Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 151: All About Bette

So I'm in catch-up mode with three films that I watched last year but haven't yet reviewed so will start off with the absolute classic that has stayed with me long after I finished watching it.

I'm talking of course of  All About Eve a glorious film and a classic which I ashamedly hadn't watched previously. It did win the Best Picture award in 1951 but shockingly only one acting award for George Sanders' memorable performance as the bitchy journalist. The film starts with Bette Davis' Margo Channing and Celeste Holm's Karen Richards both reminiscing about the first time they met Anne Baxter's Eve Harrington as she wins an award for her acting. Karen, the wife of a scriptwriter, introduces Eve to star actress Margo who eventually hires her as an assistant despite suspicions from her current helper Birdie played with vigour by the brilliant Thelma Ritter. As the film goes on Eve plants herself into Margo's life more with the actress now becoming paranoid it seems that Eve has now become Margo's understudy later garnering rave reviews after intentionally making Margo late for a performance. Eve then starts flirting with Sanders' Addison who thinks he's figured out but then she starts lying to him about an affair she is having with Karen's wife Lloyd. Addison finally unravels Eve's backstory and then the whole thing finally comes full circle when a girl like Eve comes to her doorstep claiming admiration for her. Everything is right about All About Eve which is evident from its fourteen nominations and only six wins. It's always obvious to wax lyrical about Baxter or Davis but for me it's Celeste Holm who holds everything together by not playing a person who is part of the showbiz set and who is genuinely taken with the young innocent Eve. This is a film that demonstrates the perils of fame and what some people will do to get ahead but is presented in a way that never alienates the audience by in the end letting the characters get their just deserts. Overall a brilliant film that deserves all the accolades it picked up at the 1951 ceremony.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 141: A Double Bill of Biblical Proportions

During the 1950s we saw the dawn of big pictures being made in Cinescope and Techincolor. To this effect some of the old sword and sandals epics from the early period of cinema started to be updated using these new techniques two of which are the biblical epics we will cover in this blog post.

We start with The Robe which was nominated for Best Picture at the 1954 ceremony adapted from the novel by Lloyd C Douglas it tries to tell the story of what happened to the Roman soldier who won Jesus' robe. The soldier turns out to be Tribune Marcellus Gallio, played here by Richard Burton, a well-liked man who at the beginning of the film takes on a slave Demetrius. Gallio treats Demetrius well but then one day the latter glances upon Jesus and starts to believe in him so refuses to take orders from one of the men who is overseeing the crucifixion. After winning the robe Marcellus starts to get fits and egged on by his love interest Diana and the Emperor Tiberius he starts to discover Jesus' works and his miracle and himself becomes a Christian. However when Tiberius dies and Caligula takes his place Marcellus is forced into taking trial as a conspirator against the empire as Caligula and Marcellus are enemies after Diana left the former for the latter. At the end of the film Marcellus is sentenced to his death and Diana walks with him as the screen fades out they are both walking into clouds with angelic music playing behind them. That final scene displays all you really need to know about The Robe in that its main motive is pro-Jesus and even if you die you'll find happiness in the next life. There's no denying that the film is well made and well shot and fully takes advantage of the Technicolor aspect of the picture. The opening scene in which Marcellus walks through the market just before meeting Demetrius is the film's most spectacular taking in all manner of animals and people later on however the film loses its epic feel as it becomes a lot of people talking in rooms but mind you they are well furnished rooms and all the people in them are well-costumed. Richard Burton was nominated for Best Actor here however I feel the best performances come from Victor Mature as Demetrius and Jean Simmons as Diana. Overall a good example of the 1950s swords and sandals epic that peters out towards the end of its run as its religious message really begins to kick in.

Three years after The Robe and four years after he won Best Picture, Cecil B DeMile presented his final picture The Ten Commandments a nominee in 1957. As you can probably garner from the film's title it deals with the story of Moses and how The Ten Commandments came to be. However that part of the story takes part in the film's final half hour, before that there are three and a half hours explaining Moses' entire life and his need to let his people go. As I really feel there's no need to go over the story of Moses in detail I instead want to focus on how visually spectacular this film is. From Moses discovering the Burning Bush, to the various plagues of Egypt and the famous scene in which Moses parts the water every effect is delivered perfectly which at that time was quite hard to do. In addition there was a 'cast of thousands' involved in the film as a lot of The Ten Commandments see the Egyptians whipping the Hebrews into shape in order to get their cities built. Of the main cast members Charlton Heston ages and grows hair superbly here to play Moses he has much more personality than he did in The Greatest Show on Earth and is able to carry the film although I did think Yul Brynner did a good job as Ramses making him both a forceful and later sympathetic character. However some of the supporting roles, especially Edward G Robinson's Dathan did lapse into pantomime at points as did the part of the film in which the Hebrew people are corrupted and start to worship false idols. Of course the big problem here is that the film does not need to be four hours long and there's easily an hour or so, most of it around the point where Moses meets his wife, that could be cut out to make the film flow a lot more steadily. But at the end of the day this is a visual spectacle that definitely deserves its Oscar nomination and its place in history and indeed both this and The Robe are still in the top 100 grossing films of all time including inflation adjustment. So it just goes to show that there is big money to be made from Bible-based movies so I'll have to grab my copy of The Great Book and start adapting now!

