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Ranking 1933 Best Picture Nominees

The sixth year for the Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the best up until this point. It encompasses films released in the second half of 1932 and actually the whole of 1933 so it’s the last split year for the Academy. Sure, there are some obvious clunkers here, but there are some very entertaining nominees in this bunch and I personally really appreciated the emphasis on comedy movies instead of boring dramas. There are some movies here that simply would not be nominated today and that I found very interesting. So here is my ranking of all ten Oscar nominees, and yes this year is one of the biggest when it comes to the high number of nominees.

My Ranking of the Nominees:

10. State Fair

State Fair is the worst nominee of this bunch in my opinion, and not by a mile, but still the weakest one. It’s simply very dated in its plot which sees the characters visit a fair and they all experience different stories and romances etc. Most of this drama was very uninteresting, boring and simply overly archaic for today’s audiences to make a bigger impact. However, it is quite well shot and it has its sweeter moments so I wouldn’t call it bad, but passable. So this year does not have a truly bad Best Picture nominee in my opinion.

9. A Farewell to Arms

A Farewell to Arms is a famous book by Ernest Hemingway, but the movie itself does not bear many resemblances to the source material apparently so the author himself was dissatisfied with it. The movie has its strengths which are twofold. One is its strikingly sensual aesthetic and the other is the acting from Helen Hayes and Gary Cooper who are both strong and very good looking here. But the movie itself is sappy and focusing way too much on romance instead of war drama elements leading to one badly misplaced adaptation.

8. Cavalcade

Cavalcade ended up taking the trophy that year which was an expected development having in mind its epic sweep and strong emotional connection with the audiences of the day. The movie isn’t one of the worst Oscar winners ever for me as it looks good, it sounds great and it has its guilty pleasure sequences, but still the dialogue and plot points are ridiculously on-the-nose and lacking any subtlety to them whatsoever. The acting is also very theatrical and the film felt constantly unbelievable, silly and also unlikable in its characters.

7. Smilin’ Through

Leslie Howard is so wonderful in his supporting role in Smilin’ Through. The movie’s also incredibly romantic to the point of becoming very enjoyable and charming. Its premise sounds silly, but the execution itself is very solid and ultimately I found the movie unexpectedly solid and one of the more pleasant surprises of this bunch. The second’s act was rough to sit through though as it’s very dull, slow and it killed the pace and the momentum of an otherwise quite sweetly engaging flick.

6. Lady for a Day

Lady for a Day is quite the opposite from the above entry which surprised me, but this one really disappointed me. Yes, May Robson is phenomenal in her role and she should have won an Oscar over Hepburn this year and I found her character great. The premise is also absolutely stupendous and ripe for a thirties comedy flick. However, the end result ended up being a giant disappointment owing to its weaker execution with very forgettable supporting characters and not as strong humor as it should have been.

5. Little Women

Katharine Hepburn struggled during her early years as an actress. Although lauded for her performance in the main role here, I found her approach overly caricaturist and forced. She’s good, but just not great. The movie itself is quite flawed when looked at it as a whole, but individually speaking it’s very effective as many of its scenes are highly enjoyable, exceedingly charming and very cozy. It’s the kind of sweeping historical drama which makes you feel very content when you watch it thanks in small part to its striking visuals.

4. She Done Him Wrong

She Done Him Wrong made a bigger impact on me upon first viewing as upon the second one I did come to a realization that the plot itself is very slim, the runtime is very short and the movie relies so heavily on May West alone to carry it through to the finish line which is exactly what she did in the end as she’s absolutely amazing here. She’s very charismatic and absolutely hilarious in many of her instantly quotable, iconic lines. Cary Grant is also quite good in one of his earliest roles. It’s such an atypical Oscar nominee which remains weird to this day.

3. 42nd Street

I get that today 42nd Street may be looked down upon as the plot truly is weak and the entire first half is problematically almost devoid of any music. But the rest of the movie is so good that I still find it to be very strong overall. The musical numbers are a treat here with the finest one being the titular number which is immensely catchy and instantly recognizable. I also found its cinematography truly fantastic and the movie is filled with many highly memorable seductive takes. The production design is also outstanding.

2. The Private Life of Henry VIII

Charles Laughton entirely deserved his Oscar for this larger-than-life performance in the role of Henry VIII. He’s very entertaining, but also quite human at the end of the day. The movie itself is exceedingly lightweight to its detriment, but I mostly enjoyed it to pieces having in mind it’s so damn entertaining which is something today’s biopics should make note of. Many characters here are also highly well developed and the dialogue itself is superb. The humor’s also great and this is one of the most fun of the nominees and the second best for sure.

1. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang is an absolute classic of 1932. Yes, its supporting characters were sorely underdeveloped, but that’s the only bigger flaw I could find in this otherwise stellar prison flick which influenced all the others that followed in its wake. Paul Muni himself delivered a truly powerful, very moving performance as a very likable, relatable character. The movie itself can be quite dramatic and emotional to watch, but it’s above all else immensely gritty and especially brutal for this decade. It held enormous power in its message against the brutality of the American chain gangs. It’s undoubtedly the finest nominee from this year.

Films That Should Have Been Nominated:

King Kong – Nobody could expect King Kong to have been nominated by the Academy, but this is the best movie from this period without any doubt. The special effects are iconic, the monster himself is very memorable and the movie features a high number of instantly memorable sequences and moments. It’s one hell of an adventure that remains a classic.

The Invisible Man – The Invisible Man of course never could have been nominated for an Oscar as the Academy has always dismissed genre works, but this film truly is one of the classics. I loved its premise beautifully executed, the movie’s quite cinematic and it remains highly entertaining to this day.

Gold Diggers of 1933 – Gold Diggers of 1933 is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, musicals of the entire decade and the fact that it was snubbed in favor of 42nd Street is troublesome to say the least. This movie is iconic in its sets, highly powerful in its very diverse and moving musical numbers and at the end of the day both entertaining and important in its message.

Blonde Venus – Blonde Venus is by far one of the finest films from Josef von Sternberg and thus it’s a shame that it was snubbed for an Oscar. Marlene Dietrich and Herbert Marshall both deliver two of their best performances in this very emotionally effective flick with a particularly powerful finale.

Baby Face – Baby Face is one of the most interesting and best examples of a Pre-Code flick as it’s very suggestive and very provocative in its sex-obsessed storyline. Barbara Stanwyck stole the show here in her every moment and was perfect to play this powerful, very intriguing woman.