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 197: Many Hur-dles to Jump

Obviously this blog has already covered many iconic films most of which have gone on to win the Best Picture prize. It has also allowed me to fill in a lot of gaps in my cinematic viewing as there are many classic films that I have never watched. One such film is Ben-Hur, which grabbed the top prize at the 1960 Academy Awards. Obviously I was aware of the film's iconic chariot race but at the time I didn't realise how much of it relied on the characters' religious beliefs.

In fact some of the early scenes in the film revolve around us seeing Joseph and Jesus at the former's carpentry warehouse. However, as you probably guessed, the film is mainly based around Charlton Heston's titular character. At the beginning of the film, Ben-Hur is a wealthy prince who is glad to have his old friend Messala back in town as the new Roman tribune. However, the two fall out after Ben-Hur doesn't give Messala the names of the Jews who criticise the Romans. As revenge, Messala condemns Ben-Hur to the galleys after a roof slate falls during a parade for the Romans. Now a slave, Ben-Hur finally gets to prove himself when their ship is attacked by Macedonian forces and he frees the boat's commander Arrius. Ben-Hur stop Arrius committing suicide and the two are later rescued, with Arrius successfully petitioning for Ben-Hur's freedom. Arrius then adopts Ben-Hur as his son and treats him to the finer things in life but Ben-Hur eventually decides he needs to return to Judea. On return to his hometown he meets his old slave's daughter Esther who informs him that his mother and sister have died. In actuality, the pair have contracted leprosy and are now living in a commune, but they don't want Ben-Hur to know about it. Filled with rage, Ben-Hur agrees to compete in a chariot race for wealthy Sheik Ilderim so he can defeat Messala once and for all. After being successful in the chariot race, Ben-Hur sees Jesus perform the Sermon on the Mount and later witnesses his crucifixion. He also attempts to give Jesus water, as Jesus had given Ben-Hur water earlier on, and in return for this Jesus miraculously cures Ben-Hur's mother and sister.

Ben-Hur is definitely a film that is of its time. I think if it came along today then it wouldn't receive the same praise as it did back then. Indeed Ben-Hur has gone down in Oscar history as one of three films, along with Titanic and Return of the King, to win 11 awards. Among these was a Best Actor Award for Charlton Heston who essentially played the same role as he did in The Ten Commandments. Heston's brooding Ben-Hur was certainly compelling but I feel he over-did his performance at some points. Hugh Griffith, as Sheik Ilderim, was also rewarded with the Best Supporting Actor Award for what was a primarily comic turn. Indeed I believe the best performance in the film came from Jack Hawkins as the emotionally tormented Quintus Arrius. I felt Hawkins excelled in the scenes in which his ship comes under attack and he attempts to kill himself only to be freed by one of his slaves. Obviously the film is best remembered for the chariot scene and I felt that was visually spectacular. Indeed, this was what I'd been waiting to see and it didn't disappoint with both director William Wyler and cinematographer Robert L Surtees going out of their way to make this scene completely thrilling. Elsewhere I really enjoyed the scenes in which Ben-Hur was a slave on the boat and found the award-winning Art Direction was also in full force during the section of the film that was set in Rome. I have to say though, and I know this may be seen as heresy, but I felt that the film took a good while to get going and could've been trimmed down by at least thirty minutes. Having said that, I can at least argue that Ben-Hur deserved its Best Picture Oscar as this was a visually-stunning and bold epic which audience wouldn't have seen at the time. While it's far from perfect, it has enough going for it to be a rightful winner and I have no problem with this being one of the eighty or so Best Pictures that I will encounter on this blog.

Next up we continue our religious theme with a very different film.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 168: It's a Little Bit Funny

So this bank holiday has yielded two films that are on my 1960s list for this Oscar Project with the first being Funny Girl the biographical musical of theatre star Fanny Brice which incidentally was briefly covered in 1930s Best Picture winner The Great Ziegfeld with Brice playing herself. Here Brice is played by Barbara Streisand in her debut film performance, for which she won the Best Actress Oscar, as we see her journey from awkward teenager to star of the Ziegfeld Follies. The story starts with Brice trying to get a part in the chorus but realising that instead she should be a headliner due to her comedy timing and great voice. When she finally makes it she falls in love with Omar Sharrif's Nicky Arnestein with whom she runs off abandoning the Follies. Once he has won lots of money playing cards they return to a big mansion and she returns to the Follies however things take a turn for the worst with Nick's business ventures falling through. After the pair move into an apartment Nick feels that he has to be the man despite Fanny earning more than him so agrees to go through with a shady deal and gets arrested for embezzlement. Fanny and Nick reunite briefly but at the end of the day separate mainly so she can go off and make the sequel.

