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.

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 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 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 69: Three's Company

As we saw in the 1930s there were a lot of Screwball comedies knocking about, these films usually revolved around a couple who weren't together for some reason and had to resolve issues - usually of class in order to become a couple by the end. That tradition seems to continue in The More the Merrier, a nominee at the 1944 ceremony which was a film that touched on the serious issue of the housing shortage during the Second World War but did it with plenty of screwball comedy-esque touches. The film revolves around Benjamin Dingle, an adviser on the housing shortage who arrives in Washington to find his hotel won't be ready for two days. Dingle then has to find an apartment and ends up moving in with a young girl named Constance Milligan. Constance and Dingle have trouble working out a routine while living together which is further complicated when Dingle rents half of his room out to soldier Joe Carter. Joe and Constance start to fall for each other but she is already engaged to the straight-laced bureaucrat Charles Pendergrass. Through several different means Dingle starts to orchestrate situations where Joe and Constance will be together and even delays Pendergrass by asking him to help with some of his duties. From there, there are romantic complications as Joe and Constance fall in love and Pendergrass then discovers the whole house-sharing mess. The final scene sees Dingle seal the fate of the two younger characters and then sings outside their door with a group of homeless men.

I really enjoyed The More The Merrier and I even found myself laughing out loud at some points, something I have rarely done to any of these films. Most of the reason for that is down to Charles Coburn as Dingle, who steals every scene he is in and the highlight is the very first morning he and Constance are together they construct an almost silent routine which is absolutely hilarious. Coburn won the Oscar for Supporting Actor that year, the only award the film received, and that was more than justified just as with Lionel Barrymore in the 1930s, Coburn is a supporting star who we will see more of throughout the decade. Jean Arthur, previously the plucky heroine in You Can't Take it With You, here plays the practical but ultimately romantic Constance with some ease and also earned an Oscar nomination. The film does suffer when Coburn isn't on the screen and the romantic scenes between Joe and Constance go on a little too long. However the film is incredibly well written and also well shot including the scenes in which Joe and Constance talk to each other through the wall which are filmed through the window so you can see both characters. A nice little comedy with a serious social issue at its heart and some good performances.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 52: My Day with Katharine Hepburn

So far I've encountered a lot of the great female icons of the era during this search - Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford in Grant Hotel, Bette Davis in Jezebel, Marlene Dietrich in Shanghai Express and Claudette Colbert in a number of films. However one star has eluded me so far so I decided to watch all three of her nominated films from that decade in one day, that star is Katharine Hepburn.

Although Katharine Hepburn won her first Best Actress Oscar for only her third performance in Morning Glory. The first film that she was in that was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar was George Cukor's adaptation of Little Women that was up for Best Picture at the 1934 ceremony. Most people already know the story of Little Women but if you don't it basically concerns four sisters as they grow up and become women by finding love and independence. In this version it is Hepburn who plays second eldest sister Jo an aspiring playwright who meets the shy Laurie and they begin to fall in love however she rejects his advances and goes to New York to work as a nanny and to concentrate on her writing. Meanwhile of her other sisters Meg gets married, Amy goes off with her auntie and Beth contracts and eventually dies of Scarlet Fever. The end of the film comes full circle as Beth's death reunites the family and Jo discovers that Amy and Laurie have fallen in love and are about to be married so she accepts the proposal of the German linguist who works with the children that she nannies. Approaching this film I only had a smattering of what the story was about, mainly from that episode of Friends where Rachel gets Joey to read it. At first I found this a little hard to grasp and at times I mixed up the non-Hepburn sisters but once it found its stride and the male characters were introduced I really started to enjoy it. Hepburn's regular strong female stance was on display here as Jo, here she never lets her guard down till the very end and anchors the film from beginning to end however I also thought Jean Parker as Beth was particularly compelling and older character actress Edna May Oliver did a good job of portraying the wealthy but harsh aunt of the girls. Overall this was a good literary adaptation and as so won the Adapted Screenplay Oscar and Cukor was nominated for his strong direction. This probably would've made it into the list of nominees had it been five strong but it just wasn't as different and challenging as that year's winner Cavalcade.

Two years later at the 1936 awards Hepburn was nominated for her second Best Actress Oscar for her titular performance in the film Alice Adams. Hepburn here would be unsuccessful losing to Bette Davis for the film Dangerous but for me Alice Adams marked a departure for Hepburn in terms of character, Alice displayed little in terms of bravado and instead was quite weak and understated. The film is all about class as Alice and her mother hope to rise above their lower-middle class status. The family's father is ill in bed and, even though his job at the glue factory has been left open, they have little money. Alice goes to a party and unable to find a job has to go with her smart Alec brother. While there she meets and dances with the dashing Arthur however her lowly class means that she feels she isn't good enough for him. Alice's mother convinces her father to sell an invention for a new type of glue without consulting his business partner and boss essentially meaning he gets called a thief. The finale of the film sees the Adams family host a dinner party with Arthur which is awkward as Alice struggles to make conversation with Arthur while the rest of the family is worried about the consequences of the father's actions. However just when everything seems lost Alice's father and his business partner make up and Alice gets her man, something I found a little far-featched. Despite that finale, Alice Adams was a charming enough picture with another great little performance from Hepburn who is ably supported by Fred MacMurray as Arthur and Frank Albertson as her brother. Again not a film that was ever going to hold a candle to that year's winner Mutiny on The Bounty but again there was nothing particularly wrong with the film.

Hepburn's final Best Picture nominated film came two years later and this time she shared the headline status with Ginger Rogers. This film was Stage Door about a group of aspiring actresses who share a boarding house together with Rogers playing the street-smart dancer and Hepburn the haughty rich-girl newbie who puts everyone's noses out of joint. As well as Hepburn and Roger's characters is Kay Hamilton played by Andrea Leeds a young actress who had won rave reviews for her first performance but was struggling to find enough work to pay for rent and meals. Hamilton's chance comes when she auditions for a show directed by Anthony Powell, a respected director who is pompous and arrogant and refuses to see Hamilton leading to her fainting and Powell getting a tongue-lashing from Hepburn's Terry Randall. However eventually Terry's rich father agrees to finance Powell's show but only if his daughter in the lead role which again means that Randall is an outcast in the boarding house once again. In the end Kay dies and Terry dedicates her performance to her and is eventually forgiven by the rest of the inhabitants. The final scene sees yet another aspiring actress enter the boarding house and life goes on as normal. Out of these three films I think I enjoyed Stage Door the most, the mainly female cast do a great job of everyday banter and you can really believe that they are struggling actresses. Hepburn returns to her strong nature playing the posh girl in a house full of down-to-Earth characters but she really has some good chemistry with Ginger Rogers. Even though Rogers played a small grittier role in 42nd Street this film sees a complete departure from the work she did with Fred Astaire and is great. But it is Andrea Leeds as Kay who was nominated for Supporting Actress that year and that was rightly deserved. Rounding off the cast was Adolphe Menjou again playing a little bit of an unsavoury gentlemen, while some of the smaller parts were taken by actresses who would find fame later on including Lucille Ball, Eve Arden and Ann Miller. Despite this being my favourite of the three films it did the worst at the Box Office and by the end of the 1930s Hepburn along with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire were considered Box Office poison and weren't getting the roles that they once got.

However Hepburn would turn that around and still holds the record for the most Best Actress Oscars but most of those would be awarded in the 1950s and 1960s so for now its goodbye to Miss Hepburn.