The war was over but not in the movies as war themed films continued to be popular at the box office, several winning major Oscar nominations for1945 but none nominated for Best Picture.

Alcoholism, heretofore a side issue in melodrama and comedy, took center stage in Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend and won the writer-director his first two Oscars as well as one for Best Picture and Best Actor, Ray Milland enjoying a major change from his usual romantic comedy roles. The film also provided Jane Wyman with her first major starring role as his loyal girlfriend.

One Oscar the film didn’t win was for Best Score, even though Miklos Rozsa’s score is credited with much of the film’s success. Don’t feel too bad for Rozsa, though, he was also nominated this year for another Best Picture nominee, Spellbound,for which he won.

Spellbound was one of Alfred Hitchcock’s most unusual films, adding psychiatry and modern art to the suspense – Salvador Dali designed the much talked about dream sequence.

It was the first and only teaming of Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck who both earned Oscar nominations this year, albeit for other films.

Bergman was nominated for her portrayal of Sister Benedict opposite Bing Crosby’s Father O’Malley in Leo McCarey’s Best Picture nominee, The Bells of St. Mary’s, an original story unrelated to the previous year’s Oscar winner Going My Way except for the fact that Crosby’s character carried over from the earlier film. Last year’s Best Actor winner was again nominated, becoming the first actor nominated twice for playing the same character. Bergman won the New York Film Critics Award for both The Bells of St. Mary’s and Spellbound.

Peck’s nomination was for his portrayal of Father Chisholm in John M. Stahl’s film of A.J. Cronin’s The Keys of the Kingdom.

The story of a Scottish missionary priest in China, the film which was scripted by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, does full justice to Cronin’s novel and features in addition to Peck’s outstanding performance, impressive work by Thomas Mitchell as his best friend, an atheistic doctor, Vincent Price as his arch enemy and new bishop, Edmund Gwenn as his mentor, James Gleason and Anne Revere as his Protestant missionary friends and best of all, Benson Fong as a loyal servant and Rosa Stradner (Mrs. Mankiewicz) as a haughty Austrian nun.

Peck had a third major film this year, Tay Garnett’s The Valley of Decision from Marcia Davenport’s novel about the daughter of a union leader (Oscar nominee Greer Garson) who falls in love with the son of the local coal mine owner (Peck). Tragedy ensues before the two can marry and Peck marries harridan Jessica Tandy instead. The superlative cast also includes Lionel Barrymore as Garson’s father, Donald Crisp as Peck’s father, Gladys Cooper as Peck’s mother and Garson’s secret benefactress, Marsha Hunt as Peck’s sister and Dean Stockwell as his son.

Joining The Lost Weekend, Spellbound and The Bells of St. Mary’s in the race for Best Picture were Mildred Pierce and Anchors Aweigh.

A superior “woman’s picture”, Michael Curtiz’s film of James M. Cain’s Mildred Pierce was heavily promoted as the film for which Joan Crawford would win an Oscar, and she did. It helped of course that three of her fellow nominees, Bergman, Garson and Jennifer Jones (Love Letters) had already won Oscars and she hadn’t despite her lengthy star career. Co-stars Ann Blyth and Eve Arden were both nominated in support.

Marketed as a Frank Sinatra film, George Sidney’s Anchors Aweigh, about two sailors on leave, was stolen by Sinatra’s co-star Gene Kelly who won a surprise Best Actor nomination largely on the strength of the film’s famed dance sequence in which Kelly’s partner is an animated Jerry Mouse.

Although she officially won her Oscar as the year’s outstanding child actress, it was clear they were really honoring her for her performance as twelve year-old Francie in Elia Kazan’s of Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Featuring equally splendid performances by Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell and James Dunn, the film was surprisingly only nominated for two Oscars for its screenplay and for Dunn’s portrayal of Francie’s alcoholic piano playing father. Both a sentimental and critical favorite, the veteran actor easily won his category of Best Supporting Actor.

Dunn’s toughest competition was relative newcomer Robert Mitchum in his breakthrough role as the young sergeant in William A. Wellman’s The Story of G.I. Joe. It would shockingly be his only nomination in a career that should have had five or more.

The Story of G.I. Joe was the most popular of the year’s war films with Oscar which gave it four nominations in all. Raoul Walsh’s Objective Burma! with Errol Flynn received three, John Ford’s They Were Expendable with Robert Montgomery and John Wayne and Irvin Pichel’s A Medal for Benny with Supporting Actor nominee J. Carrol Naish two each and Delmar Daves’ Pride of the Marines with John Garfield and Eleanor Parker, one.

Other films that won Oscar’s support in various categories include National Velvet; The Picture of Dorian Gray; The Corn Is Green; Leave Her to Heaven; A Song to Remember and The Southerner.

Remembered as the film that made twelve year-old Elizabeth Taylor a star, Clarence Brown’s film of Enid Bagnold’s National Velvet was nominated for five Oscars and won for its Editing and for veteran Anne Revere’s warm portrayal for Taylor and Angela Lansbury’s mother. Mickey Rooney and Donald Crisp co-starred.

Lansbury won her own nomination, not for National Velvet but for Albet Lewin’s film of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. Although the film was nominated for two other Oscars, winning for Best Black-and-White Cinematography, neither veteran George Sanders nor newcomer Hurd Hatfield were recognized.

Oscar did recognize newcomers John Dall and Joan Lorring for Irving Rapper’s The Corn Is Green, but that was it. Bette Davis in one of her best roles as the progressive teacher was among those Oscar overlooked this year.

With four nominations in all, John M. Stahl’s Leave Her to Heaven won only for Best Color Cinematography. Gene Tierney as the mentally unbalanced wife of Cornel Wilde was nominated for her chilling performance while Wilde was nominated for his portrayal of Chopin in Charles Vidor’s A Song to Remember.

Nominated for three Oscars, including one for legendary director Jean Renoir, The Southerner was the uncompromising tale of the daily struggles of a poor Southern family with Zachary Scott, Betty Field and an outstanding Beulah Bondi as a cantankerous great-grandmother.

All except A Tree Grows in Brooklyn; A Medal for Benny; The Corn Is Green and A Song to Remember have been released on DVD in the U.S. A Medal for Benny has never been released in any home video format and is rarely shown on TV. John Steinbeck’s original screenplay in pamphlet form sells for a whopping $375 at Amazon.com.

Among the new DVDs worth checking out are A Single Man with Colin Firth in his Oscar nominated performance and the Swedish sensation, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.