Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 161: Sour Krauts

It's interesting to watch some of these films from the late 1940s and early 1950s as the subject of the Second World War starts to produce more interesting ideas. A case in point is Decision Before Dawn a film which focuses on the closing year of the conflict when the majority of Germans had resigned to the fact that they had lost the war. It follows a group of American soldiers who recruit German prisoners of war to spy on their former allies in order to escape their camps. One of the latest recruits is a young soldier simply known as 'Happy' whose friend was killed by other prisoners of wars for spouting his ideas about the war. Happy is chosen to go on a mission with the team along with 'Tiger' a cynical man who the Americans distrust because he came back without his partner while the American chosen to go with them is Rennick one of the allies who doesn't agree with teaming up with Germans. We then see most of the mission through the eyes of Happy as he sees the differing attitudes of his countrymen at the tail end of the war with some surrendering to their ultimate fate and some still feeling patriotic. Happy then is able to infiltrate himself safely into the fold by making friends with a commander but also sees what could possibly happen to him when another deserter is executed. With Happy meeting up with Rennick and Tiger they still face adversity going back to the camp as the Germans start to cotton on to their plan.

Decision Before Dawn is a film that I struggled with but one that had its merits which was mainly creating an amount of peril throughout Happy's mission. The initial set-up of introducing the idea of what the Germans and the Americans are trying to accomplish was a little bit slapdash and I didn't understand it right off the bat but then things got interesting once the three set off. I liked the fact that there was dissension in the ranks between Tiger and Rennick and also the fact that this wasn't the main story instead it was the morally torn Happy who got the bulk of the work. To his credit Oskar Werner was able to carry the film and did a good job in an interesting role with his facial expressions speaking bundles about what Happy was going through. The only other cast member who really had an impact on me was O.E. Hasse as the brutal commander Oberst Von Ecker who was a great German villain. The other thing that impressed me were the effects and at times I really did feel that these three men were in genuine peril with bombs going off all around them and the final tense scenes were real edge-of-your-seat stuff. The main problem I had was that most of it was fairly forgettable and in terms of its place on the Oscar nominations list it almost scenes like a last minute pick as it doesn't seem to have nearly as many nods as its competitors. So Decision Before Dawn is a solid Second World War movie but there isn't a lot to mark it out from a lot of the other films based around this conflict.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 160: The Last Days of Summer

There are several stars that keep cropping up during each decade and in the 1950s it's William Holden from the brilliant Sunset Boulevard to the melodramatic Love is a Many Splendored Thing he's excelled at playing male leads and the latest film Picnic is somewhere in the middle. Set over 24 hours in an idyllic Kansas town it features Holden's Hal Carter coming into town having stowed away on a freight train and is now eager to find his old college pal Alan Benson as he believes Benson's father will give him a job. Before finding Alan, Hal first encounters Alan's sweetheart Madge Owens and her bookish sister Millie. Alan initially offers Hal a job wanting to impress the college football hero, now that he has fallen on hard times but obviously he catches the eyes of both of the sisters with Millie suddenly discovering hormones and dressing up for Alan. The title of the film refers to the Labour Day picnic which signals the end of the summer and will be the last time for Madge and Alan to announce that they're going steady. Along with Hal, Alan and the Owen sisters the picnic also comes kindly old lady Mrs Potts, the single parent of the two girls, store owner Howard and his would-be love schoolteacher Rosemary. The film's pivotal scene is where Hal and Madge are dancing and a drunken Rosemary breaks it up wanting to prove she is still young and exposes him for what he really is in what felt like a scene from a Tennessee Williams story. After being blamed for getting Millie drunk he runs away with Alan now jealous of him he decides to skip town but the question is will Madge come with him?

Of all of these films I think this is the one in which Holden is fully showing off his sex symbol status and Hal does find any excuse to remove his shirt or have it ripped from him. To be fair he does add some substance to his physique portraying the fading jock who once used his looks to help him get by but now realises he should've worked harder and not flunked out. He has great chemistry with Kim Novak as Madge with the scene in which they dance being the film's most memorable as they sizzle and create jealousy from most of the other characters. Also worth a mention is Rosalind Russell as Rosemary a woman who transfers her own fears about growing old and alone onto the unstable Hal with her diatribe directed towards him being fairly brutal. Another plus point in terms of Picnic was the idea of this damaged character coming into this small town and changing everyone's lives within a 24 hour period. The downside was the fact that as there was so many characters some of them got little time to develop and that's true of the girl's mother played by Betty Field who essentially becomes a cliché full of worry and nagging in addition the music was a bit over the top for a film which was on the whole subtly filmed. Overall a great character-led piece which should've been nominated for more acting awards which gave a story of a man languishing as he readied himself for middle age.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 159: In My Place

