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Ranking 1932 Best Picture Nominees

The fifth year for the Academy Award for Best Picture is a pretty good one and a major improvement upon the previous year. It includes movies released in the second half of 1931 and the first half of 1932. This time the diversity is lacking as it just consists of dramas and comedies with some musicals, but the more comedic angle here is much appreciated and this year surely is quite weird as it would never happen nowadays as so many nominees are fun, fluffy flicks intended to charm and entertain instead of teach and preach. That’s why I really enjoyed this slate despite not finding it great. Most movies are quite good though.

My Ranking of the Nominees:

8. The Champ

King Vidor was a great director, but he really missed the mark with this flick. Admittedly, The Champ has its nice moments and it’s particularly well acted. Wallace Beery is great per usual as is Jackie Cooper who really surprised me by delivering such a quality performance. But these two simply could not save the film from being a messy, overly familiar in plot, uninspired affair which ended on such a ridiculously tragic, emotionally manipulative note that it really frustrated me.

7. Arrowsmith

There is a shade of greatness in Arrowsmith for sure. After all, the cinematography is mesmerizing and Ronald Colman stole the show with such a charismatic turn that was snubbed by the Academy shamefully. But the movie simply did not work and this great story never became as sprawling or as epic as the filmmakers obviously intended the film to be. That’s because the pacing is awfully rushed and the film is simply too short for such an epic story leading to an abrupt affair.

6. The Smiling Lieutenant

I really like Ernst Lubitsch films from this period and although it’s silly that they were nominated for some major Oscars, as great entertainment they work splendidly. The Smiling Lieutenant is another one of his charming movies which is so well acted and it has some truly entertaining sequences, but it’s so much weaker than the other director’s film nominated this year owing to many forgettable plot points and a weak soundtrack. I also think that Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald were such a great duo that she was sorely missed here.

5. Five Star Final

Five Star Final is also a could have been great movie that was undone by its forgettable romantic parts and the first half is simply never as strong or as memorable as the latter one, but that ending alone is worth the admission price as it’s so immensely powerful. It was easily the most important movie form this slate of nominees and it remains relevant to this day in its exploration of the dark side of journalism. Edward G. Robinson killed it in the main role and possibly delivered his career-best performance.

4. Shanghai Express

Shanghai Express is such a peculiar film. It happens in China and is thus particularly dated in its politics and whenever it tried to be serious, it failed and I was bored. But whenever it tried to be fun and charming, it succeeded in spades. It’s another slight, but visually rich cinematic experience from Josef von Sternberg who here gave us some absolutely stunning shots and a great, intriguing atmosphere too. Anna May Wong is quite intriguing and Marlene Dietrich is just luminous in her most visually iconic outing.

3. Bad Girl

Bad Girl definitely bored me a bit in its overly serious second half. I got what they were trying to showcase as the couple’s problems are well conveyed overall, but they did not make for a particularly engaging watch. Still, for a 30s movie, the flick is surprisingly slice-of-life in approach and it mostly worked, especially in its stellar first half which was immensely endearing and irresistible in its romance. Sally Eilers and James Dunn are both marvelous and they gave us such a wonderful couple who’re so easy to root for.

2. One Hour with You

Speaking of power couples, Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier are almost iconic in this flick which is unfortunately quite underappreciated nowadays as it’s such a good movie that it ended up taking the second spot among pretty fine competition. It is shaky in its second half and the musical numbers are once again not great, but the romance worked splendidly, their interactions are lovely and the film is particularly effective in its rather provocative sexual politics for its time leading to a still very modern, relatable movie.

1. Grand Hotel

Grand Hotel most absolutely deserved its Oscar as it’s clearly the best film among this list of nominees, at least in my opinion. It’s an underrated Best Picture winner which has a clunky start and some actors aren’t great, but Lionel Barrymore and Joan Crawford stole the show in their very moving, endearing roles. The film is simplistic in plot, but solid in its metaphor, beautifully visualized in the hotel itself and it’s just such a fun, charming flick that is a wonderful 1932 time capsule for Hollywood.

Films That Should Have Been Nominated:

Freaks – 1931 and 1932 were amazing years for the genre of horror and having in mind that both years were eligible for this Academy Awards, the fact that they shut them all down just goes to show how ignorant they are. Freaks is a horror classic which is unnerving to this day and so damn scary while featuring many iconic scenes, a frightening ending and a progressive story.

Frankenstein – With stylish cinematography, memorable Boris Karloff in his most signature role and many gorgeous, very evocative sets, Frankenstein surely is old-fashioned, but it’s a genre classic on all fronts with the atmosphere being its finest achievement. It’s also iconic in many scenes from the girl drowning to the final action scene.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – While I do find Mädchen in Uniform even more deserving of a nomination, a German lesbian film had no chance of ever getting nominated so I went for the third choice with this great cinematic adaptation. It won Fredric March an Oscar, but the fact that it wasn’t nominated for the big award is a travesty as the movie is such a genre classic.