Category: Academy Awards

There are four films eligible for Best Picture consideration in 1952 that are still highly regarded today. Two of them, The Quiet Man and High Noon, were indeed nominated. The other two, Singin’ in the Rain and Rashomon were not. The Quiet Man was John Ford’s labor of love that he tried to make for…

The 1951 Oscar race was expected to be between two critically acclaimed dramatic films, Elia Kazan’s film of Tennessee Williams’ stage sensation, A Streetcar Named Desire with its twelve nominations and George Stevens’ A Place in the Sun, the second screen version of Theodore Dreiser’s acclaimed 1925 novel. Ultimately, however, Vincente Minnelli’s celebration of the…

Two films about show business dominated the 1950 Oscars. Joseph L. Mankiewicz’ All About Eve, which was set in the theatre world, and Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, which was set in the film world, were both fascinating films that have endured through the years. Though both films are greatly identified with their female stars, Bette…

Several themes dominant in the films of 1949 were recognized in year-end awards. War films, which were anathema after the war, re-emerged with a new maturity in Twelve O’Clock High; Battleground; Home of the Brave and Sands of Iwo Jima. Children in peril in The Boy With Green Hair, The Fallen Idol, The Bicycle Thief,…

The British assault on the Oscars in the previous three years was nothing compared to what happened in 1948. Two British films, Hamlet and The Red Shoes were not only among the five nominees for Best Picture, but one of them, Hamlet, actually won, causing major consternation amongst the moguls. The others in the race…

If 1946 cracked open the door for foreign films at the Oscars, 1947 swung it wide open. It wasn’t just the acting, directing and writing categories that were invaded this time, but the sacred domain of the technical world. Two British imports, Great Expectations and Black Narcissus won the Cinematography and Art Direction awards, Great…

European film-making, which had been suppressed during World War II, re-emerged in earnest after the war. Beginning in 1946, films made at the end of the war, and some that had managed to get made during the war, found their way to the States and Oscar took notice. From the United Kingdom came such films…

Handicapping the 1944 Oscars for the ten most likely Best Picture nominees was relatively easy compared to 1945. 1945’s five Best Picture nominees were Anchors Aweigh; The Bells of St. Mary’s; The Lost Weekend; Mildred Pierce and Spellbound. The directors of three of them, Leo McCarey (The Bells of St. Mary’s); Billy Wilder (The Lost…