Review and Analysis of the 18th Academy Awards

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Review and Analysis of the 18th Academy Awards

The 18th Academy Awards were by and large a success. In a rare feat, the Academy ended up choosing the best movies for most of the big awards with only a couple of baffling choices present in the technical categories. The overall slates of nominees weren’t the strongest, but for the most part they did nominate the greatest films of the year and the very best movie won the major awards, which was great to witness. This was, thus, one of the best Oscars ceremonies in the forties.

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OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION

The Lost Weekend was the only right winner this year, and thankfully the Academy did not screw it up. This drama about alcoholism is one of Billy Wilder’s most accomplished achievements and it remains one of the best winners in this category to this day. But there were a couple of other worthy nominees in this surprisingly strong slate too. Mildred Pierce is an iconic, delightfully entertaining melodrama whereas Spellbound is one of Hitchcock’s most artistic pictures. The musical nominees this year weren’t that great as both Anchors Aweigh and The Bells of St. Mary’s were highly flawed in their own right, but even those two were still quite solid. You can read my full ranking of the nominees here.

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BEST DIRECTOR

Billy Wilder shamelessly lost his much-deserved Oscar for his career-best movie, which was ‘Double Indemnity’. Thankfully, the Academy corrected that the very next year by rewarding him for his work on The Lost Weekend, which is another one of his absolute masterpieces. This is a lean, concise and emotionally powerful movie that features an important message and excellent technical craftsmanship throughout. Wilder’s role in all of these aspects shouldn’t be underestimated and thankfully the Academy recognized him for it. Of the other nominees, Clarence Brown and Leo McCarey had no business being on this slate, but Jean Renoir was a solid choice as his work on The Southerner is quite strong and cinematic whereas Alfred Hitchcock got another deserving nomination for his very stylish and surreal work on the psychological thriller Spellbound.

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BEST ACTOR

The Best Actor field this year wasn’t the greatest, so Ray Milland easily won the award for his masterful, career-best work in The Lost Weekend. He had doubts going into it, but eventually due to great commitment to the part he delivered one truly outstanding, layered performance. It remains his only nomination and his only win. Bing Crosby’s nomination was lazy, but at least he was quite good. Cornel Wilde had no business being here as his acting wasn’t all that great. Gregory Peck was pretty good in a lesser film while Gene Kelly was delightfully charming as ever in Anchors Aweigh. This was his only nominated performance.

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BEST ACTRESS

This year the Best Actress category wasn’t as stacked as it was in a previous couple of years, but it was still quite a strong slate. Ingrid Bergman was wonderful in The Bells of St. Mary’s, but it is Gene Tierney who really impressed in the amazing noir Leave Her to Heaven. The fact that this was her sole nomination is unfortunate and she remains one of the most underrated Old Hollywood actresses. She was incredible as the icy villain in that film, but I am not mad that she lost to Joan Crawford as her turn in Mildred Pierce is one of her greatest. That entire movie is phenomenal and quite underrated and Crawford delivered one of the best performances of the forties as you just root for her character how likable she is. It was, thus, a deserved win.

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

This was a very weak year for this particular category. I did not see most of the nominees from this slate, but the eventual winner was well chosen. Yes, James Dunn was wonderful in the role of the drunken father in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. It wasn’t a great movie, but he was one of the best parts of it. It’s a shame that his career afterward wasn’t bigger.

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

A much better slate than its male counterpart, here we got some very deserving ladies being represented. Angela Lansbury was wonderful in The Picture of Dorian Gray, but her role was quite small. Both Eve Arden and Ann Blyth were incredible in Mildred Pierce and I would have personally voted for any one of those two, but the Academy’s decision to honor Anne Revere for her strikingly moving, motherly turn in National Velvet is an understandable one.

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BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

What even was this category during this period?! I continue to be baffled by it as it makes absolutely no sense to have three screenplay awards. This was the worst of the three as I haven’t even heard of any of the nominees here, let alone watched them.

