Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 244: History Repeating Itself

A lot of the Oscar-nominated films that I've already watched have been based around real-life events, primarily historical stories. For example the plot of how Henry VIII met and married Anne Boleyn has already been told in two films - the Private Life of Henry VIII and A Man for All Seasons. But those films tell the story form the perspectives of King Henry and Thomas More and not from that of the woman who would be Queen. Thankfully, we now have Anne of the Thousand Days which shows us everything from Anne's first meeting with Henry to her eventual execution.

The film commences with Henry signing the document condemning Anne to death, before flashing back to the first time they met. Throughout the film Anne is presented as quite a strong-willed woman who outright refuses to become the King's latest lover, partly due to his prior relationship with his sister Mary. Part of Henry's attraction to Anne is the fact that he treats her as if he weren't the king, but this charm soon wares off as she begins to irritate him. However, she still refuses to let him have his wicked way with her until he makes her his Queen. She does this by undermining the power that Cardinal Wolsey possesses and showing Henry that he doesn't need the church. Anne's words also bring power to Thomas Cromwell who helps him set up a new church that lets Henry divorce his wife Catherine and marry Anne. But Anne's life as the Queen isn't all rosy as she isn't accepted by the people of England and when she gives birth to a daughter, Henry starts to tire of her. But Anne lets the power go to her head and she tries to prevent Henry from starting an affair with the younger and prettier Jane Seymour. As the arguments start to fly between the two, Henry puts pressure on Cromwell to find a way out of his marriage to Anne. Cromwell's scheming ultimately results in Anne's death and the end of her thousand days with Henry.

There's no denying that Anne of The Thousand Days is incredibly melodramatic, a fact which is bolstered by a scenery chewing performance by Richard Burton. Indeed, Burton's King Henry VIII is so cartoonish that occasionally you feel you like you're watching a pantomime. As somebody who has quite a bit of knowledge of this time in history, Anne of the Thousand Days feels like a bit of a potted guide to the whole reign of Anne Boleyn. To me it has none of the class that A Man For All Seasons possessed and instead is over-the-top in every way. That's not to say it doesn't have its positives primarily all of the ascetic detail from the art direction through to the Oscar-winning costumes. Geneviève Bujold's performance as Anne was equally impressive as we saw her transform the young Queen from a strong-willed innocent into a manipulative game-player. To me Bujold was the star of the show and she made this into Anne's story, even when she wasn't on screen. There were a couple of supporting players who briefly shone namely Irene Papas as the dignified Queen Catherine and William Squire's brief appearances as a wise Sir Thomas More. But, alongside Burton, all of the other cast members were overplaying their roles too much for me to enjoy them. Though Anne of a Thousand Days scooped a massive ten nominations at the Oscars, it only won the costumes prize and it seems as if the makers of the film curried favour with the Academy by serving a champagne dinner after every screening. Thankfully, those who in charge of the Oscars today are a lot less bribeable and instead watch every film before coming to an informed decision on the year's best films. That's what happens isn't it?

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 Days 183-185: The O'Toole Box

Poor old Peter O'Toole holds one of the more dubious records when it comes to the Oscars. At present O'Toole has received a total of eight acting nominations but is yet to win an award. His first Oscar nomination came for what is arguably his most famous role as the title character in Lawrence of Arabia. The 1960s also saw him get two nominations for playing Henry II in both Becket and The Lion in Winter. Of the films he received acting nominations for only those three films have also been nominated for Best Picture so this post will look at each of those pictures in turn.

O'Toole was much more famous as a stage actor before Lawrence and had only appeared in three films up to that point. Other names such as Albert Finney and Marlon Brando had been tossed around before O'Toole was finally given the role. For those unaware of the story, O'Toole stars as TE Lawrence who starts the film as an odd lieutenant who is sent to assess Arab Prince Faisal's attack on the Turks. Though Lawrence is told to agree with his colonel he later suggests to Faisal that they try to attack Aqba and create a passage for the Brits. During the trip across the desert, Lawrence manages to ingratiate himself with the Arab group after he goes back for one of their party who falls off his camel. It is at this point that Lawrence's army clothes are burnt and he becomes and Arab. When he returns to the British officer's quarters they are shocked to see that Lawrence has changed significantly and now thinks of himself as an Arab. The second half of the film then looks at Lawrence the conqueror as he listens less and less to his British superiors. Meanwhile American war correspondent Jackson Bentley starts to document Lawrence's story and is fascinated by the man himself. However Lawrence almost gets too big for his own boots and so both the Arabs and Brits plot to bring him down for different reasons.

Lawrence of Arabia won the Best Picture at the 1963 ceremony and you can definitely see why. As we've seen in the past the academy loves an epic and David Lean's film gave them quite the epic. The sweeping cinematography of F.A. Young is quite iconic especially in the scenes in which Lawrence and his company traverse across the desert. Maurice Jarre's iconic score has also lasted the test of the time and to me perfectly captures the essence of Lawrence's journey. O'Toole himself excels in his breakthrough role as he is able to portray Lawrence's change in attitude with ease. Though comment was passed about how much more attractive O'Toole was than the actual Lawrence I don't think this hampered his performance at all. Of the other cast members Omar Sharif was absolutely captivating as the sheriff who warms to Lawrence throughout the film. The realism of the piece is also enhanced via the costumes and sets which are all incredibly well-designed while the Jordanian and Moroccan scenery perfectly doubled for Cairo. I know it may be a little sacrilegious but I felt the film dragged a little bit certainly in its first third. I personally believe that the scenes before Lawrence got to the desert could have been a little less baggy which would've improved the pace. Thankfully the second half of the film was great as Lawrence almost gets a little bit too big for his boots and you can see his downfall coming a mile off. The film itself won seven awards including one for Lean and one for Young's cinematography. Meanwhile O'Toole shot to stardom however he failed to win the Best Actor Award an accolade that would evade him throughout his career.