Peyton Place is a name that I know mainly as a TV series of the 1960s however before that it was a 1956 novel which was quickly bought and turned into a film the following year. The film follows six young people who are all to graduate from Peyton Place high school and move on with their lives while also portraying their parents in different lights. Central to the film is Lana Turner's Connie McKenzie a dress maker who has returned from New York to her hometown with her daughter Allison who was later revealed to be the product of an affair she had with a married man. Allison's childhood has been quite sheltered but when she blossoms as a woman her affections turn to local outsider Norman Page who also has a parent who does allow him to grow up. Connie is pursued by new headmaster Michael Rossi who hopes to crack her hard exterior and does so briefly but she begins to worry about her daughter once the revelation of her parentage gets out. Allison's best friend is Selena Cross the daughter of the McKenzie's cleaner Nellie and whose stepfather Lucas begins to abuse her so one night she eventually snaps and kills him. Finally there is Rodney Harrington son of Peyton Place's wealthiest town member who is drawn to the promiscuous Betty Anderson a match that his father disapproves of because of her reputation in the town.

The main problem I had initially with Peyton Place was getting to the bottom of all the stories and meeting all the characters but once I did I started to enjoy it. I did though find it was far too long clocking in at over two hours and I felt the Rodney and Betty storyline could've been cut as it came to a conclusion a while before the film had finished. There are some great performances here which is evident by the fact that the film received five acting nominations including a Lead Actress nod for Lana Turner who was great as the emotionally fraught Connie. My favourite member of the cast was Hope Lange, another Supporting Actress nominee, whose Selena is initially presented as quite weak but learns to fight back after a horrific incident involving stepfather Lucas. This is at its heart a melodrama and at times the music got too much as the dramatic scenes were almost outshone by the booming score. What I did like though was the fact that a lot of people are afraid to let their true feelings come out in a town where there are far too many gossips so they keep things like illegitimacy and rape to themselves. The costumes are also well made however the hair styles could do with some work especially in the case of Lee Phillips who has some really bad grey hair dye applied to him when playing Michael Rossi. Peyton Place is a good bit of trashy fiction which is over long but well acted and unlike a lot of films in this list a deserving Oscar nominee.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 158: Johnny Irish

It's sometimes interesting to see people outside of their comfort zone so when Johns both Wayne and Ford collaborated on The Quiet Man it was somewhat of a shock as they're primarily known for their westerns. Previously on the Oscar Search we've seen them work together on Stagecoach while later films included The Man who Shot Liberty Valace and The Searchers but in The Quiet Man it is much more of a serene affair with Wayne playing a romantic lead. The plot sees Wayne play Sean Thornton a man who was raised in the Irish town and returns ready to purchase his old family farm but raises the ire of local businessman Will Danaher when he outbids him for the property. Sean also becomes besotted with Will's sister Mary Kate and after some traditional yet bizarre courting rituals the two marry however when Will finds out that he has been duped by the pair he refuses to give her all of his dowry. Mary Kate wants her new husband to defend her honour but he keeps claiming that he didn't marry her for her money but thanks to the local town holy men he later learns that traditions mean a lot to the locals. Will challenges Sean to a boxing match however in his old life he was a boxer who quit when he killed an opponent but after getting over his nerves he battles his brother-in-law all over town before they get over their differences and end up in the pub.

The main thing I remember about The Quiet Man is the focus on traditional customs and culture with Wayne as the outsider baffled by some of them as we the audience similarly are. For example in one set piece the men ride horses to collect the Easter bonnets of the women they intend to court while the courting itself is supervised by one of the town elders. If I was someone who didn't know about Ireland and therefore thought this was accurate portrayal then I certainly would think it was a backward place where squabbles are sorted out with boxing matches and all women care about is money. Wayne also feels outside of his comfort zone here and his trademark slowed down speech doesn't suit a film in which everyone else is in high spirits with fast-paced Irish accents. Thankfully co-stars Maureen O'Hara, Barry Fitzgerald and Victor McLaglen are all in high spirits and try to aide Wayne as much as they can. Though the Irish customs are rather outdated the Irish countryside is beautifully shot and the film deserved its Best Cinematography award though I'm not quite sure about Ford winning yet another Best Director prize. The best way to describe The Quiet Man is a quaint romance with an unsure male lead but some stunning camera work that beautifully captures the Irish scenery.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 157: Just Before Eve

