West Was Won, Lilies of the Field 

Did the Right Film Win? No 

I feel that Tom Jones is definitely one of the weakest Best Picture winners thus far and found it to be quite a silly comedy that didn't really have much of a structure. Looking at the nominees, there are definitely two stronger picks the first being Lilies of the Field which is bolstered by a great performance by Sidney Poitier. But my personal pick is America America, a film that I had no idea about prior to watching it, and one that completely blew me away. This authentic tale of a young Greek man trying to find his way to America was just captivating and definitely benefited from its use of unknown actors to create a sense of realism. 

Ceremony 37 (1965) 

Winner: My Fair Lady 

Nominees: Becket, Dr. Strangelove, Mary Poppins and Zorba the Greek 

Did the Right Film Win?: No 

This again was a tough one to sort out but I personally wasn't a massive fan of the characters in My Fair Lady despite the film itself being visually stunning. Personally I think Dr. Strangelove is the most interesting pick of the five, but its subversive nature possibly wouldn't let itself to the Best Picture accolade. Instead, as a film musical did win this award, I'm going to pick Mary Poppins which I feel is still as watchable as it was in the mid-1960s. Maybe it's because I have a certain affection for the film, but I still feel it's an incredibly charming movie with some great songs. 

Ceremony 38 (1966) 

Winner: The Sound of Music 

Nominees: Darling, Doctor Zhivago, Ship of Fools, A Thousand Clowns 

Did the Right Film Win?: Maybe 

This is one of those years in which the winner is probably of the same standing as some of the other nominees. I could definitely make the case for why The Sound of  Music should've won but at the same time I would say that Darling was a better social portrait of the time and Doctor Zhivago was probably more stunning to look at. I also personally enjoyed A Thousand Clowns and found it to be the most charming film of the five. 

Ceremony 39 (1967) 

Winner: A Man for All Seasons 

Nominees: Alfie, The Russians are Coming The Russians are Coming, The Sand Pebbles, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Did the Right Film Win?: Maybe 

Again this is a year where I'm torn between a very worthy winner and a film that I personally enjoyed in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Though A Man for All Seasons is probably more visually impressive, Virginia Woolf had the emotional edge and was bolstered by the pairing of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. I'm still not sure who should've won the award but I'm not disputing the fact that A Man for All Seasons was the ultimate victor. 

Ceremony 40 (1968) 

Winner: In the Heat of the Night 

Nominees: Bonnie and Clyde, Doctor Dolittle, The Graduate, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Did the Right Film Win?: No 

This is a year where you could make a case for any film apart from Doctor Dolittle winning. In my eyes there are two films stronger than In the Heat of the Night. The first of these is Bonnie and Clyde, which employed some really interesting visual techniques and was definitely a risque film for the time. But my personal favourite is The Graduate which is just a joy to watch and, unlike a lot of the films from the decade, never outstayed its welcome. 

Ceremony 41 (1969) 

Winner: Oliver! 

Nominees: Funny Girl, The Lion in Winter, Rachel Rachel, Romeo and Juliet 

Did the Right Film Win?: No 

As much as Oliver! was one of my favourite films as a kid, I can concede that there was another film that deserved to win Best Picture. That film is The Lion in Winter which is a well-acted and well-shot film that has a great story and was just simply a joy to watch. 

So there you have it a strong decade with some difficult choices to be made. I'm now going to endeavour to go onto the 1970s a decade which includes some of the films that are considered the greatest of all time.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 209: More English History Lessons

As I've been trawling through the 1960s nominees I've been amazed at how many British films I've come across. Those of you who read my Peter O'Toole piece know that the actor starred in two films in which he played Henry II, those being Becket and The Lion in Winter. I'd like to think that those two films make up some sort of trilogy with my final 1960s film - A Man for All Seasons. The film, which won Best Picture at the 1967 ceremony, also concerns English monarchy and is full of idyllic outdoor locations. Like Becket, the film is about the relationship between a King and one of his nobleman, in this case Henry VIII and his Chancellor Sir Thomas More. The film is all based around the story of Henry attempting to get a divorce from Catherine of Aragon so he can marry his mistress Anne Boleyn. The incredibly pious More doesn't think that Henry should get the divorce and moreover refuses to implant him as head of the Church of England. It's clear that Henry really loves Thomas, however he can't understand his friend's decision not to let him do whatever he wants. In the end, Thomas realises that resistance is futile so he resigns as Chancellor and the marriage later goes through. However, Henry is keen to punish More for both refusing the marriage and not attending the wedding. Henry requests that the new Chancellor, Thomas Cromwell, try to find evidence that proves More is a traitor. However, More remains steadfast in his silence and is arrested for his supposed betrayal of the King. Anybody who knows their English history knows how the story ends, however I'm not going to spoil it for those who didn't listen during class.