One of about eight musicals that I have to watch during the next fifty films Funny Girl at least had some bite to it and some very familiar songs. I already knew that Don't Rain on My Parade featured prominently and indeed in the scene in which Fanny decides to abandon the Follies to be with Nick her performance is great as it is on People and all of the other songs featured. The star of the show though is undoubtedly Streisand who is on the ball with all her timing and really convinces as the girl who has a great stage presence but lacks maturity when it comes to her personal life. Omar Sharif is always good as the dashing love interest/caddish villain and in this he plays a version of the two a man who feels like his other half is the one wearing the trousers. The Follies productions are also greatly reconstructed although they don't feel as genuine as in the story of Ziegfeld himself here played by veteran actor Walter Pidgeon. While not everything works and I did find myself a trifle board during some of Nick's card games this was an entertaining musical biopic with a stunning debut performance from its lead actress that was more than worthy of the Oscar she won for it.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 150: More from Monty

As we've seen in our trip through the 1950s we've had a lot of stars straddle films I've done retrospectives of the fifities films of both Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando in the former's collection we found A Place in The Sun. That gently links into this next section as we look into the work of the male lead of that film, Montgomery Clift's, other work.

We kick off with just what I need, another play adaptation, this time thankfully there's enough exterior shots to counteract the scenes of people talking in rooms. That film is The Heiress and once again we find the lead actress Olivia De Havilland once again winning the Best Actress award for her tremendous performance as Catherine Sloper the titular woman of the title. The story has a simple premise would a charming young man who mishandles his money be interested in a dowdy heiress for anything more than her cash. That's the situation that Catherine finds herself in after being charmed by Clift's Morris Townsend who visits her house various times and eventually proposed much to the horror of her father played by Ralph Richardson. Richardson's character firstly quizzes Morris' family members before taking his daughter off to Europe, these scenes are especially bought alive by the film medium, realising he can't change her mind he decides to disinherit her therefore only giving her a small amount of money and when Morris finds this out he leaves her on the evening that the couple were meant to elope. It is here that De Havilland comes into her own as she becomes bitter not allowing her father to speak to her and spurning Morris' advances when he returns despite realising he now loves her she wants to humiliate him the way he did her and therefore ends up sad and alone. I did enjoy The Heiress it didn't outstay its welcome and all the leads acted their parts well. De Havilland's performance in the latter scenes were truly spectacular and she did more than earn her Oscar. Montgomery Clift does as he's told playing charming but sinister and playing on his screen idol persona to try and trick the audience into thinking that he really does love Catherine while Ralph Richardson's stoic routine lends itself well to the father. William Wyler brings the play to life and shoots outside as much as possible to give the film a life of its own all in all a good actors film but nothing spectacular.

We come now to another Best Picture winner from the 1954 ceremony starring Clift alongside Burt Lancaster and Oscar winners Frank Sinatra and Donna Reed that film is From Here to Eternity. Covering the same sort of time as 1940s nominee Wake Island, From Here to Eternity looks at army-life in Hawaii just in the run-up to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour. Clift plays Private Pruitt a soldier who has been transferred to his new unit for his boxing prowess however when he refuses to box his Captain gets the other officers to bully him and put him doing manual labour his only friend being Sinatra's Private Maggio. Meanwhile Lancaster's Sergeant Ward is romancing the Captain's wife played by Deborah Kerr their romance includes the famous beach sex scene which is the iconic plateau of the film but which had to be toned down for the censors so it wasn't implicit that the sexual act actually took place. Kerr and Lancaster's romance is thwarted by the fact that she hates it on Hawaii and he vows to earn his Captain's stripes so they can return to the States. Pruitt also falls in love with a girl he meets in a club named Lorene, later revealed to be named Alma, at first he is frustrated with the fact that her work comes first but eventually the two move in together. When Maggio goes AWOL to get drunk he is court martialled and beaten by the warden he eventually escapes but dies from his wounds this causes Pruitt to attack and kill this officer and get wounded himself and going AWOL at Alma's house. It is at this time that the Pearl Harbor attacks take place and Ward takes charge with the Captain being sacked for giving preferential treatment to his boxers. Realising that he will always put the army first Kerr leaves him and returns to America alone meanwhile Pruitt dies trying to make it back to base having been shot by one of the other soldiers. Kerr and Reed's Lorene meet in the film's final scene each realising who the other is as they throw their lays out to sea meaning that neither will ever return.

