1950--The Year in Review

Midway into the 20th Century, it's an astonishing clean sweep for Billy Wilder's Sunset Blvd., with only Thelma Ritter's supporting performance in All About Eve interrupting it. But, in 1950, it was Joseph L. Manckiewicz's film that took all the awards--in fact, All About Eve set a record for the most Oscar nominations with 14 (a record that still stands, with Titanic siding up to it in 1996). But it's Wilder's film that remains the most loved and watched film of the year. It's both intensely dramatic and hilarious (intentionally so) in just the correct measures, and contains three creepy, nastily effective performances. Plus, Sunset Blvd. looks and sounds spectacular, with its superbly regal and yet strangely scuzzy cinematography, art direction and musical score propelling it into the stratosphere. It seems difficult now to understand All About Eve's besting of it, though Mankiewicz's screenplay for Eve contained an endless array of razor-sharp bon mots that clearly captivated the anti-stage Hollywood community (for them, at the time, Sunset Blvd. was seen as a mean joke played at their expense). The second best movie of the year, Joseph L. Lewis' Gun Crazy, wasn't nominated for a single thing, as it was a lowly B-picture. But, in the '60s, French critics raised its standing up as a deftly influential noir gifted with infinitely creative camerawork and acting. Equally influential were Kurosawa's Rashomon, Huston's The Asphalt Jungle, Bunuel's Los Olvidados and Anthony Mann's first western with Jimmy Stewart, Winchester '73 (though Stewart's Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey is a more popular performance). In the short films, Bugs Bunny and director Chuck Jones again took the top slot, though there were many equally worthy selections crafted at Warner Brothers that year. And, finally, literary hero Jean Genet contributed the year's most accomplished live action short. NOTE: These are MY choices for each category, and are only occasionally reflective of the selections made by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (aka The Oscars). When available, the nominee that actually won the Oscar will be highlighted in bold. 

PICTURE: SUNSET BLVD. (US, Billy Wilder)
(2nd: Gun Crazy (US, Joseph H. Lewis), followed by:
Rashomon (Japan, Akira Kurosawa)
Winchester ’73 (US, Anthony Mann)
The Asphalt Jungle (US, John Huston)
In a Lonely Place (US, Nicholas Ray)
All About Eve (US, Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
La Ronde (France, Max Ophuls)
Los Olvidados (Mexico, Luis Buñuel)
Wagon Master (US, John Ford)
Cinderella (US, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Clyde Geronimi)
Night and the City (UK, Jules Dassin)
Orphée (France, Jean Cocteau)
Panic in the Streets (US, Elia Kazan)
Breaking Point (US, Michael Curtiz)
Where The Sidewalk Ends (US, Otto Preminger)
The Furies (US, Anthony Mann)
Harvey (US, Henry Koster)
The Gunfighter (US, Henry King)
Rio Grande (US, John Ford)
D.O.A. (US, Rudolph Maté)
Stromboli (Italy, Roberto Rossellini)
Father of the Bride (US, Vincente Minnelli)
Quicksand (US, Irving Pichel)
Born Yesterday (US, George Cukor)
Broken Arrow (US, Delmer Daves)
Caged (US, John Cromwell)
Stage Fright (US, Alfred Hitchcock)
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (US, Gordon Douglas)
Born to Be Bad (US, Nicholas Ray)
The Baron of Arizona (US, Samuel Fuller)
No Man of Her Own (US, Mitchell Leisen)
Annie Get Your Gun (US, George Sidney)
Young Man With a Horn (US, Michael Curtiz))

ACTOR: William Holden, SUNSET BLVD. (2nd: Humphrey Bogart, In a Lonely Place, followed by: John Dall, Gun Crazy; James Stewart, Winchester ’73; James Stewart, Harvey; José Ferrer, Cyrano de Bergerac; Sterling Hayden, The Asphalt Jungle; Spencer Tracy, Father of the Bride; Clifton Webb, Cheaper by the Dozen; Ben Johnson, Wagon Master) 