From the opening few scenes of A Man for All Seasons, it's pretty easy to see that the film was based on a play. A lot of the scenes involve characters simply talking to each other in rooms while I times I felt I was simply watching a filmed version of the play. Having said that, the film attempts to make the most of its exterior locations most notably the journey More makes between his house and court using the river. The Oscar-winning costumes are all also stunning and really add to the realism of the film as you really believe you're in Tudor England. However, the film's best quality is definitely its ensemble cast, all of whom completely embody their respective characters. Paul Scofield won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as More and I found him completely engrossing throughout. Scofield is able to convey More's moral standing with ease but also makes him somewhat of a flawed hero. As his wife, the Oscar-nominated Wendy Hiller puts in another great turn as she pleads with her husband to forgo his morals and save himself. In addition, the film boasts several scene-stealing performances most notably Robert Shaw as the boisterous King Henry and Orson Welles as the shady Cardinal Wolsely. In one of his first on-screen roles, John Hurt makes a big impression as the slimy Rich who plays both sides of the court to get his own way. My main issue with A Man for All Seasons was that it remained fairly static throughout and I never really found myself immersed in the story in the way I probably ought to be. This is probably because I studied this period of history quite extensively and therefore found it quite hard to enjoy A Man for All Seasons as pure entertainment film.

Overall, A Man for All Seasons is an incredibly well-acted film that boasts gorgeous costumes and art direction. At the same time a lot of the scenes are quite static and I never felt I could truly relax while watching the film. But did the film deserve to win Best Picture? Join me next time as I look back at the 1960s ceremonies and reveal my decisions on whether the ten winners all deserved their awards.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 208: The Doctor Will See You Now

As we've seen throughout this journey, David Lean is a director who has grand vision and scope. With Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia both giving a different perspective on the war film, Lean definitely excels in telling stories set around times of conflict. This is true of Doctor Zhivago, Lean's lavish adaptation of Boris Pasternak's novel, which starts in 1913 and takes in both World War I and the Russian Revolution. These events are seen through the eyes of Omar Sharif's Yuri Zhivago, a frustrated poet who becomes a doctor and therefore is witness to a lot of the bloodshed of the time. Initially Yuri is drawn to Tonya, the daughter of the couple who raised him, and they indeed have a child together. But later, Yuri meets Lara, a complicated girl who gets married to idealistic reformer Pasha Antipov. Though, Yuri and Lara serve together during the war, what happens later means he has to care for his family first. Ultimately Doctor Zhivago is set up as a love triangle with a bit of violence and revolution thrown in for good measure. Yuri's ending is a tragic one, some would say overly so, but there was a kind of a happy ending involving the supposed daughter of Yuri and Lara.

As with all of Lean's films, Doctor Zhivago is wonderfully shot and brilliantly scored. The film won five Oscars which included the prizes for Art Direction, Costume Design and Cinematography. I personally found a lot of the shots and set pieces to be first class, these include the shot of the train coming out of the tunnel following the intermission and Yuri's attempts to attract Lara's attentions for the last time. The vast expanse of sets used was amazing while the fact that Lean's team were able to transform Spain into Russia was astounding. Maurice Jarre's score also deserves a mention and in particular 'Lara's Theme' which is still an incredibly enchanting piece of film music. One of the elements that let Doctor Zhivago down was its running time, a regular bugbear of mine, as I felt the film meandered during its 200 minutes. I also wasn't a particular fan of the character of Yuri as he always seemed to be someone on the outskirts of society and somebody who could never commit to anything. This isn't anything against Sharif's performance though I do feel he lacked chemistry with both his female leads. Julie Christie was absolutely amazing as Lara and played a completely different role to her Oscar-winning turn in Darling. Similarly Rod Steiger's brutish portrayal of Komarvosky was a scene-stealing performance. However, the only acting nomination came for Tom Courtenay as the idealistic and later bloodthirsty Pasha. I found Courtenay utterly mesmerising as he played a man who truly had passion for his cause but later had lost all of this and had now realised that he was never to have a personal life.

Overall, while not one of my favourite of Lean's films, there's no denying that Doctor Zhivago is a visually spectacular piece with some interesting performances. Though I found heavy-going occasionally, Lean seemed to have a genuine love for his characters that shone through. I just wish that Doctor Zhivago's runtime had been shaved slightly as I felt this would have made a definite improvement.

