Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 178-179: The Further Adventures of Liz and Dick

Those of you who have been following the Big Oscar Challenge since the beginning know that I devote a large part of the 1950s portion of the project to chronicle the career of Elizabeth Taylor. As we all know Taylor's relationship with Richard Burton was almost as famous as her acting career and in the 1960s they starred opposite each other in two very different Oscar-nominated films.

The first of these is quite infamous in itself mainly as it took years to make, almost bankrupt a studio and elicited a negative reaction from its lead actress. That film was Cleopatra an epic that took three years to shoot and whose location had to be moved after Taylor, who ultimately earned a fee of $7 million for her appearance, had had emergency surgery and claimed that the British weather wouldn't help her healing process so all the sets had to be rebuilt in Italy. There were also issues on the direction front as original director Rouben Mamoulain was replaced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz who envisaged his film as a six hour epic. The film was edited down to three hours and then lengthened back to four for the DVD release, which I watched, which separated the film into two very distinct segments. The first told the story of the Egyptian Queen's meeting with Julius Caesar, played by Rex Harrison, who he later marries and has a son with however as we know Caesar's closest allies were planning to kill him off. After Caesar's death his closest ally Anthony, played by Richard Burton, heads over to Egypt and ends up having it off with Cleopatra himself however he then has to battle Caesar's nephew who has been named his heir. As the second half of the film goes on the relationship between deteriorates as they realise that their allies are being killed off. By the end of the film there has been plenty of deaths, fires and costumes however the stories off-screen have somewhat eclipsed what was happening on screen.

Watching the film for the first time I found it to be visually spectacular and deserving of its awards for costume design and special effects, but maybe not for cinematography, and I did find the battle scenes the most stimulating. I also thought Liz Taylor improved as the film went on, perhaps because she was on the mend, really maturing during the second half of the film during Cleopatra's scenes with Anthony. However at the same time I personally believed the first two hours of the film were very slow and Taylor had very little chemistry with Rex Harrison meanwhile some of the dialogue was just laughable. Cleopatra is still in the history books as one of the most expensive films of all time and famously almost bankrupted Fox who eventually clawed back the money after the VHS and DVD releases. Taylor meanwhile wasn't too keen when she saw the film at the London premiere as she actually threw up however it wasn't all bad as she met her next husband in Richard Burton. The two were both married at the time they began their affair on the set of Cleopatra and after they married they began to star in a number of films together one of which would see Taylor pick up her second Best Actress Oscar.


That film was Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? an adaptation of Edward Albee's play which stars Taylor and Burton as married couple Martha and George who corrupt a young couple who join them for drinks. Despite it being late George and Martha agree to have Nick, the newest professor at the college where George teaches, and his wife Honey around however the night soon descend into accusations and betrayal. As the quartet down more alcohol Martha and George argue about their son while Nick confides in George about his relationship with Honey and why there were married in the first place. As director Mike Nichols didn't have to work within the confines of a theatre he takes the play outside George and Martha's house as the four end up at a road house diner and its adjoining car park before ending up back in the living room.

Personally I still found Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? an incredibly stagy film but I didn't consider this necessarily a bad thing when the four performers are so good. Taylor became one of the first actresses to change her appearance for a part and then win an Oscar here gaining weight and playing a woman ten years older than she was at the time. The film also became of only one of a handful to get nominations in all four acting categories with Burton and George Segal being nominated and Sandy Dennis rightfully winning a Supporting Actress award for breathing life into the innocent Honey. The Oscar-nominated cinematography was also very well done closing in on the characters at the right moment to add intensity to the more emotional moments of the film. What made the film so great though was the chemistry between Taylor and Burton who actually made you believed that they'd been married for years and that they were as old as the characters they played. Overall I greatly enjoyed this film more than the much more expensive Cleopatra as it felt more intense, more emotional and ultimately a more enjoyable watch. After two marriages Burton and Taylor finally divorced in 1976 however the legacy of their romance lives on in films that have some merit to them whether it be the history of their budget or the brilliance of their performances in them.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 174: And then Some Audrey

So here it is the first Oscar Challenge post on this brand new blog in which I continue my quest to watch every film nominated for Best Picture which I think has a projected finish date of 2015. To start this new site off we present another double bill of one person's efforts in the decade and this time we focus on the delicate features of Miss Audrey Hepburn.

