Review and Analysis of the 21st Academy Awards

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Review and Analysis of the 21st Academy Awards

The 21st Academy Awards were actually quite strong for the most part. The Academy chose to nominate most of the best movies of the year with only a few glaring exceptions and snubs. The slates are quite strong, especially for the top two awards. I am happy with most of these wins, even if the best movie of the year did not get nearly enough wins as it should have. It was overall a stellar year for the Oscars.

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OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION

The Best Picture slate for 1948 is genuinely one of the best of all time. Two dramas with difficult subject matter, one masterful western drama, one Shakespeare adaptation and one artistic film about ballet comprise this eclectic list. There is not a single film on this list that I did not genuinely love and every single one I gave at least a 4.5 star rating, which is beyond impressive. The Snake Pit and Johnny Belinda are highly underrated gems as these social dramas that were very much ahead of their time while The Red Shoes is an artistic masterpiece from Powell and Pressburger. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is clearly the best of these movies, a film that is masterful in every single area and a true cinema classic. It lost the Oscar to Olivier’s Hamlet, a film that is so atmospheric and a genuinely wonderful Shakespeare adaptation, so I am not too mad about it. Any of these movies could have won as it was such a great year and slate. You can read my full ranking of the nominees here.

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BEST DIRECTOR

I would have personally nominated Powell and Pressburger over some of these other men in this slate, but overall it’s a pretty good list with not a single weak choice to be found. Jean Negulesco and Anatole Litvak were the best of the bunch and the same goes for Olivier’s superb work on Hamlet. But this was always going to go to John Huston as his work on Sierra Madre was truly astonishing. He directed this film with so much style and elegance, delivering a classic film that is masterful in all aspects and still incredibly effective. I am so glad that the Academy honored him this year as it remains his only Oscar win.

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BEST ACTOR

This year’s Best Actor slate was not great. Two of these men starred in smaller movies that I haven’t seen yet, so I cannot really comment on the validity of their inclusion here. Montgomery Clift was wonderful in The Search and he deserved this nomination. Lew Ayres made for such a sympathetic hero in Johnny Belinda. He was so charming in the role. The eventual winner turned out to be Laurence Olivier and I am happy that he won because the Hamlet role fit him like a glove and he was excellent in it. The best of the nominated actors surely did end up winning, but the snubbed Bogart gave the best performance of the year in Sierra Madre. He wasn’t nominated as the Academy obviously wasn’t prepared for such a dark, crazy role that was very much ahead of its time.

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BEST ACTRESS

The Academy chose wisely this year by honoring Jane Wyman. Her work in Johnny Belinda was truly phenomenal. This was the first silent performance to win an Oscar since the very first awards, making it quite unique. She sold so many different emotions through her eyes alone and she will definitely move you here. This was a strong slate overall with the other nominees all being deserving, though Bergman as Joan of Arc and Stanwyck in Sorry, Wrong Number were quite miscast. Olivia de Havilland, however, was so well cast and just phenomenal in the atmospheric Snake Pit.

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

It was wonderful that both the Huston father and the Huston son won an Oscar this year. Walter Huston himself was just wonderful in Sierra Madre, delivering a joyous performance as the most sympathetic character in that roster. Charles Bickford and Oscar Homolka were worthy nominees as well for sure.

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Claire Trevor got a very small role in Key Largo, but a memorable, effective one. Actually, she stole that movie for me, so her emotionally powerful performance was quite deserving of this win here. As for the other nominees, Barbara Bel Geddes was the best of the bunch in the very well acted, underappreciated I Remember Mama.

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BEST MOTION PICTURE STORY

This category probably stands for original screenplay. Of these nominees, clearly the best movie won as The Search was a well written and very moving war drama. The Naked City and Red River were too typical to be nominated and The Red Shoes relied more on its visuals to tell the story, so this win is fine with me.

