Review and Analysis of the 13th Academy Awards

……………………………………………………..

Review and Analysis of the 13th Academy Awards

The 13^th Academy Awards were for the most part satisfactory. The Best Picture and acting slates were especially strong, and although some of the winners remain questionable to this day, a lot of the other winners were very much deserved. This was an excellent year for Hollywood that was solidly, if not greatly represented by the Oscars.

……………………………………………………..

……………………………………………………..

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION

Rebecca is the only Hitchcock movie to ever win the biggest Oscar, which makes it quite important and idiosyncratic. The movie is an atmospheric delight that didn’t quite deserve the award, but it truly is one of the greatest movies of the year, so its win is fine with me. The other picks in this lineup were not as great as they could have been, but The Grapes of Wrath is quite a technical feat while The Great Dictator remains an absolute comedy masterpiece. The worst nominee was the dated Our Town. You can read my full ranking of the nominees here.

……………………………………………………..

 

……………………………………………………..

BEST DIRECTOR

This race was all between Hitchcock and Ford with the other three being just fillers, which may sound harsh, but it’s the truth as none of them deserved their nominations. John Ford ended up winning, which doesn’t bother me too much as even I, as a not that big of a fan of The Grapes of Wrath movie, have to admit that it’s stupendously and confidently directed. It’s a shame, though, that the only Best Picture-winning Hitchcock movie still left himself with no award.

……………………………………………………..

……………………………………………………..

BEST ACTOR

What is there left to say that hasn’t already been said about this utter mess of a category? It remains to this day one of the prime examples of giving the award to an actor for a weaker role just because it’s “his time”. Yes, Stewart was solid in The Philadelphia Story, but the role was just very slight itself and not deserving of a freaking Oscar. He basically won it for his incredible turn the previous year for ‘Mr. Smith’ that was left unrecognized. As for who should have won, Laurence Olivier and Henry Fonda were both terrific in their respective roles, but I would have personally gone with Charlie Chaplin whose inspired work in The Great Dictator remains his career-greatest. But they were never going to give it to him for many reasons, so it was a miracle that he was even nominated in the first place.

……………………………………………………..

 

……………………………………………………..

BEST ACTRESS

This one also remains controversial to this day, but I personally disagree. I do not feel as strongly about Ginger Rogers’ contested win because she was excellent in Kitty Foyle where she even elevated what would have otherwise been a much weaker movie. All of the actresses were pretty good in this slate: Davis was solid in The Letter, but her performance in All This, and Heaven Too was better; Martha Scott elevated Our Town, but wasn’t truly magnificent; Katharine Hepburn was reliably charismatic, but hardly worthy of an award. I would personally pick Joan Fontaine for her radiant presence in Rebecca, but overall this is one of those years where I would be fine with most of the actresses winning, and I am glad that Ginger got it.

……………………………………………………..

……………………………………………………..

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Walter Brennan was excellent in The Westerner, but that role was very much a lead, not a supporting one, so it’s quite a cheat that he won in the wrong category. Of the nominees, Jack Oakie’s inclusion was particularly impressive having in mind that the Academy rarely honors comedies.

……………………………………………………..

……………………………………………………..

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1940’s slate for this category was surprisingly strong with most of the ladies being deserving of the nomination and maybe even a win with the most iconic one being Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers – a cruel, cold woman in Rebecca. She was a formidable villain like no other, so she would have been a fine choice here. Still though, I am more than happy that Jane Darwell ended up winning because her Ma Joad was just as I had pictured her in the novel itself – strong and inspirational. The Academy got it right here.

……………………………………………………..

……………………………………………………..

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

I entirely disagree with this choice. The Great McGinty is solid in politics, but overall it’s weakly written in some parts and definitely not one of Preston Sturges’ better efforts. The only obvious option for the win here is Chaplin’s The Great Dictator. That movie is an absolute classic all-around, but a great part of that is due to the enormously witty, effortlessly written screenplay.

……………………………………………………..

……………………………………………………..