Occasionally when doing this blog I bemoan the choices of Best Picture but thankfully in 1954 the academy got it spot on with this film. There are no less than five stunning performances with Sinatra stunning me the most as the jovial Maggio who is suddenly brutally attacked and dies a tragic death. Clift is also good here playing a little against type as the stubborn Pruitt but his love scenes with Reed were obviously there for his fans to woo over him. Lancaster is particularly good holding everything together as he's the likeable man torn between love and duty. The almost completely exterior shooting means that this film also boasts great scenery and realistic backdrops and I have to say I was caught off guard by the Pearl Harbour attacks as I'd obviously left my sense of history at the door. Overall a great film and a worthy Best Picture winner and as we've seen here Montgomery Clift definitely made his mark on 1950s film by being both suave and vulnerable in both of these classics.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 130: A Trip to Italy

After two pretty heavy classics I'm ready to have a bit of a break and a bit of light relief so next up are two films both featuring Americans living in Italy and, in the case of the first film Roman Holiday, what happens when a member of the royalty rocks up. That member of royalty is put-upon Princess Ann, played by Audrey Hepburn in her first major role and the only one that would get her the Best Actress Oscar, who while on an official visit to Rome escapes to see the city. Eventually finding herself tired out she is encountered by Gregory Peck's American journalist Joe Bradley who begrudgingly allows her to sleep on his couch. Bradley eventually discovers her identity and smelling a scoop decides to try and trap Anne long enough so he can write a story about it to impress his editor. But during their trip around Rome, accompanied by Joe's photographer friend Irving who is secretly taking pictures of the princess, they inevitably fall for each other and share a kiss before Anne realises that she must return to her duties and leaves Joe in the cold. Joe realises that with his new found feelings for Anne he can no longer publish the story and tells his suspicious editor that he has no idea where the princess is convincing Iriving not to sell the photos they journey to the palace for a press conference where the princess discovers that they are both members of the press. During the press conference Joe and Anne both share their feelings for each other in thinly veiled messages while Irving presents Anne the pictures he took of the three of them together. The final scene sees Joe lingering in the palace eventually leaving.

It is this final scene that stuck with me most of all as I was glad that the film ended with the two going their separate ways rather than having a happy ending. As a whole Roman Holiday was a satisfying film there were parts of it where I found myself getting a little bit bored. I thought Hepburn did very well in her first starring role and opening scenes in which she finds herself tiring of her overly-structured life were particularly endearing. Her chemistry with Peck was also one of the things that made the film work and the way she grows as a character as their relationship develops was another plus point to the film. However I just felt there was just too much dilly dallying and too many establishing shots of Rome it's like William Wyler was trying to drum home the fact that it was shot entirely on location in the Roman capital. Hepburn did indeed deserve her Oscar but I'm surprised that Peck didn't get a nomination as he was just as good as her and the closing scenes really showed a vulnerability to the character that a lesser actor couldn't have mustered. I also don't understand why Eddie Albert, as Irving, was nominated for Supporting Actor when Peck didn't get a look in as Albert had such a minor role in the film that I didn't feel an Oscar nomination was justified. Roman Holiday is certainly a very light film but the romantic comedies of today can't really hold a candle to it.