Two years later and O'Toole was nominated for Best Actor once again for playing Henry II in Becket. The film explores the relationship between Henry II and Thomas Beckett who here was played by Richard Burton. At the start of the film Beckett is presented as Henry II's dogsbody who often sets up extra-marital one night stands for his king. A lot of Henry's noblemen distrust the Saxon Becket's intentions towards their Norman king. However Henry almost falls in love with Becket and feels that he is his most trusted confident so for that reason he appoints him as Archbishop of Canterbury. Henry feels that he can easily manipulate Becket however this turns out not to be the case. Instead Becket begins to take his job awfully seriously and decides to favour God over his King. Henry becomes increasingly jealous of Becket's relationship with God and decides to frame him for embezzlement. The rest of the film sees Becket's attempt to flee Henry's attempts to arrest him and Henry's continued obsession with Becket.

Throughout Becket it is easy to spot O'Toole's diversity as an actor because here he plays quite a petulant and immature character. His King Henry is easily the most interesting thing about Becket as he captures a man who has never really had to grow up. As we learn Henry as locked his wife up in the dungeon, more on that later, and relies now on meaningless hook-ups. In fact his most fulfilling relationship is the one he shares with Becket and therefore his betrayal hurts Henry even more. Richard Burton is the perfect straight man to O'Toole's immature cad and the two bounce off each other perfectly. It is the Burton/O'Toole chemistry that really drives Becket and both of them really made me believe in Henry's motivation for causing Becket's downfall. Both Burton and O'Toole lost the Best Actor award this year but Becket did win one Oscar for its tightly-written script. While Burton would later feature in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, O'Toole would return to the role of Henry II four years later.

This time his Henry II was a lot more forceful as he had to decide which one of his sons was most deserving of being his successor. The film was The Lion in Winter which is set around the succession conflict in which Henry couldn't decide between his aggressive eldest son Richard or his much dumber son John. The film also explores Henry's relationship with Eleanor of Aquitaine who he releases from the dungeon for the Christmas celebrations. Henry champions John as his son, seeing him as easy to manipulate, therefore Eleanor wants Richard to be Henry's successor mainly to get one over on his husband. It appears as if Richard doesn't get on with either of his parents so attempts to form an alliance with his uncle King Philip II. John meanwhile is manipulated by his brother Geoffrey who himself wonders why he hasn't been chosen as successor. Over the course of the Christmas period more devious plotting is afoot as Henry suggests that his mistress Alais marries Richard. However this wedding doesn't go through mainly because of arguments breaking out in the family. The film ends with Eleanor's return to the dungeons and Britain still finding itself without a future king.

I have to say I really enjoyed The Lion in Winter thanks in part to Anthony Harvey's assured direction and the performances provided by the ensemble cast. Peter O'Toole was on fine form here as the swaggering Henry who really enjoyed throwing his weight around. The Henry of The Lion in Winter was much more mature and worldly-wise than the one O'Toole portrayed in Becket. As Eleanor, Katharine Hepburn is utterly brilliant as she manipulates her sons and plots to make Henry's life as miserable as possible. To me the best scenes of The Lion in Winter were those in which Hepburn and O'Toole were on screen together as their interplay was absolutely electric. The Lion in Winter also saw the film debuts of both Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton who played Richard and Philip respectively. Hopkins made a good impression here as the war-hungry yet frustrated Richard who felt that he would make a much better king than John. Meanwhile Dalton, John Castle, Nigel Terry and Jane Merrow all made their characters distinctive and intriguing whenever they were on screen. The French exterior shots were also fabulously captured by Douglas Slocombe whose camera-work was outstanding throughout. John Barry's score was equally iconic and went on to win one of The Lion in Winter's three Oscars alongside the very intelligent script. The third award went to Katharine Hepburn's amazing turn as Eleanor however here she had to share the prize with Barbara Streisand's performance in Funny Girl. Peter O'Toole meanwhile had to cope with a third Best Actor loss however at the time I'm guessing he thought he'd win one eventually.

Having watched these Peter O'Toole films back-to-back I discovered that he was a versatile actor even during his first years as a film actor. His tour de force performance as Lawrence alone should've shown people that he would go on to be one of the nation's best actors. I was also surprised at how convincing he was at playing the older Henry II in The Lion Winter only four years after playing a much younger version of the king. Despite Lawrence of Arabia winning Best Picture, my personal favourite of these three films had to be The Lion in Winter mainly due to the verbal sparring between O'Toole and Hepburn. Seeing as O'Toole is still around there's still may be a hope of him winning that elusive Best Actor Award however it does seem as likely as it did back in 1963.

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 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!