Review and Analysis of the 11th Academy Awards

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Review and Analysis of the 11th Academy Awards

The 11^th Academy Awards were quite strong when it comes to both the winners and the nominees. The Best Picture slate was quite good, though admittedly some other slates were inferior. It’s a year when they managed to at least nominate most of the worthy movies released, so overall I am satisfied with the outcome.

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OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION

You Can’t Take It with You is a hugely underrated movie nowadays owing to boring people’s miscalculated view of Capra’s movies, but it’s among his great works. It’s a joyous, wonderfully inspirational movie that ended up winning Best Picture and deservedly so. I would have probably picked The Adventures of Robin Hood, one of the most accomplished adventure movies of all time, but admittedly the choice between the two is tough to make. There are some weaker nominees here such as Boys Town, but most are pretty good and many are quite underrated, especially Pygmalion and The Citadel. You can read the full ranking of the nominees here.

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BEST DIRECTOR

Frank Capra ended up winning his second Oscar (the first was for It Happened One Night), and I find that choice wonderful, though I would have probably gone with Michael Curtiz, purely on the strength of not only Robin Hood, but also Angels with Dirty Faces. He had a great year here, so he should have won. Other nominees weren’t all that great this time around.

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BEST ACTOR

This was one of the absolute worst picks for this particular year. Spencer Tracy won for his weak role in Boys Town, thus becoming the first actor to win consecutive Oscars. It was a travesty of a choice as every other actor would have been a much better pick. Donat and Howard were both wonderful in their respective roles, but I would have gone with James Cagney who has never been better than he was in Angels with Dirty Faces.

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BEST ACTRESS

Bette Davis won this time for her amazing work in Jezebel, a film that is great overall, but very much elevated by her terrific performance. She played a different, more good-natured woman than she usually played, so this was a great showcase of her adaptability and many talents. This slate was otherwise quite weak, so she was the only legitimate choice for the win.

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Walter Brennan once again got this one for his work on Kentucky. He was obviously adored by the Academy during the thirties owing to his many wins, and he is wonderful in this otherwise trite movie, but a better choice would have been John Garfield who significantly elevated an otherwise weak flick that is Four Daughters. But Lionel Barrymore wasn’t even nominated when in actuality his performance in You Can’t Take It with You is amazing and beautiful.

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

This was a very weak slate unfortunately, so Fay Bainter walked away with an Oscar easily. She’s good in the movie, but I cannot praise her too much as this slate was just so weak that there isn’t a lot to talk about here.

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BEST ORIGINAL STORY

Boys Town winning for that uninspired, dull story was such a travesty that I found truly horrendous, especially when in the slate you have Angels, a film that is so well scripted and deep, especially for the usually slight crime genre.

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BEST SCREENPLAY

I would have picked Capra’s movie for the adapted screenplay category, but I have to say that the Academy’s choice was also an inspired one having in mind that Pygmalion from 1938 is so faithfully adapted and actually quite cinematic and engaging.

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BEST SHORT SUBJECT, CARTOON

Ferdinand the Bull is one of the best Disney short films of all time. It’s inspirational and very much ahead of its time in its message preaching acceptance and appreciating the different among us. Mother Goose Goes to Hollywood, on the other hand, was a hilarious showcase in celebrity parodying as the second best of the nominees. You can read the full ranking of nominees here.

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BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

The Adventures of Robin Hood is such a brilliantly scored movie that makes use of its setting and time period stupendously with a grand adventurous feel to its score. Thus, it easily won over the other numerous, but odd choices.

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BEST SCORING

I do not understand the difference between these two categories, but having in mind that Alexander’s Ragtime Band won, a film heavy on Irving Berlin numbers, I can deduce that we are talking about soundtracks or historical picture scoring here. Jezebel should have probably won.

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BEST SONG

This wasn’t the most exciting year when it comes to songs as obviously the musicals were in decline during this period, but still Thanks for the Memory was a pretty solid choice for the win as that number is sweetly romantic and playful.

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BEST SOUND RECORDING

I have never heard of the winner, so I cannot comment upon its win whether it was deserved or not. I do know, however, that You Can’t Take It with You made a great use of its songs and score, so that would have been a fine choice for the win here.

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BEST ART DIRECTION

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer actually features one highly stunning, unforgettable set, which is of course the cave itself. It was glorious and amazing to behold. However, nobody could have beaten Robin Hood this year as that film’s sets are numerous and all are accomplished, meticulously detailed and wonderful to observe, especially the castle itself.

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BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

The winner is not known to me, but of the nominees Jezebel is the most polished and best looking picture of the bunch with the ball sequence being stunningly realized.

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BEST FILM EDITING

Editing The Adventures of Robin Hood must have been tough as it has so much action and so many moving pieces in it, so of course it deserved to win, no question asked.

Overall, I was fine with most of the choices made by the Academy this year, though some such as Best Actor were highly problematic. But the technical ones and some of the major categories such as Best Actress were perfectly chosen and I couldn’t be more happy with the results. It’s a solid year that doesn’t have too many horrendous choices for sure.