I'm not sure if the next film Three Coins in the Fountain, also considered itself a romantic comedy, but one of the problems with it was that it had no definite tone. The Fountain in question is the Trevi Fountain in Rome and the three coins belong to American women working as secretaries in the Italian capital played by Dorothy McGuire, Jean Peters and Maggie MacNamara. Inevitably each find love McNamara plays Maria the newest secretary out in Rome and is told by Peters' Anita that Rome is horrible place for secretaries to fall in love. But soon both find romance Maria with an Italian prince and Anita with local boy and fellow office worker Georgio however the latter's romance is in jeapordy as the boss has a strict rule about the American girls fraternising with the Italians. Finally McGuire's Frances has been in love with her boss the reclusive writer Shadwell, played by Clifton Webb, but her coin in the fountain finally works out as the two fall in love but the hindrance here is the fact that Shadwell finds out he is dying. Three Coins is the first film since I entered the 1950s that is filmed in Technicolor and that it was one of its advantages. The colour cinematography, which one it an Oscar, allows the film to capture some of Rome's landmarks in beautiful sparkling colour and therefore does a better job of selling Italy than perhaps Roman Holiday does. The other thing the film is famous for is the Dean Martin song of the same name which is better remembered than the film and won it its second Oscar. However beautiful it might look and sound there was really not enough going on for me in Three Coins to keep me interested. I feel that if it had been One Coin in the Fountain then I may've been hooked but there wasn't enough time to cover all three romances in depth especially that between Anita and Giorgio which was almost a two-scene love affair. The corniest part of the whole film is the final scene in which each woman is at the fountain and is greeted by her respective love interest. I think if this film had been made today then it wouldn't have been nominated for an Oscar but back in the 1950s a sparkly new colour film made in Italy was probably seen as being revolutionary by the Academy.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 120: The Bette Quartet Part One

I can't believe it we're almost out of the 1940s now, only seven films to go and even more unbelievable four of them star Bette Davis. With that in mind I am going to try and watch all four of these Davis films back to back in a section I'm going to call the Bette Quartet and another strange thing is we're starting with another adaptation of a Somerset Maughn work - The Letter. In The Letter, Davis stars as Leslie Crosbie the wife of a rubber plantation manager who in the first scene shoots a man to death. As Davis' husband Robert and their lawyer friend Howard come to her house they discover the body belongs to Geoff Hammond a well-regarded member of the community. Leslie tells them that Hammond forced himself on her and when he wouldn't leave her alone she shot and killed him. Joyce's campaign to get Leslie out of jail is going well his investigation of Hammond reveals a secret marriage to one of the local Malay women and Leslie is behaving herself in prison. Then a letter comes to light that shows that Leslie asked Hammond to meet him on the night of his murder and in order to obtain it Leslie and Howard use Robert's money to buy it from his widow. From there the revelation of what really happened on that night comes to light and results in Leslie's true feelings coming to light and the death of one of the characters in the closing moments of the films.

What I liked most about The Letter was the simplicity of the plot. It all revolved around the one incident and the letter that could change it all. Of course anyone who knows Bette Davis and the roles she normally inhabits knows that her original story wouldn't be the true one however I felt that Davis wasn't as fully manipulative as she often is and Leslie prefers to weave than to go out and use her female wiles to manipulate. William Wyler again directs Bette and again falls out with her, here over a scene towards the end of the film involving Leslie and Robert each had different ideas about how the scene should play out with the director getting his own way and Bette walking out before coming back again claiming her ending would've still been better. Wyler is able to set the mood of the Malay Jungle superbly with Max Steiner's Oscar-nominated score adding to events and the lighting being one of the things that dominates the proceedings from the opening gunshot to the final death. Other than Davis the only cast member to be nominated for an Oscar was James Stephenson as Joyce the lawyer a definitive presence but he wasn't anything special and my favourite performance came from Gale Sondergaard as Hammond's local wife, she never says anything but her looks speak volumes and I think that is the mark of a great actress. As with all the Davis/Wyler colloborations this is fairly melodramatic but it is also very low key and simplistic and I very much enjoyed it and I suspect as the Bette Quartet goes on this will seem like a very tame movie in comparison to some of the other Davis creations.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 116: Keeping the British End Up

As we spirit towards the finish line of the 1940s its time for the last winner of that decade in William Wyler's Mrs Miniver. The film, like Blossoms in the Dust, stars Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon as a happily married couple and parents to three children, two youngsters and a very upper-class lad called Vin who is off at university when the film begins. In fact Mrs Miniver is mostly about how normal families and indeed normal towns are affected by the war. So for example Vin leaves university to join the RAF meanwhile he also gets married to Carol the granddaughter of the snooty Lady Beldon. Mrs Miniver's husband Clem also agrees to volunteer the best way he can and helps in the Dunkirk evacuation. One of the most shocking parts of the film is where Mrs Miniver finds a German soldier in her house and is held at gunpoint until she provides him with food she then calmly phones the police and he is arrested. There is also a subplot involving a rose grown by the train station controller and named after Mrs Miniver which is entered in the flower show against Lady Beldon, who usually wins it. Beldon announces the winner and sees her name on the card but instead gives it to the station master and the Mrs Miniver rose as again war has changed her. The film though does have a tragic conclusion featuring the death of one of the major characters and a solemn message of the dangers and casualties of war.