ACTRESS: Gloria Swanson, SUNSET BLVD. (2nd: Peggy Cummins, Gun Crazy, followed by: Bette Davis, All About Eve; Judy Holliday, Born Yesterday; Anne Baxter, All About Eve; Eleanor Parker, Caged; Gertrude Lawrence, The Glass Menagerie; Barbara Stanwyck, The Furies; Ingrid Bergman, Stromboli; Gloria Grahame, In a Lonely Place)

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Erich Von Stroheim, SUNSET BLVD. (2nd: George Sanders, All About Eve, followed by: Sam Jaffe, The Asphalt Jungle; Jack Palance, Panic in the Streets; Will Geer, Winchester '73; Walter Huston, The Furies; Masayuki Mori, Rashomon; Takashi Shimura, Rashomon; Arthur Kennedy, The Glass Menagerie; Zero Mostel, Panic in the Streets) 



SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Thelma Ritter, ALL ABOUT EVE (2nd: Danielle Darrieux, La Ronde, followed by: Celeste Holm, All About Eve; Josephine Hull, Harvey; Hope Emerson, Caged; Jan Sterling, Caged; Joan Bennett, Father of the Bride; Nancy Olson, Sunset Blvd.) 
 
DIRECTOR: Billy Wilder, SUNSET BLVD. (2nd: Joseph H. Lewis, Gun Crazy, followed by: Akira Kurosawa, Rashomon; Anthony Mann, Winchester '73; Luis Bunuel, Los Olvidados; Joseph L. Mankiewicz, All About Eve; John Huston, The Asphalt Jungle; Nicholas Ray, In a Lonely Place; Max Ophuls, La Ronde; John Ford, Wagon Master)

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, and D.M. Marshman, Jr., SUNSET BLVD. (2nd: Robert L. Richards, Borden Chase, and Stuart N. Lake, Winchester '73, followed by: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, All About Eve; Luis Alcoriza and Luis Bunuel, Los Olvidados; Edna Anhalt, Edward Anhalt, Daniel Fuchs and Richard Murphy, Panic in the Streets)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Akira Kurosawa and Shinobu Hashimoto, RASHOMON (2nd: Ben Maddow and John Huston, The Asphalt Jungle, followed by: Edmund H. North and Andrew Solt, In a Lonely Place; Jacques Natanson and Max Ophuls, La Ronde; Dalton Trumbo and MacKinlay Kantor, Gun Crazy)



LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: A SONG OF LOVE (Un Chant D'Amour) (France, Jean Genet) (2nd: Family Portrait (UK, Humphrey Jennings), followed by: Mirror of Holland (Netherlands, Bert Haanstra)



ANIMATED SHORT FILM: RABBIT OF SEVILLE (Chuck Jones; Bugs Bunny) (2nd: The Scarlet Pumpernickel (Chuck Jones; Daffy Duck); Gerald McBoing-Boing (Robert Cannon); What's Up Doc? (Robert McKimson; Bugs Bunny); Dog Gone South (Chuck Jones); 8 Ball Bunny (Chuck Jones; Bugs Bunny); A Fractured Leghorn (Robert McKimson; Foghorn Leghorn); The Hypo-condri-Cat (Chuck Jones)

BLACK-AND-WHITE CINEMATOGRAPHY: John Seitz, SUNSET BLVD. (2nd: Russell Harlan, Gun Crazy, followed by: Kazuo Miyagawa, Rashomon; Harold Rosson, The Asphalt Jungle; Victor Milner, The Furies)

COLOR CINEMATOGRAPHY: Ernest Palmer, BROKEN ARROW (2nd: Charles Rosher, Annie Get Your Gun, followed by: Robert Surtees, King Solomon's Mines)

BLACK-AND-WHITE ART DIRECTION: SUNSET BLVD., All About Eve, La Ronde, Stage Fright, The Asphalt Jungle