For most film fans the name Joseph L Mankiewicz will be most familiar as the director and writer of All About Eve one of the most nominated Oscar films of all time. However one year prior to this success Mankiewicz won the directing and screenwriting awards for another film entitled A Letter to Three Wives. The three wives of the title are Jeanne Crain's Deborah Bishop, Ann Sothern's Rita Phipps and Linda Darnell's Lora Mae Hollingsworth who are all informed via a letter that one of their husbands has ran off with mutual acquaintance Addie Ross. The problem is that Addie's letter doesn't reveal which husband it is so all three women, who are about to board a boat to volunteer on a picnic for orphans, have to play the waiting game until they reach dry land. Addie Ross narrates the piece from beginning to end showing us around the neighbourhood and introducing the three women however she is never seen. In flashback we see the state of the three marriages and why the husbands may've run off with Addie. Firstly Deborah, who is married to Addie's first love Brad, a farmer's daughter who met her husband while they were both in the navy and is now nervous about meeting his friends whom she feel are in a higher class than herself. In the flashback we see her journey to her first dance with the other couples and getting so nervous that she drinks too much and ends up throwing up just as Addie turns up at the end. Next we see Rita's marriage to school-teacher George, played by Kirk Douglas, who writes for the radio and is often dominated by her boss who demands constant re-writes. George often feels emasculated by his wife who earns more than him and we flashback to a dinner party thrown in her boss' honour however she is so busy that she has forgot her husband's birthday something that Addie hasn't done giving him a record as a present. Finally Rita Mae's marriage to retail king Porter is depicted in detail showing her living in squalor next to the railway tracks and wanting to be a wife to someone of Porter's status but there is a hint that he himself is also taken with Addie as there is a picture of her on his piano. The end of the film reveals who it is that has run off with Addie and the consequences that this revelation has.

At first watching A Letter to Three Wives I felt that I was getting some soppy melodrama but once I learnt that Mankiewicz was involved and I was introduced to the characters I really got into it. I could really see elements of All About Eve in the film including the narration from someone who isn't necessary involved in all parts of the story as well as a strong female presence and the themes of advancing in social circles. Indeed the film also features two uncredited roles for All About Eve cast-members with Thelma Ritter playing the Phipps' home help Sadie who is very similar to the role of Birdie that she would play in Mankiewicz's next film while Celeste Holm was also present in voice form only giving an airy quality to the mysterious Addie. Of the six central performances I think Kirk Douglas was brilliant as the put-upon George a man who has to deal with his lot in life and the fact that his wife earns a lot more money than he does. Of the wives themselves Linda Darnell is both sexy and compelling as the woman who has come the furthest and who secretly loves her husband even though you wouldn't know it. The script is incredibly clever and the direction is masterful and while this film isn't as great as Mankiewicz's classic it is certainly a pre-cursor to what this man would produce the following year.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 155-156: Opening the Book

This time on the Oscar Blog two films that were based on popular novels and both that won awards for cinematography and editing as well as the second winning many more.

But we start with King Solomon's Mines, a nominee from the 1951 ceremony, which was based on the novel by H Rider Haggard. Obviously this version, which starred Raymond Massey as the explorer Allan Quatermain wasn't the first adaptation of the book or the last but was arguably the most successful due to its exterior locations which at the time would've surprised audiences. The main story sees Quatermain tasked as guide to John Goode and his sister Elizabeth Curtis played by Deborah Kerr so that they can hope to find her husband who went on a mission to discover the mines of the title. During their time the trio come across a menagerie of African wildlife, a British fugitive and are almost trapped in a cave by a dastardly African king. The end of the film sees rebel forces try and overthrow the king while the whereabouts of Elizabeth's husband are also revealed. King Solomon's Mines is quite a stilted film and indeed the directorial style of Compton Bennett and Andrew Marton is rather basic. Some of the scenes between Elizabeth and Allen feel very cold and there is no chemistry between the pair who are supposed to be your romantic coupling. Massey isn't a particularly commanding lead so it isn't surprising that he wasn't the original choice for the role while Deborah Kerr tries her best but doesn't get a lot to do other than look frightened by what's going on. Instead the real star here is location scout Eva Monley who picked some of the best African backdrops to host the film which to a 1950s audience would seem quite new and exciting as would all the African rituals and the numerous beasts that the trio run into throughout their adventures. As a postcard from Africa it does the job fairly well but I didn't find it very exciting and though it wasn't particularly long it still felt baggy and lagged in several places.

