Review and Analysis of the 15th Academy Awards

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Review and Analysis of the 15th Academy Awards

The 15^th Academy Awards is among the weaker ones. This wasn’t the best year for cinema for obvious reasons, but the Academy did not help matters either as they made some seriously questionable choices for some of their slates, though a couple of the winners were very deserved, the acting winners being pretty solid. For the most part, too many of these movies that they nominated are now obscure and/or forgotten, but there are some gems hidden here as well.

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OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION

Mrs. Miniver ended up taking Best Picture and it is easy to see why. It was the biggest movie of the year and the most emotional and inspirational. It is actually the best of the nominated movies, so the Academy did get it right this time if you discount the snubs. Of the other nominees, Random Harvest, Kings Row and The Talk of the Town, all wildly different movies, are the best and all three are underrated gems. Overall, this is a very odd, somewhat forgotten list of movies nowadays. The propaganda war films plagued this particular slate way too much. You can read my full ranking of the nominees here.

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BEST DIRECTOR

This was the first of three wins for William Wyler, one of the biggest legends of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Although his work on Mrs. Miniver is far from his best directorial efforts, it was still competent and by far the best within this very weak slate of nominees. I did like both Random Harvest and Kings Row and I find them to be underrated gems, but there is hardly all that much directorial artistic flair to be found in those two films.

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BEST ACTOR

It is very funny to me that James Cagney, a crime genre stalwart, won his only Academy Award for a non-crime movie, but a musical one. I find that movie overrated, but there is no denying that Cagney killed it here in an atypical role for him where he delivered in spades. His dancing was great and his overall performance was wonderful. Of the other nominees, nobody was as memorable as Cagney (Monty Woolley was surprisingly enough the best of the bunch while Colman and Cooper were reliably terrific, but typecast), so I have to agree with the Academy’s decision here.

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BEST ACTRESS

This was a significantly weaker slate than the amazing one from the year prior, but still some great performers ended up being nominated. Teresa Wright got a double nomination this year, which is interesting, but expected as she had the best period of her career during this time. She was pretty good in The Pride of the Yankees and I am fine with that nod. Katharine Hepburn was reliably strong in Woman of the Year, but this role is among her weakest. This was a two-way race between Bette Davis and Greer Garson. Davis was so magnetic and so incredible in a role that demanded a lot from her, but I am actually glad that Garson ended up taking the award as this was her most iconic role and her work on Mrs. Miniver is not only amazing, but she elevated that movie to the point of her becoming synonymous with it.

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Van Heflin ended up taking this award due to his very memorable, strong turn in the otherwise mediocre, forgettable Johnny Eager. The other nominees were all fine, but far from impressive, making this entire slate very weak.

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Of the nominees that lost here, Susan Peters was terrific in Random Harvest. Dame May Whitty was so entertaining and so memorable as Lady Beldon. But the eventual award went to another actress from Mrs. Miniver – Teresa Wright. Undoubtedly, she deserved to win as her performance is phenomenal in such a tragic role.

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BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

How a movie that put a woman to her place by relegating her to a kitchen in the end won an Academy Award for best screenplay is baffling to me. Yes, Woman of the Year is very dated in its sexist attitudes and so-so in its script. The other nominees are either forgotten or just plain mediocre, so this slate was ridiculously slim.

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BEST SCREENPLAY

For a very weak slate that was this one, Mrs. Miniver did deserve to win among these nominees. It’s a good story, just not a great one. It is strong in the smaller moments, but as a whole it only comes across as solid material. To Be or Not to Be and Now, Voyager were shamelessly snubbed here.

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BEST ORIGINAL STORY

This strange award that is difficult to understand with no proper context nowadays was expectedly inferior in this year as well. 49^th Parallel is a very odd WWII movie that doesn’t really work, so it winning here was beyond questionable. Other nominees don’t fare much better with The Talk of the Town being the best inclusion, but even that one is problematic and overly implausible in its screenplay.

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BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

1942 was another terrific year for animated shorts. While the Academy did snub many great Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies in a strong year for Warner Bros, they did nominate some superb shorts with the best ones being Pigs in a Polka and Der Fuehrer’s Face. The former is one truly amazing, artistic ‘Three Little Pigs’ parody while the latter is Donald Duck’s most iconic and most accomplished outing. It deserved its Oscar for sure. You can read my full ranking of the nominees here.

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BEST SCORING OF A DRAMATIC PICTURE

Max Steiner’s incredible work on Now, Voyager undoubtedly deserved to win here. That soundtrack was very moving and elegant. Of the other nominees, the only worthy one was the score done for Bambi. That Disney classic also featured gorgeous, timeless music.

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BEST SCORING OF A MUSICAL PICTURE

Obviously Yankee Doodle Dandy took this one as it was also nominated for some major awards, but I would have personally given it to Holiday Inn as I much prefer that soundtrack over the winner’s one. The incredible, iconic song White Christmas alone should have made it a foregone conclusion.

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BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Speaking of the devil, White Christmas won for best song and obviously deservedly so. This is one of the greatest songs in the history of Hollywood. It is not only beautifully sung and instantly evoking cozy holiday spirit, but it has remained a Christmas staple to this day. Bambi’s Love Is a Song was also nominated this year, which was a very good choice. It’s a very underrated Disney number.

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BEST SOUND RECORDING

It’s an obvious choice from the Academy to honor a musical for best sound as well, but I would personally pick Bambi over Yankee Doodle Dandy myself as that Disney classic is technically accomplished across the board.

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BEST ART DIRECTION, BLACK-AND-WHITE

A totally obscure movie won in this category. I haven’t seen it, so I cannot comment on the validity of this particular choice, but The Magnificent Ambersons, a movie that I otherwise did not gravitate toward, should have gotten this one for its tremendous sets.

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BEST ART DIRECTION, COLOR

Another unknown picture won in this category as well. The Technicolor in Reap the Wild Wind is incredible. That movie isn’t great, but it should have won for its excellent sets and interiors throughout.

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BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY, BLACK-AND-WHITE

Mrs. Miniver got this one as well. It is a very good-looking film, but you can make an argument for The Magnificent Ambersons as, just like most Orson Welles output, that movie is gorgeously shot and constructed.

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BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY, COLOR

Again, I’ve only seen Reap the Wild Wind among the nominees. In a year that really did not feature that many color movies, these two categories easily could have been cut from the awards presentation.

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BEST FILM EDITING

It is hilarious to me that the Oscar for editing went to The Pride of the Yankees, a movie that is overlong and ridiculously slow. It’s a standard biopic that’s not particularly engaging to watch. It might be the most undeserved winner in this entire awards year as any other nominee would have deserved it more.

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BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS

Again, there weren’t that many adventure/fantasy movies released this year, so this particular slate wasn’t the best. Reap the Wild Wind won by default here and it was very deserved for that giant squid sequence alone.

 

Overall, this was a very weak year for the Oscars, certainly much weaker than the previous three or four years. Some of the winners, especially the acting ones were very much deserved. But the overall slates this year were far from great and some obvious snubs proved to be too problematic on those slates.