For me Mrs Miniver is an odd beast and it doesn't feel like a winner in the way Gone with The Wind, Casablanca or even The Best Years of Our Lives did. One reason for that might be its awfully quaint and middle-class, the village that the Minivers inhabit is one in which everybody knows everybody else and its all lovely and cosy until those awful Nazis come along and ruin everything. I suppose one reason this may have won is because there was very little competition this year and also because it may've been the most accurate depiction of wartime yet. As well as Best Picture and Best Director for Wyler both Garson and Teresa Wright as Carol both won Oscars, again this wasn't my favourite Garson performance that was in Random Harvest but Wright is very good as the young girl married too soon and then having to contend with her new husband off fighting the war. Dame Mae Witty as Lady Beldon, Pidgeon as Clem and Henry Travers as Vin were also nominated and I like the fact that Travers actually later married his on screen mother Garson. There's nothing particularly wrong with Mrs Miniver it's a nice enough film but it just doesn't have anything about it to make a significant impact and make me believe that it should've won Best Picture.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 113: Moors Moors Moors How Do You Like it?

So far we've seen Laurence Olivier as Shakespearian figureheads Henry V and Hamlet as well as the lead in an adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca and in the next film on the list he plays another literary antihero in Wuthering Heights' Heathcliff. For those unfamiliar with the tale, who unlike me didn't do it as part of their A-Level English Literature course, the story involves a love story on the Yorkshire Moors between Heathcliff a gypsy orphan bought to live at the large establishment of the title and Cathy the daughter of the family he's bought into. However many things come between them including the death of Cathy's father, the hatred towards Heathcliff from Cathy's brother Hindley and Cathy's love of the finer things in life when she meets the nice but dull Edgar Linton of the neighbouring house The Grange who Cathy ends up marrying. Heathcliff goes and returns later on to exact revenge on all that have wronged him by buying Wuthering Heights from a drunken Hindley and marrying Edgar's sister Isabella to get back at both Edgar and Cathy. However the book and film differ from there on out, in Emily Bronte's novel there is whole other section involving the children of Hindley, Heathcliff and Cathy but the film ends abruptly with Cathy's death and Heathcliff haunted by Kathy's ghost. The whole story is narrated by Wuthering Heights housekeeper Nelly to The Grange's new occupant Mr Lockwood but I found that the voiceover technique was lacking and Nelly's voice was often drowned out by the score or by other character's voices. The film ends, not with the uniting between Cathy and Hindley's children, but with the ghosts of Cathy and Heathcliff walking off hand in hand together. In fact it wasn't Olivier or Merle Oberon who played Cathy in this scene as both had moved on to other projects so body doubles had to be used in this final scene.

And this wasn't the only thing that went wrong with the film as nobody seemed to get on. Producer Samuel Goldwyn wanted the final scene while director William Wyler thought it would seem a bit tacky this is why the body doubles had to be used. Goldwyn claimed that this was his project and Wyler was simply the director however Wyler didn't really seem to get on with his cast. Wyler and Olivier constantly clashed because Wyler wanted Olivier to retake scenes again and again while Olivier and Oberon didn't get on either especially during their love scenes together as Olivier wanted his new love Vivien Leigh to star alongside him. Goldwyn hoped that this would be the vehicle to launch the then unknown Oberon but at that year's Oscars it was Leigh who would win Best Actress for Gone with the Wind while Oberon didn't even get a nomination. Personally I thought the best scenes in the film were the ones in which Cathy and Heathcliff clash as you can actually see the hatred between Oberon and Olivier in these scenes. Like in Hamlet, I felt Olivier was miscast here I just didn't feel the pain that Heathcliff is meant to have over never probably having Cathy. My two favourite performances came from Flora Robson as Nelly and again from David Niven as the put upon Edgar. As someone who knows the story fairly well I think I was put off by the fact that there were so many omissions in this film that it was disturbing to see the book dealt with in this way. I just hope that the people who watch this actually read the book as well or they may well think that Wuthering Heights as a happy ending, which Spoiler Alert: it doesn't.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 76: Bad Bad Bette