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 119: Constantly in Maughning

While reading some background around some of the films it seems that 1940s were dominated by a lot of the studio heads and their whims. In the case of the next film, 1947 nominee The Razor's Edge, Daryl F Zanuck then head of 20th Century Fox really wanted the rights to W. Somerset Maughn's work and paid over the odds to the author who was still alive. Casting was also a problem with Zanuck's first choice Tyrone Power still serving in the marines when the film begun, Zanuck had to use an extra for some of the scenes. Meanwhile Gene Tierney was Maughn's first choice for the female lead but Zanuck had hired Maureen O'Hara under the proviso that she didn't tell anyone she had the part when she told someone, she was fired and Tierney was hired. Directing duties were originally handed to George Cuckor but he also fell fowl of Zanuck and Edmund Goulding was hired. The story in The Razor's Edge sees Power's Larry and Tierney's Isobel from the end of the First World War to well into the 1930s. Engaged at the start of the film Larry wants to find himself and travels first to France and then to India where he finally finds peace among the monks. Meanwhile Isobel marries the dependable but dull Gray and has a couple of children, Gray becomes depressed after he loses his money in the Wall Street Crash but Larry uses techniques he learnt with the monks to get him better. Larry and Isobel's old friend Sophie also appears in the story she gets married then loses her family and starts drinking, Larry rehabilitates and her and they get engaged by Isobel is jealous of their relationship and gets Sophie drinking again before Sophie finally dies. Larry finally finds out about Isobel's part in Sophie's death and leaves her for good finally finding peace.

Overall The Razor's Edge had a good story of money vs. love, finding yourself and trying to get over a terrible incident. None of the characters were truly likeable and all had their baggage but at the same time they were all human they all had their own problems but none of them were true villains. There is also humour provided by Isobel's extravagant uncle Elliot, played by the Oscar nominated Clifton Webb, and dependability is provided by Maughn himself who becomes a character here played by Herbert Marshall. My personal favourite performance came from Anne Baxter who won an Oscar for Supporting Actress as the emotionally torn Isobel but Tierney was also good as the vindictive Isobel never quite happy after Larry leaves her and never really happy with Gray. Power is able to tie everything together with a strong lead performance and is able to give Larry a very personable side. I did find the film overly talky, having never read the book I don't know how close the adaptation was to the actual book but it seemed to be very wordy and if they did use the script that Maughn used as his adaptation I'm guessing he didn't want to leave a lot out. I did find it a tad long but it was an intriguing story slightly noirish and a bit of a road trip so I think overall Zanuck did get all the elements together worthy for a great movie that ultimately was one of the five films nominated for that year's Best Picture.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 117: Orson Keeps it in the Family

I think one of the biggest Oscar surprises is that Citizen Kane never won Best Picture and instead it went to John Ford's Welsh mining drama How Green Was My Valley. Welles' next film The Magnificent Ambersons also got a nomination but lost to Mrs Miniver. Unlike in Citizen Kane, Welles doesn't feature in the cast instead giving a fairly ominous voiceover telling us the story of The Ambersons an eccentric family who have all inherited money from the patriarch Major Amberson. The film mainly focuses on George, the spoilt grandson of Major Amberson and his objections to his mother marrying an automobile manufacturer after his father has died. The man in question is Joseph Cotten's Eugene Morgan who was George's mother Isabel's first love. George also falls in love with and gets engaged to George's daughter Lucy however the union is doomed when George's spoilt nature comes out and he reveals he doesn't want to work instead live of the family's fortunes which are dwindling. One of the main themes throughout the film is new money vs. old as the Ambersons fortune is generations old whereas Eugene has earned his money from his inventions. Eugene and Isobel are never allowed to be together as George takes his mother around Europe and then returns when she gets ill and later dies. However the future looks better for Lucy and George after George learns the error of his ways and decides to get a job and also reconcile with Eugene as the film ends.

Compared to Citizen Kane, The Maginifcent Ambersons isn't as big of a film but it still has that Wellsian style to it which is mainly seen during the scenes in the Ambersons grandiose mansion which is almost too big for its inhabitants. Possibly the best performance in the film, and the only one nominated for an Oscar, was from Agnes Moorhead as the Amberson's maiden aunt Fanny who seems a bit distressed that no-one ever finds her attractive and goes off on a rant near the end of the film in which she chastises George for never taking her seriously. Welles' long time friend Joseh Cotten is basically just a bit handsome and debonair as the inventor Eugene while Dolores Costello and Anne Baxter are fine in their roles but are never more than just token female parts maybe this is because Moorhead has such an interesting character it but the other actresses in the shade. One of the biggest problems of the film is that Tim Holt's George is just plain unlikeable so I have no sympathy for him even when he changes his ways at the end of the film I've already given up on him. Although the film did get another nomination for cinematography, there was no Best Director nod for Welles and indeed he was so poorly treated by the Academy that when they awarded him with a Special Award he refused to go and pick it up. Overall the Ambersons is a well-made film but one that suffers from a lack of likeable characters or a plot that flows particularly well.