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BEST SCREENPLAY

Johnny Belinda has a terrific screenplay and it’s a melodrama that is still emotionally effective to this day. But there was only one worthy winner here and that was obviously The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. The Academy chose right by honoring this incredible western drama that benefitted from its sophisticated screenplay. It’s a story that is still riveting to this day and age, so this was the only worthy choice here.

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BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

1948 was a terrific year for animated shorts and the Academy unfortunately snubbed some amazing cartoons from both Tom and Jerry and Looney Tunes series. But the overall slate was well representative of the big studios and it featured classic movies such as the excellent Mouse Wreckers and the charming Mickey and the Seal. The winner ended up being The Little Orphan, which is one of the weaker Tom and Jerry shorts, so it wasn’t a deserved winner at all. You can read my full ranking of the nominees here.

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BEST SCORING OF A DRAMATIC OR COMEDY PICTURE

Max Steiner’s score for Johnny Belinda was sweeping and powerful, but I am glad that The Red Shoes ultimately won in this category as that movie is a technical marvel that also featured such a wonderful, timeless score.

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BEST SCORING OF A MUSICAL PICTURE

I haven’t even heard of most of these movies, including the winner itself. This was another lackluster slate in this odd category after the previous one that was mediocre too.

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BEST ORIGINAL SONG

The Woody Woodpecker Song is clearly a classic and it would have been a worthy winner here, but the winning song ended up being Buttons and Bows from a film that I haven’t watched, but the song is catchy, memorable and a classic for sure, so it deserved to win.

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BEST SOUND RECORDING

The Snake Pit was a deserving winner as that eerie movie sounded great, but Johnny Belinda also could have won in this category as that one is an audio-visual marvel as well.

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BEST ART DIRECTION, BLACK-AND-WHITE

Johnny Belinda looked absolutely incredible, but I am glad that Hamlet took this one as that film was simply stunning to behold. The noirish atmosphere and German expressionist touches made it quite cinematic while the labyrinthine nature of the castle, the deep-focus photography  and the gorgeous, very believable sets done on it made the movie look elegant and timeless.

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BEST ART DIRECTION, COLOR

The Red Shoes is an absolutely gorgeous movie that benefits from some stunning sets that are still marvelous to witness and just enchanting. The art direction on this film was just incredible, so this choice ended up being among the best ones from the Academy this year.

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BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY, BLACK-AND-WHITE

The Naked City is a very atmospheric noir feature that was so well shot, so it is a solid winner in this category. However, I would have personally gone with Johnny Belinda as that film featured some of the most outstanding and beautiful imagery of any movies this year. Also, it ended up winning just one out of its twelve nominations, so it winning here should have been the case.

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BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY, COLOR

Joan of Arc featured some of the best Technicolor cinematography of the decade, so I am definitely glad that it won. I just wonder why The Red Shoes wasn’t even nominated here when it was clearly a gorgeous-looking picture.

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BEST COSTUME DESIGN, BLACK-AND-WHITE

Clearly the best costume design in black-and-white belongs to Hamlet. These costumes were very memorable and befitting the era deftly, thus this win was very much deserved.

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BEST COSTUME DESIGN, COLOR

Joan of Arc clearly had the best costumes for any movie shot in color this year, so it winning here was the only worthy choice for sure.

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BEST FILM EDITING

The Red Shoes was very well edited, but a very long film nonetheless. I would have personally honored Johnny Belinda as that movie flowed well and it was deftly edited throughout. The Naked City was a fine choice, but not an exciting one for me.

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BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS

Just two movies were nominated this year and I have seen neither of the two, so I cannot really comment upon whether or not the best one won. Clearly this period in cinema history did not have as many genre movies, so the VFX category suffered as a result of that.

 

Overall, this was a terrific year for the Academy. They did snub some big movies and performances (Rope and Bogart come to mind instantly), but for the most part the slates were stellar and the wins were satisfactory. The acting awards and the technical categories fared the best this time around.