Returning to the 1942 ceremony here with the third and final collaboration between Bette Davis and director William Wyler. Wyler and Davis worked on Jezebel and The Letter, which I will watch eventually but The Little Foxes would see their relationship crumble. The film itself concerns the Hubbard family brothers Oscar and Ben and sister Regina, played by Davis. Regina has married the wealthy Horace because, as a woman, she isn't considered equal to her brothers. Meanwhile Oscar has married the dippy Birdie who is extremely kind but Oscar has broken her spirit and she drinks regularly. Oscar married Birdie for her family's land and he and Ben now plan to build a cotton mill on that land. However they are short and come to Regina for the rest of the money, she says she will get it from Horace but she wants a larger share than her brothers if she does. Horace refuses to give his wife the money so the brothers concoct a plan to steal Horace's bonds from the bank enlisting Oscar's simpleton son who works there. When Horace finds out he doesn't tell the police instead letting the brothers take the bonds which enrages Regina who wants to use the theft to bribe her brothers. Just then the sickly Horace has a heart attack and Regina leaves him instead of getting his pills. He dies and she manages to bribe her brothers and get her larger share in the business but in the process loses her daughter Alexandra who is upset about her father's death and absconds with her suitor David.

I would say The Little Foxes is a film you could definitely define as a 'women's film'. The male characters are either greedy (Oscar and Ben), thick (Leo) or kind but sick (Horace). In fact the character of David had to be created to add another sympathetic male to the story but even David isn't perfect and can't hold his tongue over his hatred of the Hubbard family. The three female leads all received Oscar nods again Davis plays a monstrous woman who is battling for equal rights for women but going about it the entirely wrong way. Teresa Wright's Alexandra is the film's moral compass, as Alexandra she is grown out of a childlike admiration for her mother and realises that her family isn't as perfect as she once though. While Patricia Collinge as Birdie gives a multi-layered performance of a very sweet women who is on the verge of a nervous breakdown thanks to her husband Oscar's constant berating of her. In her final scene she has a mini-breakdown and it is one of the film's best and most hear-tbreaking scenes. The sets are brilliant with Regina and Horace's house particularly lavish however this is where Davis and Wyler fell out as she didn't think that a family who had money problems would afford a place like this. Davis did eventually quit the picture but when Wyler threatened to sue her for the cost of the film she came back and finished but didn't do a slapdash job at all. The film got eight nominations but won none of them and this was another film that lost out to the inferior How Green Was My Valley. A very good melodrama it's a shame that Wyler and Davis never worked together again because this film is expertly made and brilliantly played.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 75: Post War Blues

Even though all these films are over sixty years old some of them still resonate and are relevant in today's environment. That's especially true of the winner at the 1947 ceremony, The Best Years of Our Lives, which does in fact share some similarities with the final scenes of this year's winner The Hurt Locker. The film follows the post-war lives of three men who meet on a plane flying back to the small town in which they all live. They are Sergeant Al Stephenson played by Frederic March, Captain Fred Derry portrayed by Dana Andrews and navy man Homer who lost both arms during the war and now has hooks as replacements. Fred returns to find that Mary the girl he married just before the war has moved into an apartment of her own and is now working in a nightclub. Fred struggles to find work eventually returning to the drugstore where he was once employed he earns a pittance and finds himself working under the man who was his assistant before the war. The only joy he finds is in meeting Al's daughter Peggy who helps him when he has nightmares, he falls for her but thinks he has a duty to Marie. After getting fired from the drugstore and finding out about Marie's other man he moves away and ends up helping at a building scheme to turn old scrapped airplanes into new buildings. Meanwhile Al has developed a bit of a drinking problem but is helped through it by his long suffering wife Milly, played by Myrna Loy, as well as his two children. Al is promoted at the bank where he works because of his military service but later gives a loan to a former soldier who has no collateral and is criticised by his boss. Homer's story is possibly the most interesting although he has lost both of his hands he still wants to be as independent as possible. His family and his 'girl' Wilma both try and act like they're find with what has happened but are both secretly upset. One of the film's most heart-breaking scenes is where Homer shows Wilma how helpless he is without his hands and that he always needs someone to help him before he goes to bed. This is meant to warn Wilma off but she decides to stick with Homer and the final scene is their wedding where Al and Millie are guests and Fred is the best man. The final shot is of Peggy and Fred's eyes meeting across the room and finally embracing as the film ends.