Next time we come to the last 1960s film of our search.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 207: An All-Star War

Following on from How the West Was Won; we look at another ensemble action film in the form of The Longest Day. Unlike the western though, The Longest Day isn't an all-colour rambling epic but rather it's a focused study on the events that led up to the D-Day Landing. The entire film was the vision of producer Darryl F. Zanuck who employed four directors to tell every side of the story. Employing a documentary style and shot completely in black-and-white, The Longest Day sees the D-Day landings plotted by both the Germans and the Allies. Unusually for the time, the film used German and French actors to speak in their own language, rather than using English actors to put on dodgy accents a la 'Allo 'Allo. It appeared to me as if Zanuck wanted to get events as realistic as possible so had a lot of the events play out in real time. These events included the British glider missions to secure the Pegasus Bridge and the counter attack that was planned by the American paratroopers. The film itself ends with the iconic Normandy Landings as troops on both sides are quickly shot down. For me, this was where the film really got going and I felt that Zanuck had paced the movie well up to this point.

The main problem I had with The Longest Day was there wasn't any major plots, instead this was more of a docu-drama focusing on one specific event. As there were so many characters, it was impossible to keep up with who was who and a lot of famous faces popped up briefly, most-notably Sean Connery, who was just about to become a household name courtesy of a certain spy. While there are indeed some recurring plots, including one involving a card game, it is obviously the battle that takes priority and therefore this comes across as more of a documentary than a fictional piece. What I felt that Zanuck did well was the set-pieces, especially the aforementioned landings themselves, and I'm not surprised that the film won the Best Special Effects Oscar that year. I also felt the majority of the cast played their parts well, however minor they were, and really made me care about the plight of the allies. This however doesn't apply to John Wayne who, as Benjamin Vandervoot, never really convinced and just seemed to playing himself. Overall I found The Longest Day to be a gripping account of a much talked about moment in military history although one that goes on a bit. It also suffers from lack of story and far too many characters, but ultimately it's the film's visual style that's its saving grace.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 206: A Star-Studded History Lesson

As I previously mentioned in my post on The Graduate, the 1960s were definitely a decade of change when it came to film-making. At the same time, several of the old-fashioned epic style films were being made, some with bumper casts. The next two posts will deal with these star-studded epic films and we start with How the West Was Won. The film was an interesting one, as it split its story into five parts with three of these directed by Henry Hathaway and the other two by John Ford and James Marshall respectively. In addition, How the West Was Won marked itself out visually as it was filmed in a three-strip cinerama which had both post and negative affects on the viewing experience. The story itself deals with generations of the same family initially known as the Prescotts, whose daughters would both go on to marry and have children. Over time we saw how the families battled the wild rivers to get to the west, how they battled through the civil war and ultimately dealt with outlaws to claim the land for themselves. The two sisters - Eve and Lilith, had different fates with the former creating a homestead on the place where their parents died. Eve's son Zeb would later go on to fight in The Civil War and negotiate with the Native Americans. Lilith meanwhile hooks up with a gambler and inherits a run down gold mine before finally reuniting with Zeb and his growing family. The story comes full circle as the Prescott family finally settle in the west once and for all.

Seeing as it was made in 1962, How the West Was Won has a very old-fashioned feel to it and almost seems a little out of place Similarly, the big name cast are mostly wasted with John Wayne being the biggest example as his role is nothing more than an extended cameo. Indeed, the actors who have the biggest parts are Debbie Reynolds and George Peppard, neither of whom are promoted as the main stars of the piece. I felt that actors such as James Stewart, Henry Fonda and Gregory Peck popping up for two minutes did nothing to enhance the film and instead made the story feel a little flabby. That's not to say I didn't enjoy How the West Was Won and found it to be a colourful western epic which passed the time fine. The sweeping scenery and Spencer Tracy's assured narration were definitely the film's biggest strengths while I learnt a lot about the formation of America. At the same time, I was never blown away by the film and none of it really stuck with me after the DVD had finished playing. The three-strip cinerama process also made the film seem a little odd with the visible strips of paper almost looking a little messy. Overall, while not a bad film, How the West Was Won was quite unremarkable endeavour which is odd when you consider who was involved.

