Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Days 423-424: Days of Future Past Part Seven

After several posts focusing on the early days of Oscar this catch-up segment goes into the late 1950s and 1960s to look at a few nominees that had previously evaded me.

William Wyler has been a regular face on this blog and is the only director to helm three Best Picture winners in Mrs. Miniver, The Best Years of Our Lives and Ben-Hur. Although Wyler has directed many iconic pictures he's also been involved with some less memorable offerings. Friendly Persuasion definitely fits into that latter category as its the quintessential example of middle-of-the-road film-making. The film focuses on the Birdwells; a Quaker family living in Southern Indiana during the American Civil War. Over the course of the two and a bit hours, the family are constantly chastised for their reluctance to fight for their land. This story is an interesting one and the scenes in which the eldest Birdwell child Josh considers his fate are some of the film's most memorable. The problem with Friendly Persuasion is that the first hour is fairly devoid of plot and at times is quite episodic. There are some interesting set pieces including one at a state fair and some of the final scenes in which Josh fights for the home guard. The main issue I had with the characters in general though was the fact that none of them seemed to be happy Quakers with the possible exception of matriarch Eliza. It appeared that they'd rather fight, play music and dance than sit in a prayer hall for hours on end and to be honest I don't blame them. Whilst Wyler does make use of the fine locations afforded to him, I feel he left it too late to really pull the trigger on the film's grittier moments. I did find that Gary Cooper and Dorothy McGuire gave fine depictions of parents Jess and Eliza however the younger actors portraying their children were a little wooden. It was also odd seeing Anthony Perkins playing the sympathetic Josh knowing that four years later he'd portray a cinematic icon in Psycho's Norman Bates. Ultimately Friendly Persuasion wasn't a bad film but it was stunningly mediocre which is a surprise seeing as it comes from the normally reliable Wyler.

Moving on two years now we finally have a bit of light relief in the form of Auntie Mame, Morton Da Costa's adaptation of the play version of Patrick Dennis' novel. As I've noted in the past, it's very rare that a comedy film actually features in the Best Picture field and so it was a refreshing change to experience some laughter during this challenge. Despite being two and half hours I found that Da Costa's film flew by thanks in part to the fantastically large performance that Rosalind Russell put in as the titular matriarch who loomed large over the screen. The basic plot of the film sees Mame become guardian to her nephew Patrick after his stuffy father dies unexpectedly. From there on the two form an odd couple relationship with Patrick becoming the straight man to Mame's audacious character. The progression of the film sees Patrick grow up and get engaged whilst Mame marries, is widowed and eventually writes her autobiography. I wasn't surprised to learn that Auntie Mame was originally a stage play as each scene is quite easily signposted. In fact, Da Costa doesn't shy away from the film's roots and has the house lights dip when the location of the scene changes. I felt Russell was magnificent throughout the course of the film as she devoured every line magnificently and balanced the comedy of the film with its more tragic elements. Russell was well supported by a fantastic ensemble most notably Forrest Tucker as Mame's first husband and Peggy Cass as dowdy secretary Agnes Gooch. Auntie Mame is also incredibly well-designed with the costumes being a particular highlight as were the many decorative sets. I'm surprised to learn that Auntie Mame didn't win any of the Oscars it was nominated for and I feel it really should have snapped up at least one. However a film that makes people laugh is rarely an awards contender and I think the film should just be happy that it's cheered me up after a run of particularly mediocre fare.

Skipping forward another two years we have a completely different sort of film in The Sundowners, an Australian-set adventure starring Robert Mitchum. Fred Zinneman's film, an adaptation of Jon Cleary's book, introduces us to the Carmody family, a trio of sheep-herders who trek across Australia's back country. Mitchum's patriarch paddy is joined by his wife Ida and their son Sean as they take small jobs, camping through the night before moving on to their next destination. The film looks at the change in mood amongst the family as Ida wants to find somewhere for the family to live with Sean agreeing with her. However, Paddy is dead against it and wants to continue living a nomadic lifestyle for as long as possible. The Carmodys, alongside refined English acquaintance Rupert, end up spending some time at a sheep station where they get to re-evaluate their priorities. Going into The Sundowners I wasn't expecting a great deal so I enjoyed what was an enjoyable film about what it takes to be a family. Deborah Kerr's performance was particularly powerful as she portrayed Ida as a woman who was sick of moving round and wanted to a have a home of her own. For her role in the film, Kerr was nominated for her sixth and final Oscar and I think it's a shame that she didn't win at least one. Peter Ustinov was fantastic in the supporting role of Rupert whilst Glynis Johns, who I only knew from Mary Poppins, gave a scene-stealing turn as landlady Mrs Firth. However, the most prominent aspect of The Sundowners are the fantastic Australian exterior shots which boost the authenticity of the picture. Although it's not an outstanding piece of work, I found The Sundowners an easy watch which was bolstered by some fine performances and an interesting ending.

Next time is the final Days of Future Past post as the blog takes a quick European tour.

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 Day 124: It Happened One Night

At the 1948 Oscar ceremony the winner was Gentleman's Agreement a film all about prejudice against Jews and the next film in the list and fellow nominee Crossfire also deals with similar themes. Crossfire begins with a fight between two men we don't see their faces but one is a soldier and the other man, Samuels, gets beaten to death and it's up to Robert Young's police Captain Finlay to find out who did it. The original suspect is Mitchell who was drinking with Samuels and came back to his apartment but when Mitchell's superior Keeley comes back he gets a different story from him. Mitchell tells him that he ended up at a bar where he met a young woman, Ginny, and ended up letting himself into her apartment after she gave him the key. When he woke up he found a man there, later revealed to be her ex-husband, and left only to find the police waiting for him and retreating to a local movie theatre. After conducting interviews Finlay realises that the only motive for Samuels murder is one of hate and because he is a Jew. Finlay finds out Mitchell didn't know of Samuels' Jewish background but fellow soldier Montgomery was also on the scene and mentioned it a few times. After Montgomery kills the other soldier who knows about the murder, Finlay tracks him down and shoots him as he tries to escape.

At first I found Crossfire a bit irritating it introduced new characters far too quickly for my liking and it was also hard to tell them apart as they were all in army uniform. However I did come to appreciate the little touches such as the use of shadow and the non-linear narrative. We are given two versions of events firstly Montgomery's account of what happened which he gives to Finlay and the second is Mitchell's testimony to Keeley which is shot in the movie theatre the only light present in this scene coming from the screen. Unlike Gentleman's Agreement, Crossfire is never particularly preachy about prejudice apart from in one scene when Finlay tells one of the soldiers about how is grandfather was killed just because he was from an Irish background. In terms of the acting Robert Ryan is particularly convincing as the evil Montgomery and Paul Kelly is also particularly sinister as Ginny's ex-husband and Roberts Young and Mitchum hold the whole thing together. But the best performance, and the only Oscar nominated one, in the cast comes from Gloria Grahame as Ginny the girl who has been chatted up by more men than she cares to explain and just wants out of that life. Overall a very enjoyable crime story that has a strong narrative and some memorable characters.