The film's title The Best Years of Our Lives refers to a line in the film spoken by Marie in which she tells Fred that she gave up the best years of her life for him. But I think generally it refers to the time that three men spent in the war, that was the best years of their lives and now they are struggling to get their lives back on track. I mentioned The Hurt Locker because it resonated with the final scenes in which the Jeremy Renner character decided that he couldn't live his mundane life and decided to return to action. And indeed the men here find their lives mundane and things have changed a lot. The performances are faultless with two of the three leads winning Oscars for their roles. Frederic March won the Lead Actor Oscar however I would argue that Dana Andrews possibly deserved it more because Fred's journey is a lot bigger than Al's and Andrews gives a stunning portrayal of a man who just isn't coping. Harold Russell, as Homer, won Best Supporting Actor and also a Special Award for bringing hope and comfort for veterans who had been injured in the war. In fact Russell wasn't a professional actor and was spotted in a documentary about wounded serviceman by director William Wyler. Having found that out after watching the movie I'm surprised as Russell's performance was absolutely captivating, and he is only one of two non-actors to win an acting Oscar, the other being Haing S Ngor for The Killing Fields.

After the last two Oscar winning films I watched turning out to be fairly ordinary or overly theatrical its nice to watch a film that truly deserved all of the accolades that were given to it. A truly amazing piece of work that I would recommend to anyone.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 41: Down and Out

Next up is Dead End which was nominated for Best Picture at the 1938 awards but lost to The Life of Emile Zola. It is also an adaptation of a play of the same name that featured the first appearance of the Dead End Kids a gang of slum children who would appear in several other films including, most notably, Angels with Dirty Faces. In this film the Dead End Kids' slum is at the back of a new block of luxury apartments and after roughing up one of the rich kids the gang gets in trouble with the child's father, one of the kids - Tommy inadvertently stabs him in the hand and ends up going into hiding. Other plots see Tommy's sister Drina not wanting to see her brother resort to a life of crime and Drina's friend Dave beginning a relationship with a woman who is having an affair with a rich man the two of them knowing they can never be together as Dave cannot support her the way she is already being supported. The third plot strand involves Humphrey Bogart's Babyface Martin returning to the slums to visit his mother and reunite with his old girlfriend however when he finds out the former wants nothing to do with him and the latter has become involved with prostitution he resorts to kidnapping a rich child to make his return worth it. All three plot strands collide as the film reaches its conclusion which sees one character dead and one of the others a hero.

When Dead End was being made, America itself was still in the throes of the depression. While other films, like those by Frank Capra for example, tried to make people forget their troubles when they went to the picture house, Dead End did just the opposite. While the plot isn't exactly thrilling throughout one thing that did strike me was the way that the slum had been constructed and how it represented the juxtaposition between the poor Dead End Kids and the wealthier families in the new apartment blocks, it's no surprise then that it was nominated for both its Art Direction and cinematography. Of the cast, Bogart gives a good supporting performance as the generic mobster character reacting well to the surprises that await him when he returns to his old haunts, this meaty supporting role obviously set him on his way to become a headliner in the next decade.

Joel McCrea also does well as the loveable loser Dave and most of the child actors steer the right side of annoying. However the only acting nomination went to Claire Trevor who starred as Bogart's ex, she was nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category which was in only its second year at the time. This was also the second William Wyler film to get a Best Picture nomination but bizarrely he didn't feature in the Best Director section. Overall a fairly decent film but not an amazing one and I reckon if the Best Picture nominees were only five, Dead End would've failed to make the cut.

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Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 34: She's Just a Devil Woman

