Review and Analysis of the 5th Academy Awards

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Review and Analysis of the 5th Academy Awards

The 5th Academy Awards are major improvement over the previous ceremony as the slates in most categories are so much better. It encompassed films released in the second half of 1931 and the first half of 1932. Yes, the great horror classics of this period were fully snubbed, but at least we got many fun comedies and important dramas getting in there. Some categories here were misses, but I am fine with most of them.

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OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION

This is probably one of the most purely entertaining line-ups ever when it comes to Best Picture. Most of the eight nominees are fun, charming comedies and musicals and I loved that about this year. Certainly Arrowsmith and The Champ are quite weak and The Smiling Lieutenant is disappointing, but Five Star Final is surprisingly relevant even today, Shanghai Express is a visual marvel and both Bad Girl and One Hour With You are interestingly brave and honest in their depictions of marriage. Having in mind that horror classics Freaks and Frankenstein weren’t even nominated, the best film out of the nominees won as Grand Hotel surely is a very strong flick. You can read my full ranking of the nominees here.

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BEST DIRECTOR

This is a solid line-up to be honest, even if I personally disagree with the choices, but at least all three Best Picture nominees are here even if King Vidor shouldn’t have been here at all as his work on The Champ is disappointing to say the least. Josef von Sternberg was deservedly nominated for his excellent work on stylish Shanghai Express, but even though Frank Borzage did a very good job on Bad Girl, he did not deserve to win here. My pick would have been James Whale or Tod Browning.

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BEST ACTOR

Wallace Beery and Fredric March shared this award for their work on The Champ and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and although the former didn’t really deserve it, the latter is a clear scene-stealer for the year and I am so glad that he got that Oscar. However, I find the slate of just three nominees an awful choice as a lot of the actors from Best Picture nominees were entirely snubbed here including Edward G. Robinson, James Dunn and Ronald Colman who were all phenomenal in their movies.

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BEST ACTRESS

I unfortunately could not find anywhere to watch The Sin of Madelon Claudet so I cannot objectively say whether or not Helen Hayes deserved this award. And I haven’t seen any of the other two nominees either. This is the complete opposite from the male acting award as I also cannot really state who could have won this one as the ladies did not have a good year at all.

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BEST ORIGINAL STORY

These early years had relied so much on adaptations that this category continually struggled. The Champ won and I am baffled how it managed to win as its story is so maudlin and typical. Such a bad choice when Freaks had such an amazing story.

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BEST ADAPTATION

Arrowsmith was so badly adapted that its nomination is ludicrous. Bad Girl is a good movie, but Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde should have easily taken this one as it’s a great example of how to properly do a cinematic adaptation of an older source material by making it chilly and atmospheric while still retaining the old-fashioned style of the original story.

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BEST ART DIRECTION

I have not seen the movie that won here, but I do agree that Arrowsmith deserved to be nominated. I personally would have chosen Frankenstein as that classic has so many amazing, iconic sets and imagery. Grand Hotel was also shamefully snubbed here.

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BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

This is by far the most deserving award of this year as Shanghai Express is one of the most visually accomplished films from the first half of the thirties. It’s such an immensely stylish, atmospheric flick which immortalized Marlene Dietrich for the ages.

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BEST SOUND RECORDING

Paramount won this year and that’s fine, but MGM got Freaks and Tarzan the Ape Man in particular so they should have won in my opinion.

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BEST SHORT SUBJECT, CARTOON

This year introduced the animated short category for the very first time and the results were solid, if less than stellar. Mickey’s Orphans is solid, but overly familiar. It’s Got Me Again! is fun and funny, if far from great. And Disney’s Flowers and Trees won for obvious reasons with it being technologically advanced at all, but I would have personally picked The Barnyard Olympics, Just Dogs and Egyptian Melodies as the nominees. You can read my full ranking of the nominees here.

In the end, this was surely a big improvement over the previous year for the Academy. Even though they clearly overlooked the horror genre, at least a lot of the comedy classics got in and the acting and cinematography choices were very strong. Some categories were so badly chosen, but for the most part I liked the winners and particularly the nominees.