Big Oscar Challenge Day 90-92: Catch-Up Part 3

The good thing about this Oscar Challenge is that I am able to watch films that I've never heard of but I really enjoy one of these is The Pied Piper a film about a man who is forced into action to get a group of children out of Nazi-occupied France and get them safely to the U.S. Monty Woolley was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role as the curmudgeonly Howard who begrudgingly takes the children of two parents at the same French resort where he is staying over the border, bit by bit they are joined by other European children and are captured by the Nazis as Woolley almost falls foul of Otto Preminger's German General. Although it wasn't a great film The Pied Piper had a nice tone to it and an enjoyable unstarry cast even though Roddy MacDowall did feature as one of the children. The Pied Piper was a few of the films that I watched during this period that were involved with World War 2. There was also 1944 nominee In Which We Serve, one of the first British films to be nominated for a plethora of Oscars it revolves around the crew of a ship during the war. It portrays these men as both dedicated to the war effort as well as normal down-to-Earth men. The cast is awfully impressive and includes Noel Coward, John Mills, Celia Johnson and Richard Attenborough in his first ever role. And from 1943 there was Wake Island a rather short film about the Pearl Harbour bombing and how it affected both the soldiers stationed on the island and the men working on a building site there also. The most impressive thing about Wake Island was the final scenes during the attacks by the Japanese for a film made in the 1940s the effects that are used are very real indeed. Another film that seemed like an also-ran inclusion in a year of 10 nominees, this was one that fell against Mrs Miniver a film that I haven't actually watched yet.

As well as the films showing the reactions to the war we also had the satirical reaction to the war courtesy of Mr Charlie Chaplin. The Great Dictator was the only Chaplin movieever to be nominated for Best Picture while the man himself also got nominated for both Best Actor and for his screenplay. The film was historic as it was the first time Chaplin ever spoke in a film and saw him took on a duel role both as a Jewish barber who is fighting in the war as a private and Adenoyd Hynkel a Dictator modelled on a certain Mr Hitler. Thanks to the farcical nature of the film Chaplin's two characters are mistaken for each other in hilarious circumstances. For a 1940s comedy it is very witty indeed and challenges Hitler's authority and his underlings in quite a strong manner. as the other generals are called Herring and Gerbitsch and if you think about it I'm guessing you could work out who they represent. Continuing the tradition of comedies not doing very well at the Oscars, The Great Dictator failed to pick up any of the five awards it was nominated for. Despite that I really enjoyed it and think that it is possibly one of the most influential comedy films of all time and is certainly better remembered than that year's winner the still marvellous Rebecca.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 82: An Inconvenient Marriage

An interesting romance film that was nominated at the 1942 ceremony is up next. The majority of the film is narrated by Charles Boyer's character Georges Iscovescu who is pitching the film's story to a Paramount director. As we are told at the opening of the film this meeting between Georges and the director is how the making of the film came about however later it is incorporated as part of the story. Georges has come to America from his native Romania to try and escape the conflict of World War II however when he arrives U.S. immigration inform him that the numbers of Romanian immigrants have already been filled and he will have to stay in Mexico until there is room for him. Georges spends his time in a rundown Mexican hotel just by the border filled with other Europeans also waiting for their chance to become U.S. citizens, the hotel is also visited from time to time by immigration inspector Hammock who checks on the status of the immigrants. Later Georges meets his old dancing partner and lover Anita who has told him that she has married an older American man and that will fast track her over the border. Anita hatches a plan with Georges that he will marry an American woman and when they are both safely in America will both divorce their partners and be together. Georges then comes across naive teacher Emmy whose school bus has broken down trapping her and several pupils on the wrong side of the border. Georges steals a part of the bus thus forcing Emmy to stay in his hotel and for him to charm and later propose to her. Emmy and Georges are soon married however Hammock returns to the hotel and Georges realises that he will start asking her questions so he takes her off on an impromptu honeymoon. Inevitably Georges then starts to fall in love with her as they journey around the coast and stop in at a church to be blessed. They arrive back at the hotel where Anita realises that Georges won't go through with the plan so she reveals all to Emmy however when she is questioned by Hammock she lies and says she and Georges are in love. Georges stays in Mexico to get his papers in order but then he learns that Emmy was in an accident and crosses the border before it is legal for him to do so. He enters the hospital to see her but is soon tracked down by Hammock's men and runs to the studio to talk to the director who he had previously encountered in Mexico. The final part of the story is told by the director, after Hammock arrested Georges he took him back to Mexico, Georges learns that Anita has met another wealthy man who she plans to exploit. Finally, Hammock softens and tells Georges that he has fast-tracked his citizenship because he failed to report the earlier incident of Georges' escape and realises that Georges and Emmy's relationship is genuine.

I have to say one of the things I enjoyed most about Hold Back the Dawn is its narrative structure. By having the story being a narration by Georges we are intrigued to see how his and Emmy's story will end and how it will fit with this meeting at the studio. Although it is a bit soppy at times the romance between Georges and Emmy starts as a hoax but ends up being fairly genuine. As far as the acting goes Olivia De Havilland's performance as Emmy earned her an Oscar nomination and it was just about deserved as Emmy grows as a character throughout the film becoming tougher as she realises the extent of Georges' plans. Paulette Goddard is also enthralling as Anita the manipulative other woman and to some extent the film's villain. But it is Charles Boyer who anchors the whole film with a mix of charm and real emotion he makes Georges one of those characters who does horrible things but still seems likeable however he failed to even get a nomination for his performance. The film also had something to say about the lengths some immigrants will go to to get into America and the setting of the Mexican hotel feels cramped and somewhat unwelcoming. Overall this was a fairly engaging if overly sentimental romantic drama with undertones of social commentary.