One good thing about this project is that it is getting me watching a lot of the older stars of the screen that I'm not really aware of for example I have become enamoured with both Charles Laughton and Lionel Barrymore's acting skills and the beauty of Claudette Colbert. Here though for the first time is Bette Davis, the main thing I know about her is that are eyes are somewhat worthy of a song, and to be fair they are quite startling. In 1939 the film Jezebel was nominated for Best Picture but it lost to You Can't Take It With You. However it also saw Davis win back-to-back Best Actress statuettes, her first win was for the film Dangerous which wasn't nominated for Best Picture so won't be watched by me in the near future. In Jezebel she plays Julie a strong-willed Southern Belle living in New Orleans who is to be married to Henry Fonda's banker Pres. Julie likes to be different riding around on a horse that Pres doesn't want her to and wearing red to a ball that she should wear white to. The scene at the ball is very effective indeed as Pres forces Julie to dance in the dress and we can see how uncomfortable she feels. Pres and Julie separate and he goes up North returning a year later with a new wife. Julie then tries to egg on new admirer Buck to quarrel with Pres but he has to leave to help his Doctor friend deal with the outbreak of yellow fever and Pres' brother ends up duelling with Buck and fatally shooting him. Pres eventually has to go to an island when he himself is diagnosed with yellow fever and Julie convinces Pres' wife that it should be Julie that goes with him and not her. The end of the film sees Pres and Julie leaving for what is essentially a leper colony.

Davis more than justifies her Best Actress win in this picture playing a character that no man dare get involved with. From the minute she rides in on her horse we know that she means trouble and she is a free-thinking woman especially for the time the film is set (1850). She owns every scene she's in and even makes Henry Fonda look inferior which is a hard task. By the end of the film you wonder why anyone would want Julie as one of her men is shot dead and the other is on his death bed. Apart from Davis' performance the most striking thing about Jezebel is the score which is always seems to imply some kind of danger or some scheming of Julie's. The supporting cast are all adequate but there is no standout this is almost a one woman show and a very effecting film however I think audiences at the time preferred the light-hearted You Can't Take It With You to this very dark and ultimately depressing tale, another great character study from William Wyler.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 29: For What it's (Dods)Worth

And we're into the 30th day of the challenge with the film that garnered the most nominations at the 1937 ceremony, Dodsworth. I actually had never heard of this film before but it is one of the best rated films of the 1930s on imdb and also has a higher rating than that year's winner - The Great Ziegfeld. While Ziegfeld is a sprawling epic chronicling thirty years of one man trying to survive the changing face of the entertainment industry, Dodsworth is a much more personal piece about one man trying to rediscover himself following early retirement and losing his wife. In terms of Oscar history this was also a landmark film as it gave William Wyler, the most nominated director in Oscar history, his first nod. Wyler would later go onto direct three Best Picture Winners but arguably Dodsworth should've won as well. Walter Huston, nominated for Best Actor, played Sam Dodsworth an industrialist who made his fortune in motors but is convinced by his wife Fran not to take a promotion and instead travel around Europe with her. Once on their travels Dodsworth tries to become a new man learning the languages and getting excited by seeing new sights. But early one we learn that Fran has ideas above her station and starts to become bored with Sam instead finding solace in a number of men including Captain Lockheart (an early role for David Niven) and a man named Arnold. Her relationship with Arnold makes her separate with Sam for a time as he goes back to America and she is forced to finish her relationship with Arnold when her and Sam become grandparents. Sam and Fran are briefly reunited but Fran falls in love again this time with a German nobleman and makes plans to divorce Sam. Sam has to stay in Europe to finalise his divorce and ends up in Italy where he encounters Edith who he and Fran met while travelling to Europe. When Fran's new marriage falls through she tries to reconcile with Sam but Sam decides that Fran isn't the woman for him and he would be much happier with the uncomplicated Edith and the last reel of the film sees them together in Italy.

Dodsworth is a multi-layered film, well-written and often subtly acted film it doesn't feature melodrama or big musical numbers or massive set pieces, instead it is a character study about a very simple man and a woman who is worried about getting old and just wanting to have fun elsewhere. The relationship between Sam and Fran is never quite concrete but it is clear he is more in love with her than she is with him, she mainly loves his money and what it can do for her. In my opinion Walter Huston's performance is what holds the film together and he was a lot more deserving of a Best Actor Oscar than Paul Muni in The Story of Louis Pasteur other performances that are notable are that of former silent movie star Mary Astor, in her first major sound role as the divorcee Edith, her first scene in which she meets Sam for the first time is absolutely brilliant and also Maria Ouspenskaya as Fran's perspective mother-in-law the almost monstrous Baroness Von Obersdorf a role that got her a nomination in the first ever Best Supporting Actress category, although I believe Astor should've been in there as well. The film did win one award, Best Art Direction, but deserved so much more. Although Wyler would go onto find larger success directing such classics as Roman Holiday and Ben-Hur, Dodsworth has to be put in that category as it is truly a great film.