For the debut year of the Academy Awards, and of the advent of sound motion pictures, I found little in common with both. Abel Gance's resilient and astounding silent biopic didn't make it to American shores until much later, and in a truncated form. (We wouldn't see the fullest version of the film until Kevin Brownlow reconstructed it, and Francis Coppola backed it, in the early 1980s;
I
saw it in 1981 Atlanta at the Fox Theater, with Carmine Coppola conducting his score for the
orchestra. This remarkable vision changed my life, and I haven't seen the film since.) Its future digital release is caught up in a never-ending standoff between Brownlow, who wants to scrap Carmine Coppola's score and add some more footage into the piece, and Francis Coppola, who's understandably adamant about keeping his father's brilliant score intact (here's an obvious solution: release both versions). So, apparently, Gance's epic will be my perennial #1 choice for THE movie that should immediately be released on
Blu-Ray. Finally, the now-popular silent sci-fi epic from Fritz Lang was completely ignored by Hollywood (maybe they didn't see this in time as well). Luckily, three Hollywood masterpieces got the notices they deserved--though the Academy anointed the wrong one (Wellman's still exciting
Wings) as their first winner--a sign of things to come.
NOTE: These are MY choices for each category, and are in no way reflective of the choices made by the Oscars.
PICTURE: NAPOLEON (France, Abel Gance)
2nd:
Metropolis (Germany, Fritz Lang), followed by:
Sunrise, A Song of Two Humans (US, F.W. Murnau)
7th Heaven (US, Frank Borzage)
Wings (US, William Wellman)
It (US, Clarence Badger)
The King of Kings (US, Cecil B. DeMille)
College (US, James W. Horne)
The Jazz Singer (US, Alan Crosland)
Berlin--Symphony of a Great City (Germany, Walter Ruttman)
DIRECTOR: Abel Gance, NAPOLEON (2nd: Fritz Lang,
Metropolis, followed by: F.W. Murnau,
Sunrise; Frank Borzage,
7th Heaven; William Wellman,
Wings))
ACTOR: Albert Dieudonné, NAPOLEON (2nd: Rudolf Klein-Rogge,
Metropolis, followed by: Buster Keaton,
College; Harold Lloyd,
The Kid Brother; H.B. Warner,
King of Kings; Al Jolson,
The Jazz Singer; Charles Farrell,
7th Heaven)
ACTRESS: Janet Gaynor, SUNRISE
(2nd: Clara Bow
It, followed by:
Janet Gaynor,
7th Heaven; Brigitte Helm
Metropolis)
DIRECTOR: Abel Gance, NAPOLEON (2nd: Fritz Lang,
Metropolis, followed by: F.W. Murnau,
Sunrise; Frank Borzage,
7th Heaven; William Wellman,
Wings))
SHORT FILM: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF 9713, A HOLLYWOOD EXTRA
(US, Robert Florey, Slavko Vorkapich)
(2nd:
The Battle of the Century (US, Clyde Bruckman), followed by:
Invitation to a Journey (France, Germaine Dulac);
24 Dollar Island (US, Robert J. Flaherty);
Marche des Machines (France, Eugene Deslaw))
SCREENPLAY: Carl Meyer, Herbert Sudermann, Katherine Hilliker, H.H. Caldwell, SUNRISE (2nd: Abel Gance,
Napoleon; Thea Von Harbou,
Metropolis; Benjamin Glazer, Katherine Hilliker, H.H. Caldwell,
7th Heaven; Elinor Glyn, Hope Loring, Louis D. Lighton, George Marion Jr.,
It)
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Léonce-Henri Burel, Jules Kruger, Jean-Paul Mundviller and Nikolai Toporkoff, NAPOLEON (2nd: Charles Rosher and Karl Struss,
Sunrise, followed by: Karl Freund, Günther Rittau and Walter Ruttmann,
Metropolis; Ernest Palmer and Joseph H. Valentine,
7th Heaven; J. Peverell Marley,
The King of Kings
ART DIRECTION: METROPOLIS,
Napoleon, Sunrise, The King of Kings, Casanova
COSTUME DESIGN: NAPOLEON,
Metropolis, Sunrise, It, The King of Kings
FILM EDITING: NAPOLEON,
Metropolis, Sunrise, Wings, 7th Heaven
SOUND: THE JAZZ SINGER
VISUAL EFFECTS: METROPOLIS,
Napoleon, Sunrise, Wings
MAKEUP: METROPOLIS,
King of Kings, The Jazz Singer