Despite being nominated for five Best Actress Oscars only two of those films were nominated for Best Picture one being Roman Holiday which we looked at last decade and the other being The Nun's Story. Hepburn plays Gabrielle Van Der Mal the daughter of a brilliant doctor who herself dreams of being a medical professional and decides to become a nun so that she can work in one of the hospitals in the Congo. The first hour of the film is devoted to her becoming a nun, later known as Sister Luke, including her taking orders as well as learning her vows which means she can no longer have memories or want physical things. When it finally comes to time to take her medical exams her mother superior suggest that she fail her exam in order to show humility however when she passes she is assigned to a mental hospital in her native Belgium rather than her preferred destination of the Congo. Finally she is allowed to go to Africa where she works with Peter Finch's brilliant atheist Dr Fucani who tries to get her to open up but her vows won't allow it. While in the Congo she sees the dangers of the country when one of the other nun's is killed by a villager and she is later transported back to Belgium after she contracts TB. Missing her life in the Congo she is called to be a nurse again when she has to treat casualties hurt in the bombing of World War 2 however her feelings towards the Nazi Party make her think that she can be a nun no longer especially when she finds out her father has been killed. The film ends with Gabrielle denouncing her orders and leaving the convent once and for all her experiences their having made her a better person.

As I mentioned the first hour of The Nun's Story is almost exclusively reserved for Gabrielle's transformation into Sister Luke including watching her during dinner and during mass. As you can imagine this is pretty dull at times however it does make you relate to the characters and also what it takes to become a nun in the first place. The film really picks up in when Sister Luke makes it to the Congo partly due to the on-location filming that really makes you feel like you're there with the characters and partly because of Peter Finch. This is the first time we're seeing Finch as part of the Oscar Challenge, it won't be the last, and he makes Fucani his own being very forthright but at the same time you can see he cares about Sister Luke whether that be in a romantic way or just friendly concern is a matter we have to decide for ourselves. What makes The Nun's Story so great though is Hepburn herself who at times is the only reason to keep watching throughout you can really believe her as this young girl forced to leave behind everything she knows to give herself wholly to God. I feel she is better here than in her Oscar-winning turn in Roman Holiday partly because this film is heavier meaning the role has more gravitas and partly because it is a more mature performance. Overall this was a film of two halves one a semi-documentary on how nuns are welcomed into a convent and the other a medical film set in Africa coupled with a World War II movie. Thankfully Audrey Hepburn is the star that makes the most of her role and therefore this film is a lot better for having her be a part of it.

I'm not sure the same can be said for My Fair Lady, at least not all of it, which was the film that won Best Picture at the 1965 Oscar Ceremony. Most of us know the story of Professor Henry Higgins taking flower girl Eliza Dolittle off the street and making a bet with his friend Colonel Pickering that he pass her off as a lady at the next embassy ball. The film deals with their relationship as Eliza develops into a lady with Higgins winning his bet and in turn her being pursued by Freddy Eynsford-Hill a boy of breeding who is charmed by her frank nature. However Eliza has fallen for Higgins and runs away from him after he fails to thank her for winning his bet but at the end of the day she returns to him so we the viewer have to decide what happens next. For me this was Rex Harrison's film rather than Hepburn's his blustering, domineering Higgins is a joy to watch mainly because Harrison makes this brute of a man somewhat sympathetic. For me Hepburn struggles with the earlier segments in which she has to play at being a rough cockney flower-seller and personally I never bought her verbal attacks against Higgins finding them forced at times. Hepburn is better in the latter half of the film after she has almost been transformed into a lady her scenes at the races and the embassy ball being my favourite. Stanley Holloway is also great as Eliza's money-grabbing father as is Gladys Cooper as Higgins' disapproving mother. What's so great about My Fair Lady though is how it looks and how it sounds with the production design splendid, the costumes fantastic and the songs being memorable. This musical boasts some of the most famous songs from the theatre including 'I Could've Danced All Night', 'I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face', 'Get Me to the Church on Time' and my personal favourite 'On the Street Where You Live.' Like with Oliver! and The Sound of Music I'm still not convinced that an old-school musical like this should've won a Best Picture prize but again I will reserve judgment until I've seen all five.