BEST SCREENPLAY

For the adapted screenplay, they went with The Philadelphia Story, which was another very bad choice. Yes, the film was adapted solidly from the stage without being too stagey, but the story is still too flimsy to be getting a freaking Oscar. Clearly, Rebecca should have won as that film famously elevated even the book and it remains one of the best Gothic movies of all time.

……………………………………………………..

……………………………………………………..

BEST ORIGINAL STORY

What is the point of having three screenplay awards when two perfectly suffice? This year introduced this odd third award and the winner is unknown, and the slate itself doesn’t explain to me the difference between this and the other two clearly enough. Quite odd indeed.

……………………………………………………..

……………………………………………………..

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

1940 was the year of many firsts as evidenced by this particular line of films. Puss Gets the Boot started the Tom and Jerry series while A Wild Hare jump-started the career of the one and only Bugs Bunny. Both are quite good, but the award actually went to The Milky Way, a move that went out terribly for the awards. You can read my full ranking of the nominees here.

……………………………………………………..

……………………………………………………..

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Pinocchio got horribly snubbed for the big awards this year even though it was the greatest film of 1940. Still, it did receive the Oscar for original score, and I am quite happy about that as the score in this classic is superb and quite grandiose. Other worthy nominees were the atmospheric Rebecca and the exciting Thief of Bagdad.

……………………………………………………..

……………………………………………………..

BEST SCORING

I still don’t understand what the difference was between these two categories back in this time period and I haven’t personally seen the winner here, but judging by the nominees, I would say that this category should represent the “adapted score” and not the original one made for the movie itself. It’s an odd, but also weak slate.

……………………………………………………..

……………………………………………………..

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

I have yet to check out the other nominees in a very long slate for this award, but clearly Pinocchio’s When You Wish Upon a Star thoroughly deserved to get it. This is not only a beautifully enchanting piece of music, but also a highly important tune for Hollywood as it ended up on the Disney logo itself decades later.

……………………………………………………..

……………………………………………………..

BEST SOUND RECORDING

I haven’t seen the winner here, but it’s a musical, so it was a rather obvious choice. Of the nominees, The Grapes of Wrath was well deserved of its placement, but I would have also added the incredibly cinematic, beautifully audio-executed The Thief of Bagdad.

……………………………………………………..

……………………………………………………..

BEST ART DIRECTION, BLACK-AND-WHITE

This is the first year where the production design got separated into two categories. It wasn’t really necessary and I haven’t seen the winner itself, but clearly Rebecca’s sumptuous sets deserved to win here.

……………………………………………………..

……………………………………………………..

BEST ART DIRECTION, COLOR

The Thief of Bagdad got snubbed for the big awards this year, but it did sweep many of the technical awards. This one was clearly much deserved as this Technicolor wonder was filled with a plethora of instantly recognizable sets, places, objects and numerous fine tidbits.

……………………………………………………..

……………………………………………………..

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY, BLACK-AND-WHITE

Rebecca got this one, which was literally the only worthwhile choice. This is probably one of the most deserved winners of this year as this mystery looks absolutely astonishing. In fact, it just might be one of the greatest-looking black-and-white films ever made.

……………………………………………………..

……………………………………………………..

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY, COLOR

The Thief of Bagdad got this one as well, and undeniably it deserved it as the Technicolor in it looks splendid and still very much charming. However, there weren’t that many color movies made this year, so its competition was quite inferior.

……………………………………………………..

……………………………………………………..

BEST FILM EDITING

The Academy really had a knack of awarding the totally forgotten, strange movies for the technical awards during the first couple of days. I haven’t seen this film, but of the nominees, The Grapes of Wrath deserved it most.

……………………………………………………..

……………………………………………………..

BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS

There is no question about it, Bagdad easily got the VFX award. This movie still looks enchanting to this day and age, and watching it makes you ask how in the hell did they pull so many of its effects off. Marvelous stuff indeed.

 

In the end, this was another pretty good year for the Academy, though not as great as the previous one. While some baffling choices were made here and there, some wonderful movies were honored and a couple of different winners were seen in some spots. Overall, the slates were mostly fine, though there were too many snubs in the BP category.