 COLOR ART DIRECTION: DESTINATION MOON, Annie Get Your Gun, Cheaper by the Dozen

BLACK-AND-WHITE COSTUME DESIGN: ALL ABOUT EVE, Sunset Blvd., La Ronde, Rashomon, The Furies


COLOR COSTUME DESIGN: ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, Cheaper by the Dozen, The Toast of New Orleans

FILM EDITING: SUNSET BLVD., Winchester '73, The Asphalt Jungle, Gun Crazy, Panic in the Streets

SOUND: ALL ABOUT EVE, Winchester '73, Wagon Master, Sunset Blvd., Cinderella



ORIGINAL SCORE: Franz Waxman, SUNSET BLVD. (2nd: Miklós Rózsa, The Asphalt Jungle, followed by: Franz Waxman, The Furies; Fumio Hayasaka, Rashomon; Alfred Newman, All About Eve; Oscar Straus, La Ronde) 

 
ADAPTED OR MUSICAL SCORE: Oliver Wallace and Paul J. Smith, CINDERELLA (2nd: Adolph Deutsch and Roger Edens, Annie Get Your Gun, followed by: Andre Previn, Three Little Words)



ORIGINAL SONG: "Mona Lisa" from CAPTAIN CAREY, USA (Music and lyrics by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston) (2nd: "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" from Cinderella (Music and lyrics by Mack David, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston); "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" from Cinderella (Music and lyrics by Mack David, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston); "Mule Train" from Singing Guns (Music and lyrics by Fred Glickman, Hy Heath, and Johnny Lange); "Cinderella" from Cinderella (Music and lyrics by Mack David, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston))



SPECIAL EFFECTS: DESTINATION MOON, Rocketship X-M 

1937--The Year in Review

It's a tight race here. Against impossible odds, Walt Disney and his chosen director David Hand spearheaded among the first animated features, and did so perfectly--so much so that they shook film history forever. But French mastermind Jean Renoir contributed the smartest and most emotional anti-war statement ever committed to film (that's at least true for the first half of the 20th century). Meanwhile, the romantic comedy genre got its crown gem with Leo McCarey's The Awful Truth, commanded by a kingly team of Cary Grant and Irene Dunne, who managed to be ridiculously funny, argumentative, and sexy (the film has a GREAT supporting cast, including the hilariously clueless Ralph Bellamy). Still, Bellamy could not brook the contribution of the inimitable Erich Von Stroheim, who stands as one of the most complexly heroic villains in cinema history (so much so that he famously became "The man you love to hate"). Alice Brady fully inhabited the horror of the great Chicago fire, and the animation short prize came to a surprising tie, with both Disney and Oskar Fischinger making terrific strides in that field (I believe Fischinger, with his wonderfully visual translation of musical beats, greatly influenced Disney to later craft the animation milestone Fantasia). And, among live action shorts, a strange and amateur amalgamation of narrative and experimental ideas takes hold and becomes something of immense wonder--it feels like the greatest 48-hour film challenge result ever. Finally, Gregg Toland--later the cinematographer of Orson Welles' Citizen Kane--makes strides with his moody, ahead-of-its-time cinematography for the early crime drama Dead End--a film which would reverberate for years to come in surprising ways.  NOTE: These are MY choices for each category, and they are in no way reflective of the choices made by the Oscars.