OK hope you like the new place more to come soon.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 173: Even More Musical Melodies

Back again with another double bill of musicals kicking off with a film that sneaked its way into being one of the five nominees at the 1968 ceremony.

Possibly the least impressive of the four films in this blog is the only one I hadn't seen before that being the original 1967 version of Doctor Dolittle. For me the film is most famous for two things Rex Harrison and the song 'If Could Talk to the Animals' however after reading around the production it seems it has an infamous backstory. Originally projected to cost only $6 million dollars the end budget almost tripled that and the film was known as the picture that almost bought Warner Brothers to its knees. The only reason I'm watching it is due to the studio launching a rather aggressive campaign in which it wined and dined Academy members in order to get seven nominations. It won two deservedly for the ahead-of-their-time special effects, which included a two headed llama and a giant snail, as well as for the aforementioned song. Rex Harrison, who wasn't nominated, was brilliant as the former people doctor who'd turned to animals and learnt to communicate with them but had angered several people around him because of this. The first half of the film deals with his past while the second half sees him take off to find the elusive Great Pink Sea Snail eventually ending up on the floating Sea-Star Island. Personally I'm not quite sure what audience this film is aimed at as many of the songs would be too much for the kids while the romance between Dolittle's assistant played by Anthony Newley and the snotty-nosed Emma is really uninvolving. Bar Harrison, a couple of the songs and the effects this is could be described as a white elephant of a film, incidentally not one of the animals that Dolittle deals with, as large set-pieces on the island plus one at a circus fail to provide any interest. In a year in which more interesting films should've taken the Best Picture slot that Dolittle ended up getting it proves just how easily-influenced the Oscar panel were back in the 1960s and depending on who you listen to not a lot has changed in term of the way things work today.

Ending on a more positive note with the film that won the Best Picture at the final 1960s Oscar ceremony that being Oliver! Unlike a lot of these films, which were basically screen musicals adapted almost note-for-note, the film version of Oliver! changed some roles, got rid of some songs and made the whole thing seem more like a film. For example the second half of the film version has a lot less songs than the stage version does which makes it seem rightly a lot more dramatic and less light-hearted than the first half. Not that you can say most of the plot of Oliver! is generally light-hearted dealing as it does with an orphan who runs away from the workhouse to end up working for a gang of young thieves led by a cunning Jew and a woman-beating Neanderthal. Obviously I'm referring there to Oscar nominee Ron Moody's Fagin and Oliver Reed's Bill Sikes who was a character that had a minimal role in the musical but appears more for the film audience to realise that he's no good. Like Mary Poppins, Oliver is one of the films on this list that I have watched many times before however I approached it this time thinking does this feel like a Best Picture winner? My answer would probably be yes but from an earlier decade as by this time the Academy was awarding more alternative films for example the prior winner to Oliver! was In the Heat of the Night and the one after was Midnight Cowboy. What Oliver! is is a brilliant musical with fine turns from Moody, Reed, Shani Wallis as Nancy, Harry Secombe as Mr Bumble and Jack Wild as The Artful Dodger who was the only other cast member to get an Oscar nomination. There are some great set pieces namely in the 'Consider Yourself' and 'Who Will Buy' numbers the latter of which is one of my favourite moments. However as I am one for darker stuff I love the last twenty minutes most notably Fagin and Dodger's reprise of Reviewing the Situation as well as the eventual capture of Bill, hell even Bullseye the dog is brilliant. In 1969 film was changing however if you'd watched Oliver! as a representation of what movies were like at the time then you wouldn't know it although it is an excellent musical I feel that something grittier could've possibly won in its place but then again I haven't watched its competitors yet so only time will tell.

OK  more Oscar blogging to come soon with an Audrey Hepburn double coming up next.