Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Ceremonies 12-21 (1940-1949)

As you know the way I have been doing this Oscar ceremony business is by watching the films by when the awards ceremonies were held rather than when the films were released so in fact the final ceremony celebrates films released in 1948 and the films released in 1949 will be reviewed as part of the 1950s selection. Anyway in this blog I will look back at all the films I have watched and give my verdict on whether or noth the right film won.

Ceremony 12: 1940
Winner: Gone with the Wind
Nominees I've Watched: Dark Victory, Goodbye Mr. Chips, Love Affair, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Of Mice and Men, Stagecoach The Wizard of Oz, Wuthering Heights
Not Available to Me: Ninotchka
Did the Right Film Win: Yes
Although I do think Gone with the Wind waffles on a bit its still an epic and rightly viewed as a classic plus the only real competition comes from The Wizard of Oz and possibly Stagecoach and Mr. Smith but in terms of story and more importantly filmic qualities Gone with the Wind wins hands down.

Ceremony 13: 1941
Winner: Rebecca
Nominees I've Watched: All This and Heaven Too, Foreign Correspondent, The Grapes of Wrath, The Great Dictator, Kitty Foyle, The Letter, The Long Voyage Home, Our Town, The Philadelphia Story
Did the Right Film Win: Yes
This was a tough one as I really enjoyed The Great Dictator and felt that it was really ahead of its time in terms of satire and pastiche but I do love a bit of Hitchcock and as Rebecca is the only Hitch film that ever won an Oscar I feel that its win is justified and it is a brilliant film anyway.

Ceremony 14: 1942
Winner: How Green Was My Valley
Nominees I've Watched: Blossoms in the Dust, Citizen Kane, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, Hold Back the Dawn, The Little Foxes, The Maltese Falcon, One Foot in Heaven Suspicion
Not Available to Me: Sergeant York
Did the Right Film Win: No
I know in the early days of the Academy there was a lot of love for John Ford but I think they'd be forced to admit that the Welsh mining drama wasn't his finest hour. I think the award rightfully should've gone to a little movie called Citizen Kane which has had much more of a lasting effect than the winner that year.

Ceremony 15: 1943
Winner: Mrs. Miniver
Nominees I've Watched: 49th Parallel, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Pied Piper, Pride of the Yankees, Random Harvest, The Talk of the Town, Wake Island
Not Available to Me: King's Row and Yankee Doodle Dandy
Did the Right Film Win: Maybe
This is another case of a film winning in a year where there isn't a clear film better than the victor however there are a lot that would match Mrs. Miniver personally I enjoyed Random Harvest more as a Greer Garson vehicle and as Welles lost the year before maybe The Ambersons should've taken it this year however there isn't one film that jumps out as an alternative winner so I'll let Miniver have it this time around.

Ceremony 16: 1944
Winner: Casablanca
Nominees I've Watched: For Whom the Bell Tolls, Heaven Can Wait, The Human Comedy, In Which We Serve, The More the Merrier, The Ox-Bow Incident, The Song of Bernadette, Watch on the Rhine
Not Available to Me: Madame Curie
Did the Right Film Win: Yes
Nothing much to say here while there are some strong contenders Casablanca still stands up today as a brilliant film.

Ceremony 17: 1945
Winner: Going my Way
Nominees I've Watched: Double Indemnity, Gaslight, Since You Went Away, Wilson
Did the Right Film Win: No
This ceremony saw the field slimmed down to five nominees which would stay that way until 2010 and while I'm aware that in the final year of the war it was nice to have a Bing Crosby film to cheer everyone up however Going my Way is such a cheesy film that just looks a bit dated as compared to the classic that is the gripping Double Indemnity or the ensemble wartime drama Since You Went Away both of which would've made ideal replcamenets for Crosby's singing priest.

Ceremony 18: 1946
Winner: The Lost Weekend
Nominees I've Watched: Anchors Aweigh, The Bells of St. Mary, Mildred Pierce, Spellbound
Did the Right Film Win: Maybe
I do feel that The Lost Weekend had a lot going for it in terms of style and message howevr cinematically speaking Hitchcock's Spellbound was better while Mildred Pierce had a more interesting story. But as Billy Wilder lost the year before I think he deserved a win and The Lost Weekend is by no means an average film it just doesn't have that quality about it that I feel a Best Picture winner should.

Ceremony 19: 1947
Winner: The Best Years of Our Lives
Nominees I've Watched: Henry V, It's a Wonderful Life, The Razor's Edge
Not Available to Me: The Yearling
Did the Right Film Win: Yes
There are probably a lot of people that are startled here that I didn't pick It's a Wonderful Life as this year's worthy winner however I feel The Best Years of Our Lives is a film that a lot of people forget about which is a shame as it is full of stunning performances and a good overall feel to it, it has that big film quality to it that a Best Picture Winner deserves.

Ceremony 20: 1948
Winner: Gentleman's Agreement
Nominees I've Watched: The Bishop's Wife, Crossfire, Great Expectations, Miracle on 34th Street
Did the Right Film Win: No
Again this is a year in which the winner just doesn't cut it for me and as a replacement surely David Lean's adaptation of Great Expectations is worthy full of elegance and cinematic brilliance this is one Lean that didn't get the love that Lawrence of Arabia or Bridge on the River Kwai did but deserves it just as much.

Ceremony 21: 1949
Winner: Hamlet
Nominees I've Watched: Johnny Belinda, The Red Shoes, The Snake Pit, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Did the Right Film Win: No
A year in which there are two films which better deserved the award. I would call out The Red Shoes as it is one of the first films to use the techincolour concept to its advantage, as one of these films however the best film from this year has to be The Treasure of the Sierra Madre which uses a very slight story to build up into a tense psychological drama and all three leads are terrific.

So there you go the 1940s did give us some classic winners such as Casablanca, Rebecca and Gone with the Wind but we also got How Green was My Valley and Going My Way anyway now onto the less demanding 1950s a time where film-making was getting better more colour, more depth and unfortunately a lot more singing and dancing.