PICTURE: GRAND ILLUSION (France, Jean Renoir)
(2nd: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (US, David Hand and Walt Disney, followed by:
The Awful Truth (US, Leo McCarey)
Make Way for Tomorrow (US, Leo McCarey)
Nothing Sacred (US, William Wellman)
Lost Horizon (US, Frank Capra)
A Star is Born (US, William Wellman)
Stella Dallas (US, King Vidor)
Dead End (US, William Wyler)
Easy Living (US, Mitchell Leisen)
The Life of Emile Zola (US, William Dieterle)
Way Out West (US, James Horne)

ACTOR: Cary Grant, THE AWFUL TRUTH (2nd: Victor Moore, Make Way for Tomorrow, followed by: Paul Muni, The Life of Emile Zola; Fredric March, Nothing Sacred; Fredric March, A Star is Born; Jean Gabin, Grand Illusion)



ACTRESS: Irene Dunne, THE AWFUL TRUTH (2nd: Carole Lombard, Nothing Sacred, followed by: Beulah Bondi, Make Way for Tomorrow; Barbara Stanwyck, Stella Dallas; Jean Arthur, Easy Living; Janet Gaynor A Star is Born)

SUPPORTING ACTOR:  Erich Von Stroheim, GRAND ILLUSION (2nd: Ralph Bellemy, The Awful Truth, followed by: Joseph Schildkraut, The Life of Emile Zola; H.B. Warner, Lost Horizon; Roland Young, Topper; Thomas Mitchell, Lost Horizon)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Alice Brady, IN OLD CHICAGO (2nd: Eve Arden, Stage Door, followed by: Billie Burke, Topper; Claire Trevor, Dead End; Anne Shirley, Stella Dallas)

DIRECTOR: Jean Renoir, GRAND ILLUSION (2nd: Leo McCarey, The Awful Truth, followed by:
David Hand, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; Leo McCarey, Make Way for Tomorrow; William Wellman, Nothing Sacred; Frank Capra, Lost Horizon) 

SCREENPLAY: Vina Delmar, THE AWFUL TRUTH (2nd: Charles Spaak and Jean Renoir, Grand Illusion, followed by: Vina Delmar, Make Way for Tomorrow; Dorothy Parker, William A. Wellman, Robert Carson, and Alan Campbell, A Star is Born; Ben Hecht, Nothing Sacred; Robert Riskin, Lost Horizon)



LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: EVEN - AS YOU AND I (US, Roger Barlow, Harry Hay, and LeRoy Robbins) (2nd: Calling Mr. Smith (Poland, Stefan Themerson), followed by: Grips, Grunts & Groans (US, Preston Black, The Three Stooges))



ANIMATED SHORT FILM: TIE: THE OLD MILL (US, Wilfred Jackson and Walt Disney) and AN OPTICAL POEM (US, Oskar Fischinger) (2nd: Trade Tattoo (US, Lenny Lye), followed by: Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba’s 40 Thieves (US, Dave Fleischer); Clock Cleaners (US, Ben Sharpsteen and Walt Disney)

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Gregg Toland, DEAD END (2nd: Karl Freund, The Good Earth, followed by: Christian Matras, Grand Illusion; W. Howard Greene, Nothing Sacred) 

ART DIRECTION: LOST HORIZON, The Awful Truth, The Prisoner of Zenda, Wee Willie Winkie, In Old Chicago

COSTUME DESIGN: LOST HORIZON, The Awful Truth, The Prisoner of Zenda, Topper, The Hurricane

ORIGINAL SCORE: Frank Churchill, Leigh Harline and Paul J. Smith, SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (2nd: Dimitri Tiompkin, LOST HORIZON, followed by: Joseph Kosma, Grand Illusion; Alfred Newman, The Hurricane; Marvin Hatley, Way Out West; Max Steiner, The Life of Emile Zola; Erich Wolfgang Korngold, The Prince and the Pauper)

ORIGINAL SONG: "Whistle While You Work" from SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (Music by Frank Chuchill, lyrics by Larry Morey) (2nd: "Someday My Prince Will Come" from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Music by Frank Chuchill, lyrics by Larry Morey), followed by: "They Can't Take That Away From Me" from Shall We Dance (Music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin); "Heigh Ho" from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Music by Frank Chuchill, lyrics by Larry Morey); "Whispers in the Dark" from Artists and Models (Music by Frederic Hollander. lyrics by Leo Robin)