But if King Solomon's Mines was baggy I think that Around the World in 80 Days, the winner at the 1957 ceremony, must be described as incredibly overlong. The whole film clocks in at a whopping 183 minutes which includes an intermission and a lengthy and well-produced end credits sequence which in fact is one of the best things about the film. It even has a convoluted start with journalist Edward R Murrow showing footage of George Melies' A Trip to the Moon and linking it together with the stories of Jules Verne. We all know the basic story of the film which sees Phileas Fogg wager with his fellow reform club members that he cannot navigate around the globe in eighty days. He sets off on a mission with his new manservant Passepartout as they journey around the world on different forms of transport including balloons, steam liners and trains which are constantly breaking down. The film also introduces a romantic aspect as the pair rescue Shirley MacLaine's princess from being burnt alive while in India and she forms a romantic attachment to Fogg while he is also being chased around the globe by Robert Newton's Mr Fix a Scotland Yard detective who believes Fogg to have stolen from the Bank of England. That's about all the plot as the film jumps from set-piece to set-piece a lot of which feature Passepartout fooling around whether it is at a bull-fight or performing on stage he is given more spotlight than Fogg mainly because he is being portrayed by Latin American comedian Cantinflas who was one of the main draws of the film. To be fair Cantinflas is a lot more engaging than David Niven, who plays Fogg, almost acting as a sort of modern day Charlie Chaplin and he does indeed steal the film. This version of Around the World was conceived by producer Michael Todd, the third husband of Elizabeth Taylor, who fancied himself as a bit of Cecil B De Mille type and had a grand vision of what he wanted this film to look like. Indeed this film is heavy on scenery if light on plot with all the different locations being well-scouted and well-shot so I do think it deserved that cinematography Oscar. The film also has a cavalcade of cameos from Frank Sinatra playing the piano to Buster Keaton as a train conductor there were about fourty appearances of this nature so after a while this began to get a bit tiresome. Whether it deserved the Best Picture Oscar we will discover when I come to the end of the 1950s but this is a film that looks stunning and has a great slapstick performance from Cantinflas even if it is far too long and has too many unnecessary elements to it I feel that certain elements will stick in my mind long after I have watched the film something that can't be said about King Solomon's Mines. So out of these two films I would say that Around the World in 80 Days is definitely the superior of the two but I don't think that's a particularly hard battle to win.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 153-154: Musical Madness

As we've seen in the 1950s thus far that the rise of Technicolor and cinemascope meant that a lot of big epics were being made as they now looked spectacular on the screen. Another genre that saw a rise was that of the musical and two big named musicals were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar in 1955 and 1957 respectively. First up is Seven Brides for Seven Brothers a jolly musical film that features plenty of physical violence and the multiple abduction of women by the roguish brothers of the title. It kicks off with Howard Keel's Adam journeying from his mountaintop farm to find himself a wife a task he carries off with ease hooking up with the innocent Millie and taking her back to his house to live with his six brothers. Millie tries to hammer some civility into these boys and it works for a while as she gets them clean and learning proper courtship rituals but when they are provoked at a barn raising contest they lose their temper and get into a fight losing their girls in the process. Adam convinces his brothers to go and kidnap the women and indeed the townsfolk can't rescue them after an avalanche meaning that the girls and Millie end up taking the house banishing the brothers to the stables. However as is often the case the girls soften as the snow begins to thaw and as the title would suggest there is a mass wedding ceremony to end the film. Obviously as you can tell I really wasn't taken with the brutish nature of this film nor did I think that Millie did a particularly good job civilising the men or keeping the women from them. What I did like however were the songs and also the use of Technicolor in particular the pastel colours that the men wore and how they interlinked with the dresses that their intendeds were also wearing. The songs, of which Bless Your Beautiful Hide is the most famous, are also fairly catchy and there are some great little set pieces including the aforementioned barn-raising however as a film I didn't think it was particularly well constructed and I didn't warm to any of the characters.

The same cannot be said for The King and I which makes you feel for even the brutish King of Siam before it comes to its conclusion. This time we find Deborah Kerr as a widowed English teacher travelling to Siam with her young son to become the teacher to the children and wives of the king. Obviously when I think of this film it is Yul Brynner's King who tries to change his attitude to women and his subjects after meeting Kerr's Anna. In the more innocent 1950s I don't think you could use the term sexual tension but that really was what these two displayed as they went on in their shouting matches and eventually came to a mutual understanding. Obviously Anna becomes disgusted after the king won't let his 'present' the young Tuptum leave with her lover so she leaves the king but when he falls ill she journeys back. For me The King and I draws you in with its two lead performances with Brynner winning an Oscar for Best Actor with other awards going to the costumes, music and art direction. Someone who missed out on an Oscar here was Kerr whose strong yet warm Anna anchors the film but then Kerr still holds the record for the most nominations for an actress without a win despite the fact her male co-stars such as Brynner, Frank Sinatra and David Niven seem to come away with the statues. Again there are some great set pieces with Getting to Know You and Tuptum's show for the English being the highlights but for me romance doesn't get any more perfect than Brynner and Kerr's routine in Shall we Dance. Obviously my favourite of the two musicals by a country mile and one that lost out on the Oscar to a film which some say was undeserving but as I'm yet to see it I will reserve my judgment for now.