Next time a similar sort of film to How the West Was Won, but one that is a lot darker.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 205: Top of the Class

As I've noted throughout my journey round the 1960s Oscar nominees, it seems that this decade was a time of great change within the industry. Though the same colourful epics were being made, there appeared to be a move to more character-based stories which employed innovative camera techniques. I would say that a film that definitely fell into the latter category was The Graduate, which was nominated for the Best Picture prize at the 1968 ceremony. The film has a very basic story as it follows Benjamin Braddock's return to his LA home following his graduation from a college on the East Coast. It sees him attempting to decide what to do with the rest of his life while beginning an affair with the much older, married Mrs Robinson, a friend of his parents. As the affair continues, Ben realises that he and the unhappy Mrs Robinson have very little in common and she's later appalled when he's forced into a date with her daughter Elaine. Benjamin initially attempts to sabotage the date, but later bonds with Elaine and falls in love with her. When Mrs Robinson finds out about their growing relationship, she threatens to tell Elaine everything but Benjamin gets there first. The rest of the film sees Benjamin trying to win Elaine back against the wishes of both her parents and the new man in her life.

From the opening sequence, in which the camera tracks Benjamin as he journeys through the airport, I fell in love with The Graduate. It's a film that it's incredibly hard not to like as it combines a simple story with a number of complex characters and plenty of visual flair. There are so many scenes that I love so I won't name them all, but one that sticks in my mind is Ben jumping into his parents' pool wearing a diving helmet. This scene is so great as we watch everything from Ben's point of view, so the sound is muted and all we see are the expressions on the other characters' faces. Obviously the final ten minutes is particularly iconic and has often been copied but never bettered. The film more than benefits from the score by Simon and Garfunkel with both 'The Sound of Silence' and 'Mrs Robinson' going onto become massive hits for the group. The Graduate was the first film to put Dustin Hoffman on the map and even though he was playing a much younger character, he was 30 at the time, he was still utterly believable. Hoffman perfectly exemplifies Benjamin's nervous energy and you never really tire of watching him even though he's in every single scene. Meanwhile Anne Bancroft was perfectly cast as the cold, calculating Mrs Robinson who was only interested in bedding a younger man to break up her monotonous life. I also though Katharine Ross put in a great turn as Elaine, who was a lot more open and was everything her mother wasn't. Buck Henry and Calder Willingham's script was just superb as it jumped from comedy to tragedy with great ease. Unfortunately The Graduate was nominated for the Oscar in a fairly strong year so didn't win the top prize, however Mike Nichols did take home the Best Director trophy which in my eyes makes it the second best film of that year.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 204: Dear Diary

It's fair to say that basing your film around a real-life story is a sure fire way to get an Oscar nomination. For example, the most recent winner of the award - Argo was based around a real life event. Similarly, in 1960, The Diary of Anne Frank was also up for the Best Picture award and the majority of us know the story that that was based on. If you don't then it revolves around the titular heroine, a young Jewish girl, who writes of her experiences while being holed up in a cellar in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. The film starts with Anne's father Otto returning to the cellar and finding his daughter's diary which he then begins to read. The diary, and the film, document Anne's time in the cellar where her family were forced to share the cramped space with the Van Daan family and later with Jewish dentist Mr Dussell. The film, which is based on an award-winning play, looks at the group's silent activity in the day and their nights which were mainly spent listening to updates on the allies' progress in the war. As the years pass by, Anne's views on Peter Van Daan start to change and their affections towards each other grow. The only issue is that the situation in the attic is worsening and the factory workers aiding the group have less of a chance of getting to them. Though the story doesn't end well for Anne, there is an inspiring message of hope to be had from the film.

It is said that Otto Frank wanted Audrey Hepburn to play Anne, but she told him that she felt herself too old to play the role but saw his daughter as a great role model. In the end the part went to Millie Perkins, an relative unknown, who I felt fared rather well transitioning the character of Anne from giddy schoolgirl to realistic teenager. I was shocked to learn that Perkins wasn't even nominated for an Oscar, with the acting recognition going to the more senior members of the supporting cast. Indeed, Shelly Winters actually won the award for her portrayal of the larger-than-life Mrs Van Daan, who she portrayed as an overbearing mother. Meanwhile Ed Wynn, as the long-in-the-tooth, Mr Dussell, was also nominated in the Supporting Actor role and I found him to be rather endearing. Personally, I found the best performance came from Joseph Schildkraut as Otto Frank, as I felt he got the emotional edge to his character just right. George Stevens was able to capture the mood of the attic spectacularly and I felt captured the sense of hopelessness and paranoia that the group would've been feeling. Alfred Newman's score was another highlight and I found it to be a stirring piece of music in what would otherwise be a fairly bleak film. Personally, I found The Diary of Anne Frank to be another film on the list which was far too long and could've done with thirty minutes shaving off its almost three hour running time. I also wasn't too fond of the way that the romance between Anne and Peter was handled and I found it to be a little bit too Hollywood for my liking. Overall though The Diary of Anne Frank was an admirable attempt to film an iconic story and I felt George Stevens more than did Anne's tale justice.