1928 - The Year in Review

Two incomparable comedies from Buster Keaton. A progenitor of the modern action film from Fritz Lang. A harsh, dreamy delve into big city reality from King Vidor. A lush and personal epic from Erich Von Stroheim. And the one American silent from Swedish director Victor Sjostrom, who promptly disavowed Hollywood and hightailed it back to Stockholm (where he continued to make films and, decades later, agreed to star in Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries). Yet, even amongst all this greatness, nothing could withstand the withering onslaught of emotion that Carl Theodore Dreyer offered, with a film consisting almost entirely of close-ups, while working from the transcripts of Jeanne D'Arc's kangaroo court. With Renee Maria Falconetti delivering not just the most devastating screen performance of this year, but arguably of all time--well, there was just nothing that could come near it (Falconetti, alone, makes you feel as if you are an eyewitness to injustice; she never acted in movies again). The short films, too, were overwhelmed by fineries from other shores; though Laurel and Hardy and Mickey Mouse made their marks, the otherworldly images from Bunuel and Dali are, rightfully, still being dissected today. 

PICTURE: THE PASSION OF JEANNE D'ARC (Carl Th. Dreyer, France)
2nd: The Crowd (King Vidor, US), followed by:
The Wedding March (Erich Von Stroheim, US)
Steamboat Bill Jr. (Buster Keaton, US)
Spione (Fritz Lang, Germany)
The Wind (Victor Sjostrom, US)
The Circus (Charles Chaplin, US)
October (Sergei Eisenstein, USSR)

ACTOR: James Murray, THE CROWD (2nd: Erich Von Stroheim, The Wedding March, followed by: Lon Chaney, Laugh Clown Laugh; Buster Keaton Steamboat Bill Jr.; Charles Chaplin, The Circus; Emil Jannings The Last Command)

ACTRESS: Renee Maria Falconetti, THE PASSION OF JEANNE D'ARC (2nd: Eleanor Boardman, The Crowd, followed by: Lillian Gish, The Wind; Marion Davies, Show People) 

DIRECTOR: Carl Th. Dreyer, THE PASSION OF JEANNE D'ARC (2nd: King Vidor, The Crowd, followed by: Buster Keaton, Steamboat Bill Jr.; Victor Sjostrom, The Wind; Fritz Lang, Spione; Erich Von Stroheim, The Wedding March; Sergei Eisenstein, October

SHORT FILM: UN CHIEN ANDELOU (Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali, France)
(2nd: Steamboat Willie (Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney, US), followed by:
Leave ‘Em Laughing (Clyde Bruckman, US)
Ko-ko’s Earth Control (Max and Dave Fleischer, US)
The Finishing Touch (George Stevens, US)
Ghosts Before Breakfast (Hans Richter, Germany))



SCREENPLAY: King Vidor, John V.A. Weaver and Joe Farnham, THE CROWD (2nd: Thea Von Harbou and Fritz Lang, Spione, followed by: Clyde Bruckman, Lew Lipton and Joe Farnham, The Cameraman; Harry Carr and Erich Von Stroheim, The Wedding March; Joseph Delteil and Carl Th. Dreyer, The Passion of Jeanne D'Arc)

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Rudolph Mate, THE PASSION OF JEANNE D'ARC (2nd: Roy H. Klaffki and Ray Rennahan, The Wedding March, followed by: Henry Sharp, The Crowd; John Arnold, The Wind)

ART DIRECTION: SPIONE, The Wedding March, The Crowd,

COSTUME DESIGN: THE WEDDING MARCH, The Wind

FILM EDITING: SPIONE, The Passion of Jeanne D'Arc, The Crowd, October, Steamboat Bill Jr.

VISUAL EFFECTS: SPIONE, The Wind, Steamboat Bill Jr. 

MAKEUP: LAUGH CLOWN LAUGH, The Passion of Jeanne D'Arc