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BEST SCREENPLAY

This is the only worthy screenplay category this year, representing the adapted screenplays of the year very strongly. Mildred Pierce had an outstanding script and I would have been happy with that one winning as well, but there is no doubt about it – The Lost Weekend was the best-written and overall greatest film of 1945, so it really deserved this award. It’s brisk and on-point while featuring a terrific message. It’s a masterclass in how to adapt any script to this medium.

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BEST ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE STORY

Another very weak slate, I only watched A Song to Remember from this list and that one was a total mess of historical inauthenticity and cluelessness. This list seems to be better than the first screenplay list above, but not by much to be honest.

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BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

The True Glory is a rare WWII documentary from the forties that isn’t just propaganda for the war effort, but a genuine account of what happened during the war told through many important interviews and terrific footage. Thus, it deserved to win this award undoubtedly.

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BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

1945 was a terrific year for animated short movies and thankfully the Academy’s choices mostly reflected that. This list was a significant improvement over the previous one. A couple of movies notwithstanding, others are all terrific. Life with Feathers is a strong Merrie Melodies short, Donald’s Crime is one of the better Donald Duck movies and the winning movie Quiet Please! is fantastic, being one of the best Tom and Jerry shorts of all time. It was a deserving winner in a surprisingly great slate. You can read my full ranking of the nominees here.

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BEST SCORING OF A DRAMATIC OR COMEDY PICTURE

Miklos Rozsa truly had an impressive year in 1945. His work on Spellbound was beautiful and fittingly evocative of the surreal atmosphere of that film, but I would have personally honored his work on The Lost Weekend, which was both grandiose and perfectly accompanying its suspenseful atmosphere throughout its runtime.

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BEST SCORING OF A MUSICAL PICTURE

State Fair was a worthy nominee here, but it obviously went to Anchors Aweigh as that movie had the best and most accomplished musical score of 1945.

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BEST ORIGINAL SONG

It Might as Well Be Spring from State Fair won this year and it was a wonderful number, both uplifting and catchy. Love Letters from the titular movie was also solid. I would have probably gone with I Fall in Love Too Easily from Anchors Aweigh. That one was a beautifully sung Sinatra number that stole the show in that flick. But the Academy’s choice was pretty strong as well.

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BEST SOUND RECORDING

The Bells of St. Mary’s was a solid, but far from inspired choice for this category. I would have personally chosen either Leave Her to Heaven or The Three Caballeros as those two depended on its sound to a larger degree.

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BEST ART DIRECTION, BLACK-AND-WHITE

This was a bad slate for this category. The winner is a film that I’ve never heard of and I did not see it, so I cannot comment upon its worth. Of the nominees, Dorian Gray deserved it most while The Keys of the Kingdom was also solid, but then again not one of these was particularly amazing.

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BEST ART DIRECTION, COLOR

I direct similar thoughts to the color production design category. The winner is not a well-known movie at all, but of the nominees clearly Leave Her to Heaven would and should have won by a mile.

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BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY, BLACK-AND-WHITE

I find it odd that the Academy recognized Dorian Gray for this award and yet they snubbed that film in all the more important categories. It’s a great-looking film, but clearly the award should have gone to a much more striking, noirish Lost Weekend or the stellar and highly artistic Spellbound.

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BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY, COLOR

There was clearly no other possible choice for this award in 1945 and the Academy knew it, so they honored the best-looking film of the bunch. The vibrant colors in Leave Her to Heaven just pop off the screen and how they contrasted the story’s darkness was admirable.

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BEST FILM EDITING

This category was a mess. National Velvet was a very slow movie that lacked momentum, so the fact that it won for the editing department was baffling to me. All the other nominees would have deserved it more, but The Lost Weekend clearly should have been the only valid option as the editing on that movie is astonishingly lean and efficient.

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BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS

I only watched Spellbound of the nominees for VFX this year. 1945 wasn’t really known for fantasy and SF spectacles or swashbuckling adventures, so this award was thus a non-event.

Overall, this was a surprisingly strong year for the Academy Awards and certainly better than the last one. While some decisions were clearly baffling, most of the big categories were very much deserved, especially the acting wins and all the awards that The Lost Weekend won. It was a rare year when the Academy mostly got it right.

Review and Analysis of the 18th Academy Awards